Nari-Lanreth

She felt the fingers grasp for her hand, intertwining with her own before pulling her forwards. The sudden touch, the warmth, the strength, all of it washed over Nari. She felt her heart beat quickly, before she was nearly swept off her feet – physically, as well as emotionally. Stumbling to keep up, she followed the girl down to the teleporter pad, letting herself be led up onto the platform and smiling at the girl every time her eyes shifted in Nari’s direction. She felt elation at her sudden success. Surprise, yet joy. ‘Perhaps…' She cast the thought aside before it could t

“Harbinger of death? Grim Reaper…? I…guess that’s one aspect of Morrígan, but…no. To my people she’s a defender – the one who rallies others to ensure the safety of others…and, well…she’s also said to be the goddess of fate.” She followed NIGHT out the door, folding her hands in front of her as she began the walk back to the teleporter. “She’s actually seen as a good omen, a blessing, where my family comes from. Not the dark, murderous creature that the media portrays…being named after her earthen name is considered a blessing – a sign of someone who cares about others so much that they’ll def

Nari fidgeted with her food for a moment, debating on whether to bother answering the jab or not. She knew it had been in jest, but something within her had taken it far more personally than anything else. Perhaps it was the history behind it, both hers and the name sakes. Whatever the reasoning, the reply came almost instinctually, the words sounding as if read from a book, or a deep memory. “I’m named after my grandmother, who in turning was named after our people’s representation of foreshadowing death…more commonly known as the goddess Morrígan, to the common world. It…it’s usually

Nari paused at the words – a few milliseconds of silence, before she burst out laughing. The girl had taken the words to heart, she had to give her that. “Yeah…yeah generally that does make a pretty big difference. Something about…actually doing damage. Well done, by the way.” She threw a thumbs up and a smile at Cleo, before glancing up towards the hole, their escape from this underground cavern. Or so she hoped. She was becoming more and more concerned that this would lead them to nowhere again, or worse – another underground tunnel. “How about we go have nappy time above the grou

A quick nod at the notation of the floor, before the topic of the estate came up – a tone of indifference in the mention of it. And yet, Nari couldn’t help but feel as if it were an evasion of the topic at hand, as if it were something that was desired to be passed over – normally something she wouldn’t allow. But today was different, and so she let the topic drop, making a mental note that she’d come back to it later. “Alright. Sixth floor.” She cocked her head suddenly, her mouth shifting into a sly grin as she suddenly realised something. “You know…it’s ironic that you’re afraid to be

She knew the path down to the teleporter, and the same path away from it once she had arrived on the seventeenth floor. The walk itself had been relatively calm, and as she made her way down past the waterway, she found herself staring out towards the horizon in curiosity – a sudden longing for the ocean and lakes she had lived near reaching her heart. She stopped, briefly, to stare out into the horizon – the sun reflecting off the calm waves that lapped at the shores, the lack of any white caps signifying just how smooth and calm the large body of water truly was. Memories came back to

As the first of the two exploded into thousands of shards, Nari shot a quick smile towards Cleo – trying to show the girl her awareness of her skills. It had been a large improvement from their previous battle, and Nari wanted to try and bolster the courage within the girl – something that she herself had once required, not too long ago. The final scorpion seemed to hesitate in its advance for a brief second as its partner exploded – likely trying to figure out if it was able to take advantage of their distraction from the fight, or recalculating possibilities. Nari didn’t truly care what

Her own strikes had done essentially what she was hoping, and just as she saw both scorpions begin to freeze up in place, Cleo went rushing by – slamming an attack of her own into the jewelled scorpion; bringing its health bar to a near empty state. Nari gave a quick nod towards the girl, before turning her attention back towards the targets before them. Neither was completely gone yet, and she knew that the longer this fight went on, the more dangerous it would get. She was determined not to let that happen. Letting her shield drop slightly, she pulled back her spear, taking a moment to

