Nisahime

Pressing her hand through the waves, attempting to latch on to the reflection that was laden within. Her hand is chilled rather quickly as the water parts and with it a weight upon her appendage. It seems the mirrored mimick was not solid, she'd hope to latch onto it and rip it clean from its hiding place. "Unexpected, but how long will you seek shelter before you understand that I will not take my leave." she'd remark with a shake of her wrist casting the water that was stuck to it to the soil below, painting dark spots upon it as it falls. Sliding around and inspecting her surroundings for some lever or mechanism that it had used to conceal its presence. She'd come back empty but without regret, pushing the system in new ways for it had hardly encountered someone with this simple notion completely absent within them and alongside it no way to fight back.

"I can hear you silent whisper, it won't be long before I shove you into the light." She taunts her eyes still ablaze in a pale color like snow. In the falls she sees her reflection and it gestures to her with a dismissal in a wave of his hand in a shooing motion. Upon it's darkened silhouette a burning red like emboldened heated coals, as the gemini before it. It was angry at her presence finding no hold upon the woman and as such was trying its best to avoid her. "Are you afraid of me? those that would claim my memory. I am coming to take what is mine, despite your inclination to keep it for yourself." She'd rise and move closer to the flowing water, the skill still burning in her eyes and unwavering. Leaning close to the cascade, where it breaches the pool below it causing it to parade in rings.

She'd burn across the lake via a vessel provided, a long rod in her clutches breaching the inky blackness below. Floating loosely upon the surface of the lake a section of glimmered gold. Morrighan leans low causing the boat to tip slightly as she scoops them from it. Upon her palm a scattering of stars in a small bit of water. "What ye be oh tiny shards, a purpose you serve surely. But what that might be, remains to be seen." Leaning back as the boat begins to rock as her weight shifts back to the center. The woman peels up the oar and continues to paddle as earnest as before pressing herself further upon the lake. "I do not understand why you are aiming for this?" an echoing word within her mind, producing no audible noise but was loud and clear. It seems the Gemini confused as it be, which was expected for she hardly knew herself.

ID# 166858 results: Loot: 8+3=11, Stars

She'd stand now lording over the child, placing a hand upon his ebony hair which was fuzzed under it. "No promise for I would not mislead you, if the fates or your wish hold any ground then I would happen upon it. It would be of no use to me, but to you a great deal. May fortune smile on my journey, and provide you with that which you seek." Shoji's eyes dart open assuming he understood what she was saying, a wipe of the tears laden in his eyes. A sharp exhale as the air returns to his lungs, he'd been holding it in for so long. “--I-if you find anything, come look for me, okay? I’ll...” he breaks from Morrighan's grasp and heads back into the depths of the city. “I’ll be waiting…!” before he pivots and races back in. "A peculiar child with a dream to reclaim what was lost, the persistence is shared young Shoji. Should the fates allow..."

A sense of nervousness washes over the child topped in black hair, fiddling with his legs and seeking out stones with his hands in his pockets. “Um, hey,” he'd mutter in a low tone from his stomach. She'd lift to meet the kid, looking at him rather intensely with her pale blue eyes and a plain demeanor. "Unless the words are spoken, they will be left unheard." she'd tell the kid trying to bolster his courage to talk. “If you don’t mind… When you’re heading out to water, do you think you could try to look out for any signs of Yori?” he'd shrink and avert his eyes, assuming he'd be denied what he asked before an answer given. “I know everyone tells me it’s a lost cause!” he'd bark out in fury with his head still faced away toward the lake that swallowed his dear friend. “But if Tanabata is all about wishing… Just maybe...” Shoji's voice simmered down to a whisper, a feeling of defeat laden within it.

