Freyd

*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

Freyd's head whipped around at the sounds of both familiars getting flung about, and the tiger cub's eep of surprise. Persi, of course, never made a sound, despite her eager azure eyes trying hard to bulge out of her shadowy head. Somehow, the box leapt without any legs and snapped its trap shut on Xena's leg, sending a spray of pixels out as it clamped down with enough force to wipe out over a third of her health in a single swipe. "SHIT!" Though not quite clear as to how he managed it, Freyd instantly stepped out from behind his companion and bent low, driving a fist hard again

"That's a pretty big question," Freyd replied, plunking himself down on one of the stony outcrops. "It took me a long time to work up the nerve to even leave the Town of Beginnings. Though I was helped along by the good will and generosity of others. It helped me find my footing. By happenstance, I ran into a few kindred spirits and ended up joining Firm Anima. The guild was much smaller back then, and operated largely in the background. But that quickly changed as we plowed through quests and dungeons throughout every floor of the floating castle. By the time the front lines gather

"It's a perspective thing," Freyd replied, patting Raidou lightly on the head to make him realize that his for had shifted and identity was revealed. "And this explains a lot." A beaming smile broke across the man's face even as his eyes concealed a pang of something that he managed to swallow down deep. His friend's appearance hit Freyd in a rare, vulnerable place: he'd always had a soft spot for the suffering of children. To learn that Raidou was so young and yet had willfully undertaken action of such magnitude nearly broke his fledgling heart. No wonder there was such kinship between

"I'd suggest starting with the practical stuff: food, random mats, etc. The sort of things that are abundant on nearly every floor. What you're really doing is learning to communicate with each other. Familiar's can't speak, but they are surprisingly intuitive creatures." Almost as if sensing that she was missing an opportunity to be praised, Persi' head popped up out of Freyd's cowl. The rest of her then oozed out, slumping like molasses into a viscus pool of dark at her master's feet, save with a pair of bright blue eyes with horizontal slits for irises. "I'd offer to have Pe

"Why on Earth are we taking down recruits while fighting the Monkey King at the same time? Seems ineffective, on multiple fronts. Sewy, did you have anything to do with this? And, oh, hey newbie!" Freyd wandered into the central square from an ornately carved connecting bridge, a heavily armored elf walking at his side. Tall and lanky, dressed all in black like an edge lord might, Freyd sauntered along casually with his features concealed beneath his cowl. A mischievous grin beamed Eruda's way, as if taunting a tank was his favourite pastime. He carried no weapon, and looked dressed

Shadow fell out of shadows on the upper hull of the Ifrit, a blazing bolt of lightning held in hand for future, pending need, and promptly concealed within inventory. Infiltrating a battle cruiser in the middle of combat would be tricky enough without carrying a giant glowing beacon that screamed: here I am! This honking metal monstrosity didn't seem to belong in Aincrad. Massive in scale and enclosed on all sides, Razwell must have bought it at a Final Fantasy surplus sale and then smuggled it back to Ladonia in his forty-seven thousand piece matching luggage set. Some assembly requ

"Thanks for coming." It was an oddly serious statement from a man standing in an outfit unlike any Raidou had ever seen him wear, yet the tone and expression on his face were 100% pure Freyd. "I wish there was a better lead in to all of this, but it's all so complicated and convoluted that even I don't really know where to start." A hint of sadness in his eyes as his gaze drifted down to where Eruda had nestled against the man she loved. If there were consequences to this conversation, he resolved to take the blame. "The trail of the white-haired woman we spoke about not long

Eyes like stormy seas gazed upon her from behind familiar frames, even as the rage poured out through the piecing of flesh into his chest, She tore the robe with spoken bile, unleashing a lifetime of anguish that the banner readily absorbed. That was its purpose, after all. That was the mantle it represented. The person wearing it was just a vessel. Their measure of resolve lay in donning it in the first place. Freyd's eyes showed the same commitment as Raidou's - the same calming serenity readily accepting all that sorrow. Even as the last vestigial dregs of Juiblex peeled themselv

"You're a broker, right? Never underestimate anything or anyone who might provide you with usable information. Something like the location of dungeons, the entrance to a floor labyrinth, even the placement of treasure chests throughout an area. That sort of data sells like hotcakes, if you advertise in the right places." Striding through the familiar outer gates of Nimbus, Freyd winced at the cold brightness of light as they emerged from the hollowed out cave city. Sloping valleys slung between high peaks of grey granite greeted them, huge chunks of broken rock dotting the landscape a

