(OP) What is This?

[Kiru 0]

 "Alright." I chuckled, handing him the rest of the box that contained at eight cupcakes left. I then picked up the two boxes left and looked at the blonde haired candy freak. There was a twinge of happiness that went through me as I looked at him.

I was glad to hear that the child was interested in the guild. This kid was obnoxious for sure but he was still in fact just a kid and made a lot of mistakes. If he met me a year ago I would have walked away from him by now, annoyed by his cheerful attitude. However, I had a change of heart since then and my values were shifted from being anti-hero to kind of anti-hero. I knew that if Keith were here that he would do something like this; he would do everything he could to help him. Surely he would also make this kid super happy but that was pushing it for me. I wasn't interested in making him happy, keeping him from dying in his early years was my main priority. 

Luckily I didn't have to tell him to follow me, he instead followed my lead when I began to walk out of the alley. Soon Manta Gaul walked beside the two of us. I smile politely at her and continued my conversation with Lazarus. "So, I'm in a guild called "The Azure Brigade," and also am one of the commandants. Meaning, I'm pretty high ranked. The person you'll meet will also be very high esteemed so make sure you're nice to him. I explained to him while walking outside of the safezone. Up ahead was none other than Ssendom. He was leaning against the wall nonchalantly, far away from the guards. I knew the reason he did so, Keith made the mistake of getting too close a lot. Especially when he dared to go inside the town with me he was often hurt badly. I waved at him from afar with a smirk on my face. 

"So, what's so important? I was learning some tricks." I then motioned to the "candy man" beside me. "And this is, well I don't know his name but he was teaching me how to swipe a few sweets. He wants to ask about the guild if that's alright." I stated, sincerely hoping that what Ssendom was going to discuss wouldn't be classified for Azure only. I would feel guilty if he had to leave without getting to know the guild members I told him he would meet. 

[Lazarus 0]

"So you're the guy I'm supposed to meet? You look tough." Lazarus took in a quick wiff of air and stared at him. "And you smell an awful lot like candy too, don't tell me you have a sweet tooth like me?" The candy man smiled with six lollipops in his mouth, it wasn't a teeth smile because then it'd be gross. He held out his fist suggesting 'Fistbump! Fistbump!' "You must be a real cool guy if you like candy, actually, I think all of you are cool." Lazarus looked at Kiru, then Ssendom. "So, I'm Lazarus, not sure if I told you guys my name or not."

[Ssendom 0]

Dom looked at Kiru who was walking up with someone unexpected. Manta was accompanying Those two aswell, "I don't think I asked them to bring company." He whispered to himself before they were close enough to hear. Once they were directly next to him, Kiru started off with a question and them a poor attempt to introduce the new person. The boy began talking about candy and yapping his brains off, all dom could do was twitch one of his eyes, the only things visible of his face through the Hydra Skull.

After the boy introduced himself as Lazarus, Dom sighed, "No, I don't like candy." was the only thing he said to him before turning his attention to Kiru and Manta, "Zel didn't want to worry you two, I am here to inform you that our short blonde commandant will be missing for a short while. And if you need to get a hold of him, just talk to me. I won't elaborate on why before you ask." Dom informed the two girls, he could understand why Zel didn't want to being it up to them directly since he was close to both of them. "Also he should look into a guild that he could actually be of use to, Azure isn't for him." He stated bluntly without acknowledging the boy who had way too much candy in his mouth that it made Dom cringe mentally.

[Lazarus 0]

"Here, catch!" Lazarus threw a peppermint at Ssendom right before he heard him say he didn't like candy. The tiny peppermint hit him in the mouth, and Lazarus put on that 'Oh sorry pal' face. "Oops, let me pick that up." The candy man bent over and retrieved the peppermint looking back at Ssendom when he finished all the lollipops. "So you don't like candy? Well, that's okay." The candy man unintentionally made him mentally cringe, without even knowing it Lazarus was stuffing his face with muffins, cakes, and chocolate bars. "Dude, you're missing out on a lot!" It's surprising that this candy man could still talk with that much food in his mouth.

