Nari-Lanreth

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

“Audience? Oh, you mean Onóra? No, she won’t complain. I have a feeling she enjoys having the estate to herself… the music is always cranked when I go to turn it on…” Nari wasn’t truly bothered by it – she did the same when it was just her there. Besides, what better way to enjoy…? “Oh, yeah. She’s an up and coming tailor. Really only does clothing right now… at least, for me. Maybe she does armour too, I’m not sure. I can ask?” She was halfway to opening her menu when NIGHT made the final comment, causing Nari to stumble – barely catching her footing as she looked towards the girl, tryin

She had just opened her mouth to argue the rebuttals, when she realised that NIGHT had asked for recommendations on local eateries. Her mouth snapped shut, then opened slowly, then shut slowly again as she tried to process the lack of arguments, alongside trying to think up an answer. “I… uhm, you know what? Let’s go somewhere you know, this time. I’m interested in seeing what other restaurants are available, and maybe learning more about your favourite places.” Her expression was thoughtful as she responded to the question, and her eyes roamed along NIGHT’s face as the girl seemed to try

Nari’s steps slowed, eventually coming to a stop as she tried to figure out the odd tone in her friend’s words. There was something there, she just couldn’t quite figure out what. “You wanted to talk about something?” Her words were lilted in a tone of disbelief, as if she wasn’t sure she’d heard correctly. She cocked her head, looking at the girl for a moment before continuing. “Let’s go get something to eat, I want to hear what you have to say. And before you argue – it’s important to me, so just do me the favour and accept, please?” She waited, less than patiently for NIGHT’S resp

The sigh came out as the lecture had hit the midway point – she had been aware of the consumables, but she’d…well, she’d not bothered with them. She had them stowed away in her inventory – and a few on order as well, but it was something she had been saving for…well, for times when she’d need them. ‘Like fighting a giant air creature that you can’t hit and leaves you swinging like an idiot. Yeah, like those moments.’ The final question caught Nari off guard, and it took her a few breaths to not only register what was asked – but to realise an answer was expected. Her eyes drifted away fro

Nari looked behind her at the player, cowering as she’d been instructed to do so. A broad smile split her face as she nodded, both amused and surprised at how well she’d done – albeit, mostly for naught. “Yeah, it uh…it moved. But it’s okay – for now. Nothing more dangerous than another level unlocking…Shall we see where this one leads us?” She strode forwards to the mechanism in the centre of the raised platform, seeing that it had shifted slightly as whatever locks had held it in place had disengaged. Throwing a smile at the other player – pretending to be fearless for her sake – Nari t

She couldn’t help it, she felt the laugh escape her in the darkness as everything went out – their work hindered by a single throw of a switch. She heard the curse from the girl, the frustration ripe within the tone – but that only made the laughing fit worse. It took Nari a few second to compose herself, tears streaming down her face as she tried to get back some measure of control over herself. “I don’t think that worked how you wanted it to, did it?” A few giggles broke up the sentence, and she was still trying to hold back another fit of laughter as she crossed to the south west pill

“I’ve considered it…but I don’t want to focus on DPS. I’m…I’m not trying to kill things. Just draw attention to myself and set it up for other players to take advantage of the debuffs…” Her response was spoken with a half-attentive tone, as she continued to pour over everything, trying to figure out what needed to be fixed. Changed. Whatever, in order to make her successful in her role. “I just need to figure out the whole…hitting. It’s never been this bad before. Never.” Her eyes slipped up to NIGHT, walking beside her. She paused in her frantic scrolling, realising how wild she must hav

She bit down on the response that had almost surged out, knowing that the words would’ve been hollow, spoken only in frustration and nothing more. Instead, she said what she truly felt, letting the emotions drift away, her voice sounding empty even to her own ears. “First dungeon or not... I was useless. Less than useless. All that time preparing myself, and I’m still not ready.” Her eyes fell to the ground as she walked, her face lit with a mixture of frustration and contempt for herself. “One, maybe two times missing sure. That was what? One hit, the entire conflict. The entire dungeon.

Nari’s eyes stared at the elemental as it burst into pieces, her annoyance at…well, everything, fresh on her face. The emotions had boiled up now that the fight was over, and as NIGHT suggested to leave the area, Nari could only muster up a single word in response. “Yeah.” Turning and making her way back towards the entrance of the dungeon, she confirmed that the map had been monitoring their progress, before closing out the menu and thinking back on the absolute disaster that had been the adventure through the dungeon itself. She’d been near useless – something that she wasn’t pleased ab

The creature was on the brink of death, and all that Nari could think was that she wanted to end this thing. Not out of hatred, nor frustration – simply out of the chance to be done with it and have a moment to breath, to relax. She knew this had been one of her hardest fights yet – something she likely wouldn’t have survived without the help of her friend. But, for now, she wanted to just finish this and return, alive and well, to her nice warm house. The desire drove her forward, allowing her feet to slide where they would’ve otherwise remained still. Allowing the shield to come up and

Nari felt the rage billowing inside of her as yet another of her attacks failed to connect with anything substantial on the elemental. Sure, it was made of air, but her companion had managed to strike something vital. All the while, all that Nari had been able to do was…swing wildly and miss everything. The frustration growing inside of her was pushing against her battle calmness – threatening to boil over and erupt like a flow of pure, unbridled hatred. At the elemental, at Cardinal, at everything. Breathing deeply – now that she could – she forced the emotions back down, knowing that i

Nari quickly passed her eyes over the brief message, too enraptured in how simply this entire endeavour was proving to be. It was…well, too simple – for something that Cardinal had created. She didn’t like it, and although she wasn’t about to voice her concerns, she was waiting for something to pop out of a hidden door and place them against the wall. She knew that with Cleo here, she’d be hard pressed to defend them against something likely to be brought into such a death trap. “If anything makes a sudden appearance, I want you to stay behind me – got it?” Her words were filled with a to