Freyd

"Hrmmm? Didn't know that they had a mechanic for such a thing. Wonder how it works." There wasn't, of course, but Freyd was still too much of a newb to understand such things. "Still, if you can make it work, that might be a really good idea. Info will be super useful in the days ahead. Getting it the right people will be key, or possibly just selling it for the right price?" Morality wasn't the issue so much as risk and reward. The goal was to get out of here, and there was a tipping point beyond which it hurt business to try and hold too many cards to one's own chest. "I guess b

"Nice!" he responded over his shoulder, turning and walking back over towards where she continued her search. "It makes a good argument for the benefits of buffs and gear I guess." Turning his weapon over, he held it up for closer inspection. "I hear that there's a profession for appraising items in the game. I might look into that one myself. Being able to easily identify items would be worth its weight in gold. It also makes me wonder whether it can be used to analyze mobs for their weaknesses. If so, that could generate some very real coin." He caught he folding her claws back i

Freyd laughed aloud as she unleashed her fury upon the poor defenseless sod. Player rage at its best, and apparently producing results as she claimed their first victory. He waved off her earlier suggestion. "Nah! You don't need me. Looks like you're on a roll. Besides, you just ate my best chance to find anything." He beamed another goofy grin in her direction. "Besides, how are you going to boast being this totally awesome info broker if you can't even find stuff in grass." That might have been pushing his luck, but tensions finally seemed to be bleeding out. They both needed t

Wandering about as if on some sort of improvised boar patrol, Freyd eyed the various critters with a wary eye. It was the other players around that made him far more nervous. The fields were positively crawling with people, all staring at their feet and scouring for the same things they were. It reminded him of the launch of so many other MMOs where the starting zones were completely overwhelmed and a strange resource race developed just to progress to the later content before anyone else. He'd read about similar things happening in the beta for SAO, but everyone was too tight lipped over

Surprise. It was the only way he could react to the offer when it popped up in a 2D display bright and bold in front of him and completely unmissable. Tension bled from his face once he recognized what it was and meant. "Thanks," he offered with surprising sincerity, gladly accepting the request. It made an unexpectedly huge difference to have someone reach out like that. Sure, he'd had countless connections on various social media platforms prior to joining SAO, but those were more like contacts for networking purposes. Maybe that's what this was too, but somehow it felt far more mea

Freyd perched himself on a familiar rock, content to enjoy a bit of warmth and sunlight on skin that seemed to remain pale no matter how many scorched floors he traversed. He'd sat on this rock a dozen times doing the same thing, helping one player or another get their first foot out the door, just as he'd been helped, albeit in a less direct manner. Not everyone could be lucky enough to have an epic blade fall from the sky and clatter to the ground at their feet. He still wondered how @NIGHThad lost it in the first place. The weapon had since been passed on, though he hadn't seen its bear

"Don't worry about it. This is a group effort, and well worth it if we both manage to complete the quest." A slight smile as she struggled a bit with the food, trying not to seem critical. Xena seemed a bit sensitive, but he was hardly in a position to give her a hard time about it. It also didn't make sense to alienate literally the only other person he actually knew in this game. "Besides, I think we actually have a very similar approach to this game. It wouldn't make sense not to help a potential business partner. Truth is that we're all going to need to help each other out if w

"It's complicated," Freyd replied, not really wanting to delved into all the horrible things that had led him to shutter himself away from people. "Let's just say that I'm not built to be the social type. It's caused... serious problems in my past." A flicker of pain and a grimace flash across his face, only to be obscured as he turned away in a pretense of vigilance. *cough* "Erm... oh! I have a couple of things that might help. Using untrained skills for gathering can be a pain, or so I've been told. I picked these up at a shop on my way out of town the first time. Why don't

A furrowed brow confirmed his struggle to understand. "Hey. You okay?" Freyd spoke quietly as they walked side by side, trying to make sure that they weren't overheard. He was just about the worst when it came to reading feelings, especially those of others. "I didn't mean any offense. I'm just... yanno... bad with talking to people. Especially..." He swallowed hard. "Girls. Okay! There. I said it!" His face blushed such a brilliant shade of red that tomatoes would be envious. It was amazing that he was even able to admit it to someone, let alone a virtual stranger. "Look

Freyd's ears perked up at the mention of compensation. Yes. Transactional business. It was something his poor addled brain could actually grasped, even as it spun along multiple different axes, struggling to find some bearings in a world turned upside down. "I. Sorry. Yes. You're right, of course." He hung his head sheepishly, burrowing back into his own hood as best he could. The man seriously lacked confidence, but she could sense that he was afraid of something far deeper than anything they had encountered or discussed to date. It was almost as if he'd actually been afraid of

"Yeah. Yeah. You're... " *blink* It wasn't until this moment that Freyd finally realized that Xena was a member of the opposite sex. Years of shuttered, insular existence had kept him away from such interactions, except online where virtual identities could be so easily clouded that they were practically meaningless. But that veneer had just been stripped away. Everyone was actually who and what they were, if only until people found way to cloak themselves behind a fresh set of masks. More importantly, it provided what was desperately required: a distraction. "Right. You

"Honestly," he replied while wincing at the second strike to land, "I just wasn't feeling it, yanno? Must have been having an odd week or something. Couldn't land the hard blows. Couldn't get good vantage. Oh, gods, and the endless talking!" He mentally rolled his eyes, preferring not to make this an even more shameful beating than it already was. "Tea and crumpets at my grandmother's place was less painful than all the pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth. I really hope the next boss is nothing but a good old-fashion murder-fest, because this one set everyone at everyone else's throat