[Kiru 0]

From afar I could see that Ssendom was wearing the Hydra helmet. To be honest, at first I thought it was Zelrius. However, my reasoning knew it wasn't, as Ssendom was much taller than Zelrius and quite frankly Zelrius would have been wearing a tuxedo or something. At first the general though of him wearing Zelrius' helmet made me uncomfortable but it also made me scared and happy. Happy because then Zelrius would not hide his face under the stupid thing, and frightened that something could have happened to him. If the latter was true then the reason Manta and I were called here for would be devastating. I swallowed hard and tried to rule the thought out of my head. But what if, somehow, Zelrius had managed to die? What would even happen? Surely the news would be negative.  

Up close the helmet made me even more disgusted; I never liked it. How grotesque and ugly it was. Sure, it was a major pride symbol but it was also a symbol for the boss battle that it was obtained from. The battle for that floor was the worst by far because it was the first I had lead a group, and at the time I was sure that you couldn't possibly die in the game. Knowing that, I went into the battle and didn't lead my team at all, two people died because of my lack of leadership and that thing Zelrius paraded around on his head all the time didn't help me to forget. (It probably even made my guilt grow.) Not only that but I couldn't ever see what Zel's face looked like while wearing it. Even though I could pick up his emotions through his messages and speech it's challenging to detect feeling through no expression. Now Ssendom was wearing it, making his face hidden as well. I didn't like it one bit but I knew this was something I had to keep to myself, it wasn't my choice what they wore. 

As soon as he got into speaking distance Lazarus made the first mistake of being overly excited. Instantly I regretted bringing Lazarus along. He was way too immature and really couldn't handle this at his age. And based off of the reaction Ssendom gave off, he wasn't to happy about my company. "Whoops." I thought, really wishing that I left the blonde child in the city and directed him to find a guild on his own. "Hey-" I began to tell Lazarus to chill out, but it seemed I would be too late. He had already made another mistake within twenty seconds of meeting Dom. I cringed when the candy was thrown, hit the helmet, and bounced onto the pixelated grass. If I were Ssendom I would have already gotten extremely angry at him. I was actually surprised how high his tolerance was. I sighed, stepping forward to apologize to Ssendom for bringing such a ruckus but once again Lazarus cut in and made a scene. Not a pretty one either. "Sorry, I didn't think he'd be like this. I'm just afraid that if I don't expose him to a guild or something that'll he'll get killed." 

Directly after Lazarus showed his unhealthy amount of candy in his mouth, Ssendom calmly continued with explaining to Manta and I that Zelrius would be gone. My stomach sank, he was going to leave again for awhile. Even though he kinda told me through Ssendom that he was leaving I still was frustrated. Why did he keep leaving? I pursed my lips and crossed my arms. Finally, I spoke, not caring whether I was being intrusive. "Is he alright? Nothing has happened to him right?" I wanted to ask why he left but he already said he would not tell us the reason, which hurt. If Zelrius really considered me to be a family member like he claimed I was then why was I not included on this? I looked at the ground, then back to the lifeless helmet. "You're not just saying this right? He'll only be gone for a little? Like, he's not...dead or anything right?"  It was hard to ask the last part because I was afraid of the answer I would receive back from him. 

[Lazarus 0]

It would take a fool to not notice that Zelrius had Too many waifus, yes Ssendom you are one too many loyal followers, and Lazarus was no fool. "So I'm guessing this Zelrius guy is a big shot right? If he's one of you guys, then it's fine by me." He was talking like he was someone important, but levels didn't really matter, all that mattered was delicious... sugary... honey cakes... "Sugar..." He waited too long without adding some more sweets in his mouth, he searched in his stash and pulled out seventeen peppermints jamming into his mouth. His eating habits were indeed sure to get him diabetes unhealthy, but somehow he didn't look fourty pounds overweight. "I sense that my presence isn't exactly welcome here, sorry for holding you guys up." Lazarus turned and did a silent wave to signal his goodbyes. "Phew, didn't have enough candy in my stash tank."

[Amira 0]

Manta raised an eyebrow as Dom related to them that Zelrius would be missing for a short while. She was relieved. She was supposed to go on a date with Zelrius, which she was nervous about, but Zel had also seemed like he had had a lot on his mind before. She was glad to hear that he was taking a break. Hopefully he would come back with less weight on his shoulders, and if he didn't, she would do her best to relieve that stress. That is, if he was taking a break and not training like a madman. She nodded to Dom. "Thank you for taking the time to tell me." She said with a smile, pulling out a mint that she had pickpocketed from the orange haired player, popping it in her mouth before starting to walk off.