Nari’s hands had frozen midair as NIGHT had begun retelling her story, not wanting to disrupt the occasion with any sort of movement that would break her focus – that would let this little insight slip away. Even as the words died off, her hands remained motionless for a moment, the piece of tamago shaking slightly as the time stretched on. Realising that the story was truly concluded, she popped the piece into her mouth, taking a few moments to finish it before daring to speak. “A reminder of the things we’ve lost…” Her eyes were on the flower as she spoke, a thoughtful expression on her

The fork seemed to call to her as NIGHT held it out, and Nari had already leaned forward when she was given her warning about playfulness and losing food. Delicately – almost exaggerating the movement – she carefully took the proffered dessert, taking a moment to savour the taste before sitting back upright. She folded her hands in her lap again, placing what she hoped was a “innocent good girl” expression on her face. “Aren’t I always good?” She cocked her head, trying to mimic the cuteness she’d seen others do, wondering if it was coming out as ridiculous as it felt for her. She wa

“Yeah…I guess grinding is the way to go…” Her attention was drawn by the food, and her mouth fell open at the sight of it. She hadn’t expected quite this much food, and she suddenly realised she may have overdone it a little bit. Humming softly to herself in content, she picked up the chopsticks located to the side of the table, eyeing the selection before shrugging to herself and grabbing the closest piece that was available – she didn’t recognise it other than to confirm it was sashimi. Almost hesitantly she took a bite of the piece, testing it’s flavour before a soft moan escaped. “Holy shi

“Well… for starters it let’s me spend more time together with you. But also, I’ve been told that it’s an excellent way of hunting down unique item enhancements for armour and weapon upgrades.” She tilted her head to the left, lifting her right hand and holding up two fingers in the shape of a V. “And I think we all know which of those two is far more important…” She wiggled her two fingers in emphasis, before letting the second one drop, leaving just her pointer finger up – and a smile on her face that bespoke her humorous intent once more. She wasn’t sure how far she could push it, bu

She fell silent for a while as she considered a few things, her hand playing with one of the utensils laid out on the table, eyes seeming to have drifted away from the world around her. She wasn’t sure how long she was lost in thought – maybe a few moments at most – but it was long enough that when she did return to the conscious world, it was with a shiver. “I – contrary to your beliefs here – prefer not to scream, if at all possible. Nor do I really like the idea of a Battle horn…Cardinal lets you use skills in anyway that fits, so long as it’s logical, right?” Her eyes were still glaze

“You’re right, it wasn't a very good name. I'll figure out something better…” Her eyes glanced at the notes NIGHT had been taking, the thought of losing the heavy armour causing her nose to wrinkle slightly. “Like I said, hitting things is more secondary…and added bonus. Oh, and I have block. And parry. For what that is worth…I've never really used it though. Parry, that is…maybe I should consider that…” Her eyes darted over the possibilities, trying to conceive… “I think the big thing is I need to really focus more on…well, being a tank. As nice as being able to hit back is, I'm not g

“Combinations. The ability to balance between quest lines and the floor fights – I need something that will give me the balance to do tanking in any aspect.” Her eyes seemed to glaze over slightly as she spoke, a thoughtful expression on her face. “Basic tanking; draw everything towards me and be able to take the hit. Hence the focus on Mitigation…although clearly the attention grabbing needs work. That being said, there’s also the secondary aspect of being able to debuff – mostly in Techs. Although I do have a few songs on order…I’m sure Iris will get those done eventually – she’s been…busy.”

“Canada…Kanata? I guess that’s not really a…well, I guess they don’t teach that in world geo, everywhere. Which tells me you’re not from North America. Can tick that one off the list at least.” She winked at the girl as she pretended to cross off a couple of items in the air, exaggerating the movement ever so slightly. “Right. Ice cream. That…that makes sense. More sense than straight vanilla…far more sense…” She paused, as the waiter came and went, before continuing her line of thought. “Oh? We’re plate sharing? I can more than happily get in on that…” Her broad smile faltered for

“Now this…is more like it.” The tone spoke of frustration, rather than pleasure at what lay ahead, and as Nari glanced over at Cleo she felt her frustration only grow. For herself, this challenge wouldn’t be too bad, but with the lower level player…she cursed Cardinal again, knowing that it wasn’t doing much to help their situation. “Stay behind me, I’m going to draw their attention in. Hopefully I can stun them both and we can finish this off rather quickly…That’s the plan, at least.” She took a few steps into the room, pulling her shield up and levelling out her spear, glancing between