The kid goes off on another tangent, elaborating further into the details of what she was sure was one of these names given demise. “He’s responsible, kind. He tells the best stories… Just doesn’t find time to play with us a lot, I guess.” A reflection for time was the one thing that one could not afford to lose, a finite resource that once spent it was gone for good. "Continue, for every fable has an end, and I'd like to hear the end of your's young one." He'd lift from his seated position and clip a stone upon the cobbled path beneath him, casting it to the waves with a break of the smoothed pool in a perfect ring. It was clear that it was reaching an end, for this last bit was taking a moment to work into words. Thankfully for him, Morrighan had an endless source of patience.

The priestess looks into the water, averting her gaze from the child as tears rolled down his face.  “Makes us wonder where he’d gone, but I think we all know the truth. It’s just… hard to believe -- that there was nothing of him left...” she'd place a soft hand on his, quelling that anguish that was trapped below the surface so he may speak. “Um, Masaki was his best friend. I’d thought... Maybe it was one of Yori’s wishes that we look after him instead. He’s good; really. I guess we just never saw it in him before.” she'd think about it for a moment, perhaps there was some reason this child had come to her of all that it could have. "This Yori? What part does he play in this tale?" the maiden asks for a new name had appeared within the boy's tale, making three little lives twined around one another.

"I do not. But carry on with your story young one." she'd remark to keep him talking, this seemed as it was dropped into her lap by something. He'd pause almost confused by what she said, his words dangling somewhere between rage and sadness. “When the attack began, we’d all started to retreat. But… I ended up slipping and falling in the water...” holding a fist tight upon his thigh. Morrighan remains silent, allowing the boy to breathe and continue free of time and the pressure it brought. “Actually, I’m still afraid of swimming until now...” There it was that laden little fact, that a fear still bubbled deep underneath all that anger. "What would you wish of me, young Shoji." the maiden asked, for it felt as a climax was on the brink of his tale. He'd lift the hand still taught on his leg, slamming it down once as he tore out the words: “That was when Yori jumped in. Saved me. He pushed me out onto the shore-- I thought he was right behind me as I ran… But I couldn’t find him after things calmed down. The sheriff made it a whole case and everything. Looked out for any signs of him over two weeks. But-- well…” 

Shoji seemed troubled, lost within the waters in front of him as if longing for something that lay beneath them to return. “It’s for Masaki. He’s our friend now. But he didn’t use to be, if I had to be honest. We’d always picked on him past the year before.” he seemed rather forthright with his inputs, as if the kid needed someone to vent to. "I see, this Masaki where is he now?" she found the exchange intriguing that it had begun so rapidly. A check on her peripheral shows a bit of sorrow painted upon his eyes to her question. "Beneath waves I take it?"“It’s that rainy crossing last year.” he'd bark out rather aggressively, showing a fit of anger boiled within his breast for hatred against something. “Do you know the one? There was a horde of monsters that had attacked the town...” she had not, and with a false show of remorse painted on her face, a feigned empathy in an experienced front.

A reddened line is still drawn upon her finger, the woman clad in white hair continued to purvey the scenery. A young boy, no older than adolescence approaches rather abruptly to her side. She'd pause as he took to a seat, Morrighan takes a place by his side. “What’re you here for?” he'd ask and with a soft word in response "I know naught, what brings you here?" he'd be looking toward the lake, a focused gaze that mirrored her own aloof one. “I don’t suppose you would want to hear about my reason, would you?” almost quizically she'd turn to the boy, unexpected for such a response. "Perhaps not, for all find a place where they were meant to be." she'd remark keeping her eyes focused upon the water as it swayed and pushed the lanterns about its surface.

“My name’s Shoji. My friends are building this train back in town. You’ve seen it, right?” he'd respond more interested in their exchange than he was. "No, it has eluded me still." she'd offer the lad unsure of what he was trying to build-up to for it felt as though he was leading.

