Freyd

Chaos swirled around them, a maelstrom of battle with beacons of light clustered about the field. Each of those nodes was a member of Firm Anima, glaringly bright in contrast to the crawling carpet of mobs converging on them from every direction. One airborne critter hurtled towards his head, launched by Gaius. Leaping upward, Freyd spun mid-air and snared the mob's tattered clothes with the end of his staff. Momentum carried the motion through and whipped the poor, wayward mob in a new direction. It crashed like a meteor, bowling over a dozen nearby kin and skipping like a stone across w

"Shadow, the Malevolent." The name sounded slightly clownish when he said it out loud, but the boss had proven himself to be a real and mortal threat. "I never found out much of his backstory. Everyone on the front lines was too focused on psyching themselves up for the fight to spare time for explanations." A flick of his wrist sent a flat, polished, black stone skipping over the pond's surface. The ripples reminded him of faces surfacing on roiling black water, only to be swallowed by liquid despair. "He'd possessed a minotaur champion named Orgoth, who was an absolute titan of a t

Watching himself standing by Tuatha felt like some sort of out of body experience, yet also eerily like watching yourself and thinking of himself as a completely different person. Was it Montjoy? Was it himself under a better light? Was it who he thought he could have been, had circumstances worked out differently? Freyd was taking a chance, rolling the dice on that this situation required precisely the sort of expertise which he so sorely lacked. Were their places reversed, Freyd would likely have broken the boy's neck by now. That was precisely the reaction that the little twit see

With the last of his reports received and processed, Freyd was eager to leave the guild hall for a while. Agents supporting O&I had gradually been spread to every floor and corner of Aincrad and it was increasingly time-consuming to process all of the data they collected. "I'm becoming a bureacucrat, Persi. How the hell did that happen?!" His tiny shadow-mongoose companion was too busy to acknowledge his griping, playfully chasing fruit flies that had gathered around a plate of half-eaten something-or-other left on a nearby table. Somehow, the timer on the food had lasted l

From every direction, slinking shadows converged upon the Red Wanderer's position. Scouring the countryside like a seeker's plague, they whispered their way forward in search of their long-elusive prey. Soon, they surrounded those that had sought to encircle his fellow captain. One of the shadows, as featureless as the rest, spoke. "Don't they realize that they're outnumbered? And that's before you even count all of the me's." A low chuckle followed. Freyd was in his element, hot on the trail of a foe he had chased from one end of the flying castle to the other, then back again.

He’d seen enough. Simmoné, or Gisellé’s, emotional and physical collapse told him all that he needed. The anguish was clear upon her face, even as her voice echoed the betrayal of her brother’s memory. Even as Freya slumped to the floor, Freyd had made up his mind. With two simple strides he was at her side and risked laying bare his deepest and darkest secret, exposing that tiny withered thing that passed for his heart - the source of all that was still a decent human being inside his frigid shell. There was a weapon bound around it that should never be allowed to surface. He’d cont

The room's mood and tone of conversation has suddenly and dramatically changed. Freyd's hand instantly reached to the shadows and drew forth a sliver of void. Taking no action with it, his pride was literally swallowed, but ready to be regurgitated in case trouble arose. This was Freya's moment, and Simmone's to a lesser extent. Freyd's gaze drifted to the latter. A glance was spared for the figure in the mirror. He sounded like a jerk. Freya had the gist of it and took charge. Freyd, meanwhile, focused his attention on the 'dead' man's sister. There was no way to be sure that the fig

Freyd sauntered over, still cautious of the potential for fisticuffs flying towards his head. Freya was a nice girl, but unpredictable, in the same vein as Gaius. Simmone had been right to voice what might happen when the two united, but it wasn't likely to change anything. They were already peas in a pod, so to speak. It would be like formally sanctioning chaos. Who could tell the difference? Shuffling over, his eyes eagerly dissecting the chamber and its contents for everything save the obvious, he left the mirror itself for last. It, and Freya's query, had to merit some significa

"So, I'm the canary, is that it? Here to test whether you feel an overwhelming urge to punch something?" Freyd chuckled at the irony. "Fitting." Leaning against the same counter as his friend, he pondered hooking his leg around the stood, in case reprisal were necessary, or at least comedic. As always, his movements were slow and casual, belying any pending, underlying burst of action. He was content to play along, but it didn't mean he couldn't exact a toll for playing the fool's role. "Wait a sec. Brother? I vaguely recall there being a connection between you, this spirit and Si