Freyd sat in the sand as Eruda sank into the mire of myth and memories. He knew that face, the distant gaze drawn beyond the boundaries of the horizon. She was elsewhere, deep within herself and recollections of the past. It was a practiced state, for him, familiar and foreboding. One does not casually glance into the mirror of one's soul without risking consequence. Or, as it turns out, into Simmone's. Grabbing a nearby stick, sun-bleached and stripped bare of bark by washing of the tides, he felt the presence of serenity surround him. It was like fishing with his grandfather again. E

Chuckle countered by another chuckle. "I'm really not sure if it's a good or a bad thing that I end up being considered the rational one, though your fiancée is clearly in a state of severe distress... or stupidity." The chuckling stopped. "That stunt he pulled during the raid could have gotten a lot of people killed. The front lines are hardly the place for personal grudges to be settled, though it keeps with what I've heard of the historical trend. It might also explain why we still have over seventy floors left to climb." An eyebrow raised critically, loosing a bit of his fr

Barely enough time passed for a mental facepalm as Levi charged forward impulsively, screaming at the top of his lungs and revealing their presence to the twisted, frozen wreck of a figure that was surely Darian's murderer. A separate side compartment thought it very odd how bodies that normally disappeared upon death in this world somehow remained out of plot convenience during quests, but it was a distraction for another time. 'This is why you don't bring kids to a fight,' Freyd muttered to himself, internally, even as his body rushed to react. Fortunately, Persi had sensed the dang

The tea was nice. Not too hot, perfectly steeped for flavour and enhanced with the tiniest drops of vanilla for added aroma. Listening intently as Mina spoke, his eyes focused on the ripples that followed the rise and fall of her tone on the surface of his drink, fascinating him with the level of care and detail it represented. "Spare?" He looked up, his brow furrowed. "That's a particularly odd choice of word. What makes you think I can or should spare any information at all, especially given your own declared state of mind?" A hand raised to parry the predictable ire. "I'm not tr

"This place doesn't belong to just the Elves." Freyd nodded in agreement at Alkor's summary. The man's assessment was astute and confirmed that he was equally well informed. Good. That improved the odds of them solving whatever underlying mischief or mystery had triggered the recent change. "No, you're right. It doesn't. But it's also been a rare place where both sides set aside their feud, and something has recently changed." Watching and listening as the creature vented its pain, Freyd sympathized with it in a way that echoed the tragedy of those mobs afflicted by the Sundere

"Go Streya go! Go fight win! You totally took it easy on me though." "Nonsense," Freyd replied laughing so hard that he could barely stand and had to lean against the bokken to keep from falling over. "I totally took it easy on me, and just had fun with it, which was the entire point. Well-played, @Astreya," he said, extending a hand and proudly congratulating her on her victory. "I'm gonna go have a grand old time eating and drinking all of Baldur's free food and actually allowing myself to mingle for a bit. Everyone's been way too on edge lately, and this is exactly what we all nee

"You're gonna hate me for doing this, but suck it up and don't try to claw or bite me." A grin as wide as his head spread as he took his other hand and briefly rustled her hair between those cat ear things. It was just too irresistible. "Ah!" He interjected, raising his hand off her head with a single finger raised in pre-emptive warning. "Friendly gesture only! No outrage and no temper tantrums allowed, remember? And yes, of course I'm sure. All of Firm Anima's current members started where you are now, including myself. That's how it works in our guild. We're not about bos

"You've been pushing against Raidou's defenses at points where he has become so accustomed to deflecting or defending that he is no longer capable of doing otherwise. You can't convince him that way, but there are other options." His thumb swirled slowly against his palm as they spoke, as it if had become an hourglass, meeting out precious moments as granules of sand, each one precious in its own right. Aincrad itself fit the same metaphor, save that the granules were people and their lives. They would eventually run out of both. "Nisahime is building an army, but I seriously do

"You haven't heard of Firm Anima?" He seemed genuinely surprised. "We're one of the most active and fastest growing guilds around and went from fielding a few members in the floor 25 to filling out half the front line ranks in the one that just wrapped up. Many of them have become good friends, and I would gladly introduce you to them, if you'd like. The guild is always looking for new members, and is very generous and supportive." Watching Amber paw her way up onto Xena's shoulder made him smile. Persi, amorphous form made her capable of insinuating herself into the least expected p