Morrighan | HP:20/20 | EN:2/2 | DMG:1 | MIT:9 | ACC:3 | LD:6 | THRNS:9

"Ego, hardly but the sentiment I understand deeply kind sir." she remarks, and to those that would listen close enough a tinge of sarcasm in her tone. "Inflated heads aside, I'd not waste my time with such rabble. There is heel to break as well, should you cater and dawdle attempting to reduce yourself to those around you. I take no pride in it, but I simply cannot afford offer." she'd smile, looking to what he had wrought from the ground. "Forcing one to bind a cuff to a corpse, dragging it for eternity. You do it no favors, give it a reason to walk on its own and It just may." She'd keep her hunched position, digging away at the soil all the same. A sway to every motion it was flowed and gentle, akin to a waltz. "I'd fret not over my weakness my dear messenger, for I have been forthright with them. This empathy you feel, that is all that is missing. I would not misdirect you with a muted lie, there is no persona here you must see past. There may be those that would mislead you, cry tears or show pity. These things are not within my grasp." she'd mutter with that same almost dark smile upon her lips.

ID# 166626 results: Loot: 19+6=25, Success 2*Quest Materials

"Then we stand unopposed, from the same side of this flowing river. Worrisome that there would be those who enjoy the pretty but worthless bobble, ever lusting and yearning over a speck in the dust that shines." Her attention shift in tow with his, looking to see what it was that he had. A pleasant scene of crops and wood structure, carved by man but lacking imperfection. This place lacked those small flaws that proved it was real, shown upon her face in a trance as she seemed to stare leagues. "Value, though is simply to the beholder. For I need no such reward for never a beggar nor lender I be. Those that would find comforts in strength find themselves complacent, a crown upon their brow may breed amenity. But no sooner taken should they find a greedy lust for more. It is to those that potential finds first that remain, those that forsake such a throne."

ID# 166624 results: Loot: 1+6=7, Failure!

"It is simply how my thoughts pass, why should I feign some language for the sake of another. If they naught understand, then the folly is theirs. A trifle fool that cannot understand me has not earned the right." she'd speak kneeling and squatting on her risen heels. Lifting up a piece of the ground in decayed brown. "They have no place upon the tapestry of the world." it scatters to data and flickers off on the wind.

Averting her eyes as Freyd took steps. "Than it isn't for display, but function. We should all be so fortunate." She'd listen as she walked with an outstretched hand, drug upon the walls and signposts to feel the world. "Gemini, Duplicate, Replica. All on point for what it was, but self no truer a title. We shared words, she shared answers and she lies within and offers me strength." She'd offer him no guise, with a flare in her eyes as she blinked them they'd be lit bright white. Leaning deep in emulation of Freyd in particular, she'd take to the ground. A gentle hand shows a prompt on her HUD, as it pulls exactly what she needed before any real exertion was shown. "One trivial chore down, if this is all that is required then this should proceed smoothly." she speaks to her escort, letting him feel his fingers to the vein and know where they stood.

ID# 166620 results: Loot: 6+6=12, Success 1*Quest Material

She'd approach a blackened female, drawing comparison to her own specter. "A go for you? One try per person. We’ve got some unique sponsors this year, so..." she'd inquiry as Nissa was locked to one of the cages with a locked gaze. "Yes, I think I shall partake." she'd respond, lifting a cage and seeking a rather large bird. "That is a raven, not a magpie. They are much more difficult to..." the girl lifts a finger into the cage, first the bird snaps drawing a red line upon her finger. She'd pivot her hand, and to the NPC's surprise, the thing perches upon her hand.

She'd lead the woman to the habitation no differently than she chose a more stable bird. Glancing the thing with an open finger upon her grasp that lines through the blackened feathers, plucking one with ease and spinning it between her index and thumb. "Anything you fancy" she'd respond looking deeply into the quill she had, seeming aloof to the NPC. "They just don't work like that you've got to train it."

A beaded black lense looks to her and into the enclosure, picking something at random with no real direction. A small bundled object upon a string dangled at his beak. "Thank you in kind, your purpose served." taking it in hand and lifting it back to its cage, to the utter stupidity the NPC was now filled.