“Only thing I’m allergic to is bad jokes…except when I make them, then I’m surprisingly resilient.” She giggled a bit at her own poor joke, before deciding to be serious for a moment. “Not sure I ever did…northern central area of the lovely frozen tundra that is Kanata. Which puts me at a disadvantage miss…?” She left the question hanging, wondering if the girl would ever actually answer it – or if it would go ignored, for the time being. She watched as the fingers ran through a menu, placing their order for them, seemingly confident in her decisions. Nari’s ears perked up at the mention

Her tongue came out again at the commentary about the harem. Although her face was affixed with a look of disagreement – she was secretly, or well, maybe not so secretly enjoying the back and forth banter. It was…well, it was enjoyable. “Where I come from we have…well, a bastardised version of sushi. Which basically covers everything from “wanna-be sushi” to “I saw the name sashimi once and decided I’m a chef”. So, when it comes to the real thing…yeah, I may have never tried it before.” She gave a sheepish smile, hoping that her innocence wouldn’t be an issue here. She knew that others w

Her eyes hovered on the girl as she made her joke, snorting in a way that Nari actually found somehow…cute? Whatever the feeling, it brought a smile to her face – one without sarcasm or a devilish intent, for once. As they approached the restaurant, she considered her words carefully, before deciding that it was safe to do so. “I thought there were no benefits? Or is that just something I don’t have the experience to unlock, yet?” She let her smile rest on her face as she turned her attention to the menu being proffered to her. She barely glimpsed at it as she heard the words ‘Japanese-we

Her eyes drifted over the drink as it was set down before her, but her attention was focused on hearing what the man had to offer for information about their coming outing. She listened intently to his limited introduction into it – they’d be exploring a cave system. ‘Sounds like a dungeon. Shouldn’t be too bad with the three of us. Especially seeing as he’s been there before – at least a part of it should be familiar, I hope.’ His commentary about trusting them was…well, interesting to her. They’d only just met – but she had to admit there was a bit of trust required when partying. You h

“The benefits – hey, wait for me!” She gave chase after NIGHT as the girl immediately made her way off the teleporter pad, heading down a street Nari wasn’t at all familiar with. She managed to catch up after a moment – the words streaming from her without hesitation as she came up alongside the other girl. “I’m definitely glad you found your humour – but just to be clear, I’m going to pay you back for this.” She let the threat sit for a moment, her tone one of someone only slightly serious. A few seconds later, she was still mumbling to herself. “I can’t believe…going to have to make sur

“Well, I may have borrowed an outfit or two-“ The words stopped suddenly as Nari realised what she had just walked in to. She came to a full stop as her brain processed everything she had just heard, and realised. Her mouth opening and closing as her eyes seemed to go distant, things falling into place as NIGHT’s teasing suddenly made her consider a large number of situations in the past. “Fuck me.” The only two words to slide off her tongue in the moment, as she continued to process everything. After a few seconds, she regained her composure, continuing to walk as though nothing had hap

“Oh that address very much is of concern to me…” She mumbled the words to herself before realising that the other girl could likely hear her as well. In an attempt to hide what she had said – or at least to turn the conversation away from acknowledging it, she quickly continued talking, her voice carrying an excitement to it. “I did not set up for her to move in. She just… spent a lot of time there. And so it meant sense for her to move in. Seeing as she doesn’t have a place of her own yet.” “It is my doing. Damn it.” She added after a pause to consider the whole situation. Her expression

Her smile at the apologetic words of the girl for having dragged her into this only broadened when she mentioned the friend waiting. Nari stopped, reaching out a hand and gently placing it on the girl’s shoulder, gently turning her to focus on Nari. Once their eyes had locked, Nari spoke – wicked grin on her face as her tone dripped with humour. “It’s honestly no worry. Once we get out of here you can come explain it all to Onóra. I’m sure she’ll only kill you a little bit.” Her barking laughter echoed down the hallway, and for a moment Nari felt herself shaking as the laughing fit took o