Rank 5 Appraiser (Base: BD 10, CD 8+ for unique, 10 identifications per day) +1 to CD from Hermes’ Scale +2 EXP: Hard Working (also +1 IDs per day) +2 EXP: Lucrative (Firm Anima) (also +2 IDs per day) +1 EXP: Custom Ambition Tool (bought from own shop 2020-07-16) Consuming: Crafting Respite [172395] Witch's Brew: none Identifications: 5x T4 Perfect Items (@3040 col) = 15200 col +75000 col for re-rolls. (5 * 15,000 for 4 rerolls apiece) +16000 for one 5th reroll Total Cost: 106200 col Junking: 3x T4 Perfect Item (@1900) = 5700 col Total Va

Rank 5 Appraiser (Base: BD 10, CD 8+ for unique, 10 identifications per day) +1 to CD from Hermes’ Scale +2 EXP: Hard Working (also +1 IDs per day) +2 EXP: Lucrative (Firm Anima) (also +2 IDs per day) +1 EXP: Custom Ambition Tool (bought from own shop 2020-07-16) Consuming: Crafting Respite [172374] Witch's Brew: none Identifications: 4x T1 Perfect Items (@640 col) = 2560 col 4x T1 Rare Items (@320 col) = 1280 col +24000 col for re-rolls. (8 * 3,000 for 2 rerolls apiece) Total Cost: 27840 col Junking: 3x T1 Perfect Item (@400) = 1200 col 3x

"We were thinking of something in white leather, probably with a corset." Lewd hand gestures reinforced the intention, but Freya had already opened that door. If she was going to drag him along for this ride, he might as well have some fun with it. "Red laces would be appropriate, and the sleeves have to be readily detachable for when the fist fight starts." Freyd smiled a little when both heads turned silently in his direction. His cowl was back in place. People time was officially over, and the shields had risen once more around his guise. "What?" He asked, mildly incredulous in

"So... it was real." Freyd's gaze focused upon the hazy outline of shadow cast by them both upon the still surface of the water. Montjoy stared back, unwavering, unsympathetic, and cold. "I saw images of you falling while we battled against the floor boss, reflected on the surface of the black floodwaters. You cried out, silently, but I couldn't reach you. It seemed like an illusion - another one of Shadow's games and taunts." Elora felt the muscles in his back and shoulders tense, like a weight had been added, or perhaps just the memory of it. "There was nothing I could do.

Freyd nearly bowled the tiny child over while his eyes were drawn upward to the grandeur of Palace of the Three Stars. It never occurred that he might stumble across a vendor in its wings, let alone one of such small bearing. Her scarf looked like its was threatening to swallow her, and had already partially succeeded. Between it and her oversized goggles, married with white hair on white skin with white eyes, she reminded him of some kind of critter that might have better belonged in a Nintendo game. "Oh, uh... sorry. Didn't see you. I-" "H-hi! Y-yes, we'retradinggoodsformontoke

When had he moved? For one so aware of every miniscule action, so precise and methodical in his actions, so acutely aware of self, it seemed implausible to have missed his own motion. Arms wrapped tenderly about her shoulders, Freyd's left arm cradled her back while his right pressed against the back of her head to bury her sadness into nook at his neck. His voice, still absent, could offer no solace. His eyes, pressed shut, could convey nothing. Only the steady pace of his heart and pulse, the slow rise and fall of his breathing against her deeper, desperate gasps, could offer purcha

Rank 5 Appraiser (Base: BD 10, CD 8+ for unique, 10 identifications per day) +1 to CD from Hermes’ Scale +2 EXP: Hard Working (also +1 IDs per day) +2 EXP: Lucrative (Firm Anima) (also +2 IDs per day) +1 EXP: Custom Ambition Tool (bought from own shop 2020-07-16) Consuming: Crafting Respite [172232] Witch's Brew: none Identifications: 4x T4 Perfect Items (@3040 col) = 12160 col +60,000 col for re-rolls. (4 * 15,000 for 4 rerolls apiece) +16,000 col (X * 16,000 per 5th roll) for 5th reroll on 1 item Total Cost: 88160 col Junking: 3x T4 Perfect

A red sliver opened where once his eyes were closed. Spinning away from her in a sudden flurry, Freyd wheeled and stood in a defensive stance, failing to realize that he was threatening to do battle while wielding a fishing rod. The bobber, reeled by the sudden motion, bopped him in the side of the head, snaring its hook upon his cowl. "What the...?" Recognition dawned in those same eyes as they settled upon the figure before them in the mists. "El... Elora?" Emotion flooded through the words even as his heart slammed hard, twice, against the inside of his chest. A blink f