ID# 166616 results: Craft: 9
ID# 166617 results: Craft: 6
ID# 166618 results: Craft: 6, 21= Nebulae Yokan Block (PROS III/Tierless)

Imparted with a cold approach on paper white skin, her emotions slip from her face leaving nothing more than an intense and locked stare. "With a mask worn, you would play the part of a crook. But such thieves prosper little from those without wealth. Curious, a majesty seen beside a coin that glitters gold?" She'd comment to his appearance, it did not show a lick of who he seemed to be through his words. "The shadow with my visage that becomes me, knew more of who I be than I had. My name scattered to the tempo returned through the exchange. She's at rest now within my core. The moniker" she'd hesitate on it "Was that which was given without my hand, a contract signed beside myself." plain as day without concealment she'd answer his inquiry, watching his head tilt in perplexity. "Lead the front, Freyd and I shall span your wake." she'd wave an upturned hand, handing him the reigns.

They swelled and scratched, Morrighan sat still chilled to the bone a numb tinge on her skin from lingering rainfall. An easy silence pressed upon the place, as a pilgrim at a shrine she listed in meditation pulling at the strings and clinging to every hidden phrase as they assault her senses without fear. Relentless they would fear her approach, like grasping hands reaching for the cables as they flustered on the winds. A cool tinge of white painted on her iris, concentration as bestowed to her already ripe and alive. A strength that was still foreign to her was already rearing itself, dragging her consciousness into a trance with a stare that could pierce the earth with its sharpness. If any saw her now she'd appear a specter with flowing white hair with eyes that matched, locked in an endless gaze and embellished with an aura of white surrounding her.

Her statements seemed to gain power, from somewhere deep within her gut. Within her mind an echo "They cannot hear you for you are the one seeking them, they prey upon those that are not ready." her self responds, an insight given as to what was lurking outside. "If that is the case then I will simply speak louder, for the urgency I bring will overtake the noise that betrays my voice." she speaks aloud, striking her stance upon the soil she sat. If they wished their prey, they would have a hard time should she never retreat. Forcing a hand and a play made, she'd take the cards they were dealt and offer a full suit. Ending them rightly on the battlefield they called their own lest they try and stave her advance, they'd lose ground no later than now. The voices loomed and played, agitated by her decree.

Again from the shadows the dull stammerings that aimed to scratch into a mind solid, in an echo that bounced between the droplets produced by the falls. The woman maintained a stance of serenity her mind in one uniform front, seeking out the voices in the dark hiding, dark tidings beneath the sound. "You should speak clearly, Else you go unheard and your words left unspoken." she warned with a mutter her own, but she'd not leave for patience had become her. The sounds continued to scatter and stumble, just outside of what could be made lucid. This was to be no easy feat, but the one before was due to be the same. Forever if it took, she'd last here through famine and weariness should the need arise. It need only ask this of her, and she would provide for she was without want or care at the length it would demand.

She'd receive a notification prompt as the man she'd coined a prophet was revealed. A darkened brown locks in a scattered disheveling, proving him as human as those that surround him. "Freyd, then it shall hold its place upon my tongue." as she'd fake a smile as a form of happiness with a tap of acceptance, adding his name below hers on the left. She'd curtsy and look to the side of her HUD, unknowing and intensely gaining a deeper pull of what was to come. "Gladly kind sir, that garb betrays you. Ask away at any metrics you seek, I am concerned naught for I believe in the name you've provided is ample even if it were a falsehood." spoken from the woman for she cared not if the name he had given was not his own. "I must gather foliage, and return to this Zackariah. I will not question your scheme." She'd speak inspecting the side, leaving Freyd to read away.