"Fair enough." Freyd led them to the figure Xena had pointed out in the crowd, only that he wasn't so much a quest giving NPC as a a broker for such NPCs. "You want us to go to Tolbana?" A series of rapid finger strokes called up the in-game map. The name sounded familiar and he soon realized why. "I was literally just about there, until all of... this!" Wildly flailing arms gestured to the entire scene around them. The NPC smiled pleasantly, oblivious to his actions. It was one of those bot-type programs whose only purpose was to direct players towards content. Freyd gri

She was faster than expected, even given the fact that she'd already declared the intention of her attack. Maybe he'd simply rotated through too many weapon styles, of late? Or maybe it was, like, the sheer zeal, and stuff, of her attack. Whatever the case, Freyd's improvised staff caught the matt on the dojo floor and stuck, hard, falling short of the necessary position for a block. Astreya struck a fair point on her first swipe. He smiled, proud of her for her for casting any hesitation aside. "Astreya," he countered pleasantly. "It's been a while. Looks like you've been training

He locked eyes with her and replied. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I can't trust you. Not entirely, and not yet at least. That sort of thing comes with time. It's a risk, as are all things to some greater or lesser degree. Doing nothing doesn't seem like much of a choice, so I'm willing to take a chance." Following her gaze down the street, he spotted the man to whom she had referenced. The crowds were already thinning out. Some had used teleport crystals to vanish instantly to other set points. Many had left in search of some sense of normalcy in the outer rings of the

Tensions had been on the rise throughout the floating castle since just before the start of the last raid. Precautions were necessary. A random traveler emerged from the portal in the centre of Scalabis, nondescript and blending in seamlessly with the many others emerging at the same spot for any number of reasons. Some came for the beaches, popular among players save during the spawning season of certain gargantuan crabs. Others came for wilderness adventure and recreation. Gladiatorial duels were a regular occurrence in the local arena. This one wandered off the beaten path, slipping t

"Safe zone? Maybe against PK, but I had already watched two dozen people get ganked by boars out there before..." Freyd's voice tapered off to silence, as if only just realizing the significance of those moments. Those people were gone. Real, likely real-real, casualties were happening. A large, featureless wall stood at the far end of the plaza across from their temporary shelter. Even from this distance, he could see flashes of red appearing on its surface like a cascade of dominos. They were names. They were people, just not anymore. Shit. "We can't assume anything anymore. E

"Tak...er...Freyd," he mumbled, struggling to determine whether reveal any information about his identity might only help Cardinal pin down his location and send whatever digital death squad the pseudo-Skynet might have in store for them all. "And I wasn't... amen't... aren't..." He shook his head, as if recalibrating his vocabulator. "I'm not panicked!" The words came out way too loud and awkwardly defensive. "I'm not panicked," he repeated, more calmly this time. "But many others around here will be, and people in general aren't the most exhaustive thinkers at the best of time. Th

Waiting until Bismuth had wandered a dozen paces beyond the gate and well out of earshot, Freyd turned and shared a knowing glance with Marv, except Marv didn't look back. "Wait 'til he gets to the one with the boars. It either goes quick or really badly. Keep an eye on him, will ya Marv? He might need a little saving, when the time comes." Unspoken memories lay behind those words, but they didn't need re-hashing. Both of them knew what he meant, or at least Freyd did. Waving a hand in the tepid afternoon breeze, he dismissed the dregs of their ritual sup to whatever mystical elsewh

"What the...? Is this some kind of sick joke?" Freyd's mind was frantic at the myriad possibilities floating about. Was this actually some sort of ruse by Kayaba - some bizarre marketing gimmick designed to garner headlines? Hadn't he gotten enough press over the last year? It was due to all that attention that he'd been hired to come try out the game and provide technical commentary to a rival company that wanted an in on the NerveGear hype that had been setting the internet ablaze since its first announcement. They even paid for his headset! His chest felt constricted. Breathing

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"Two things," Freyd added, holding up three fingers just to see if Marv was paying attention. "First, promise me you'll never ask me to find your familiar with you., or to train it." A mild shudder trembled through his shoulders at the thought of repeating that ordeal. He'd gone through it too many times already. "Second," he added counting the next finger, "You need to promise me that you'll get capable enough to help me on a dungeon run someday." He paused, as if wondering if his count might have been off. "And, also second, I'd ask that you pass it forward someday whe

Hanging by the door, Freyd twiddled with some random, decorative bauble to help pass the time while Bismuth performed the mandatory exchange. Turning the thing over and over again while trying to recall which side was meant to be 'up', he had to admit that his new companion seemed to have a decent head on his shoulders. A quick wave and gesture towards the menu board ordered the coffee he would need for his ritual. "A hint of vanilla, please," he added politely, offering payment up front with a generous tip. The merchants in this area knew him well, and while he'd been stingy with his

A squat, bulky-looking woman with broad, muscled shoulders and what looked like blonde-coloured straw pulled into long braids collected the proffered items with a modest, bemused smile nodding to the rare customer to grace Freyd's ramshackle excuse for a shop. Sweeping everything up with a single brawny arm, Quip turned and bellowed towards the back. "DINGO!" Something jerked upright amidst the overhead clutter, followed by a loud thunk that smacked of head hitting lumber, then a groan and a creak. A lanky body fell from the rafters, landing with an uncomfortable crush on the floor

"A tournament?" Freyd muttered between intermittent sips of a badly needed coffee. Persi had hopped up with a pamphlet in her mouth and pressed it eagerly into his face. "Nah. Not interested. Too busy." A gloved hand pushed back gently against her inky muzzle, dismissing the idea with gesture to reinforce his words. She tried again and was rebuffed a second time as Freyd turned away to resume a long overdue catch-up session with Marv. The NPC gate guard stoically ignored him in much the same way that he was foolishly ignoring his diminutive familiar. Turning a cold shoulder to a t