"A start." she'd tap the screen and with it a responsibility as it alters and fixes itself to her eyes. "Dreary or not, A step and a pluck of a string I am no stranger. Aincrad..." She'd whisper dragging her hand upon the wood just to feel the grain. "Lost, no more accurate expression. If you shall be my messenger, then I do the fabric no justice by denying your offer." Morrighan places a hand to her chest. "I am N..." she catches herself and corrects it, the change still fresh like a hastily removed bandage it was hard not to notice the sting. "Morrighan." she'd lean slightly forward with a bow. "So dear courier, thyne name be?" she'd stare back with an intense gaze, peering into his darkened cowl in search of eyes. What she sees was nothing more than a cover of intentional obscurity, one that she could yet break through.

Sliding through and finding nothing that pertained to her specifically, it seems there was more at play here than a simple encyclopedia that would lead her to her. The struggle continues when a voice seems aimed at her directly, shifting softly casting the white hair on her head to glide over her shoulder. "You seem to be struggling.  Do you require assistance?" The voice asked of her to which she'd feign a smile as was customary of such an exchange. "Guided here under the pretense that this, these should offer me assistance. They show no such rights, no path to take other than what seems to be simple chores." Looking the male over he'd play the part of a villain in a tale rightly. "Your words hold not the cloth on your back, pity still you'll find no free penance in me if that is what you seek." The words soft spoken and graceful, a threat veiled well enough that to most it would seem a compliment.

The mental words exchanged fell to silence once again, being consumed by the white noise that surrounded her. She could hear something else in the shimmer between but it was difficult to make into an understanding. She'd focus upon it and it sounded like a whisper too low to make out, her eyes closed as she sat with her legs folded underneath her. A soft breeze returned and offered with it comfort from the humidity that was starting to stagnant on the back of her neck. "I can hear you, but I know not what you speak. If you wish to be heard, instead of muttering soured fear from the confines of the pool you must shout a brighter cry." Morrighan delivers over the sounds of the waterfall of the sage. They seem to diminish and fall into obscurity, taking withdrawal unsure how to respond to her infallibility and declaration.

Finding her way back having faced all that would take her image, within her bosom a myriad of faces that mimicked her own. The town seemed ripe with activity with many a frame wandering about with no sense of direction, she understood what it was like. Still, no purpose held within her, she'd been piecing together what this place was with compliance given by the very same that could not harm her. A glimmered flash of white in her eyes as the Gemini flares in her head. "Perhaps the quest board should be your first course of action." it guides her, Morrighan sees what it was drawing her toward. "Wave your hand in front of it from left to right." As she does it responds and a pile of text jumps to bite her, lost looking at the list she'd have no bearing on what to take next for this was all a new experience for her.

Mochi - LD used for +3 LD

Nisa | HP:20/20 | EN:2/2 | DMG:1 | MIT:9 | ACC:3 | LD:6 | THRNS:9

Morrighan looks to the water, seeing within it her reflection as if speaking to that which now lay dormant within her. "Where are we?" she'd inquiry, having the sense that this place was not in fact reality although it appeared something close to it. "Aincrad, a digital world." the response came as she had hoped it would. A recollection begins to flood in, the imagery of a floating figure adorned in violet across a painted red sky. "I vaguely recall, how long has it been since then." the thoughts rang between her ears, to the cricket that now rests upon her shoulder. "Years now, years." The answer she was not expecting to be the case, but she knew it was some time for her to forget as much as she had. With a silence taking hold she'd smile with a fake show of acknowledgment of what she had been given. "Thank you."

"To call forth what is within." the Gemini speaks before a pop is heard, sliding like a ghost toward Morrighan and fading in like an image coming into focus. The storm above stops, as the woman places a now free hand to her chest and mutters softly: "Welcome home." Her destination had been reached, she'd take to pressing upwards unsure as to why she did. At the top was a field of green grass, a pool of reflective water seemingly untouched by civilization. She'd fold her legs and sit, finding her gaze staring deeply into the falls as they fell. The cast is a spectrum of color from the spray of moisture, visible under the now revealed rays of the sun. She'd grin and listen inward before she'd think "You are hardly gone, you can hear me can you not?" and to the sounds of roaring waves a response "Correct, I'll be here if you need an answer or two."