[F4-PP] The Winter's Call <<Absolute Zero>>

[Astreya 0]

The strike from Astreya had been enough to send it reeling a little bit, and the girl had been panting, despite the cold atmosphere around her she could feel herself as being very warm at the moment.  Either the adrenaline of toppling such a big foe as a team, or maybe it was simply the fact that she'd been able to ask for help and receive it in this light- that people were willing to help her?  She didn't know, but she could feel her own excitement hammering in her heart at the moment.

Nari shot forward, the spear striking their foe and calling for Koga to finish it- and finish it the man did.  He shot forward like a rocket, slamming into the center mass of the beast with enough raw force to topple it...but somehow it held on, and for a moment, Astreya feared they might need to keep fighting.  But then it began to topple, the last of its health bar draining as Koga leapt backward and the beast collided with the broken, frozen lake.  It shattered through the upper layer, but being ice itself, the creature merely floated in the icy waters.

The dark-haired woman grinned back at Koga.  "Awesome!" she cheered, before she blinked, turning her gaze to look at where the beast had been standing.  It began to fade away, much as the blizzard did, clearing up the air around them.  The figure slowly faded into view with the ice and snow fading, and whoever they were, they'd taken a look at the players before turning and beginning to walk away.  "Heyyyyy!  Thank youuuu!" Astreya called, waving her arms wildly overhead.  She was tempted to go after the person... but she had the feeling they were kind of a loner, like Freyd was.  "I like, totally owe you one!"

[Nari-Lanreth 0]

That gait…the way they walked…it was all familiar to Nari as she peered after the slowly disappearing form. She took a few steps towards the individual, a smile breaking across her face as she raised a hand in greeting, waving it wildly and almost smacking herself in the face with the shield.

“Hey! NIGHT!” The smile slowly drew back as the figure continued walking, and her gaze turned to Astreya and Koga, a slight look of confusion in her eyes. “Where’s she going…?”

She let her hand drop slightly as she tried to figure out the disconnect that the girl was showing. She had thought they were on the mend, thought that maybe things were getting better, now that they’d had their…well, conversation. She hadn’t felt like there was still disconnect between them. ‘And I don’t think NIGHT has any disagreements with the others…I mean, who doesn’t love Iris? And Koga is…well, okay, he’s difficult sometimes, but he’s still a good person in general.’

Spoiler

Word Count: 164

 

[Koga 0]

Koga slid his weapon back into the wood sheath as Astreya called out to the mysterious stranger who'd helped them. Cocking his head to the side, Koga's gaze followed the direction that Astreya was looking until his eyes settled upon the not too distant figure. A figure that was immediately recognizable. No one else in the world habitually wore tracksuits like she did.

As if only to confirm what Koga already knew, Nari called out after the woman, "Hey! NIGHT!" Like an automatic response, Koga's face darkened, his left hand moving back towards the mouth of his saya just as soon as it had left it.

The man chewed the inside of his cheek as he turned to watch Nari carefully, saying nothing, but surely, she could feel the daggers his stare was throwing at her. Koga cared little for whatever apologies she'd made to himself, or to NIGHT. He believed in words only about as much as he could see the air they were breathed upon.

Edited March 22, 2022 by Koga

[NIGHT 0]

“Hey! NIGHT!”

that damned voice. night willed herself not to turn around nor slow her pace. past the ice meant slippery snow, conditions wet, but she still allowed herself the haste nonetheless. had she continued walking, the player believed, perhaps the party would've assumed they got the wrong person. plus, night thought, it wasn't as though she'd been taking nyanko out on a walk recently. a completely different person, that 'night', she reasoned.

the cat merely bristled at the lack of attention from his owner.

it wasn't until her fears crept in about the attention that she finally decided to slip away. out of their vision (hopefully), to allow her form to be cast away into the white was as easy as a snap of her fingers. granted, wearing black hadn't exactly helped her against the white. when cardinal took hold, however, that was when the system reigned king.

and she let it. night basked in that quiet, somber solitude as she made her way elsewhere on the floor.

---

ID206684 | ld15+6=21 | stealth.

[Astreya 0]

Astreya had been waving at the retreating figure, content to just let them fade away back into the distance.  Whoever they might've been, Astreya had absolutely no reason to doubt their intentions after the figure had come to their aid with absolutely no reason to do so... aside from the fact that the monster had interrupted their ice skating.  However, a shout from Nari caused the young woman to blink, and she turned, glancing toward her friend with a look of slight confusion on her face.  NIGHT?  That was... familliar.

It wasn't until she glanced at Koga too that it clicked- he'd been the one to bring her up back at the Christmas party.  He'd indicated that Astreya should check in with NIGHT to see if the armored maiden was ready for the Front Lines or not.  She frowned slightly, reaching a hand back to scratch at her hair in her own slight confusion, before the glare that Koga was giving to Nari was fairly evident upon his face.

Man, what the hell had happened?

"Hey like...are you two okay?  Things are like, super tense.  I was totally having a lot of fun with the like, whole fight and the teamwork but..." she continued, glancing between the two, sheathing her weapon before it seemingly vanished as the combat fully ended.  "Is this about-" she began, looking back up to the distance, but the figure was gone.  Not just too far away to see. Gone.  "NIGHT or whoever?" she finished, frowning.

[Nari-Lanreth 0]

Her gaze was pulled from the fading figure as Astreya began talking again, her expression taking on a troubled look. Putting her feelings aside for the moment, she turned back to the duo she had completed the quest with, before throwing on a large smile.

“It’s…nothing. Just a little…communication thing.” Her eyes dart towards Koga as she speaks, before returning to lock onto Astreya. “The fight was great, wasn’t it? Really managed to pull ourselves together to bring it down quickly…”

A few seconds of silence, and Nari felt her old awkwardness returning. A call from a time ago, and something that she’d prefer to avoid at all costs. “We should do this again…one day. Assuming that you’re interested – or have another quest in mind. I don’t currently have anything specific that I need help with, but I’m sure something may come along eventually…but if either of you needs help with anything, I’m not…well, super busy…I mean, I could help.”

She let the words hover in the air, waiting to see if any of them would take the invite. She hoped that someone would. Her eyes continued to gaze across the snow covered area around them, searching hopelessly for any sign of the figure she had seen.

Spoiler

Word Count: 207

 

[Koga 0]

Whether she was being dismissive, didn't want to speak to Nari, or maybe just wanted to be left alone. Whatever the case was it appeared that despite what Nari had said, and whatever she had attempted thus far, it wasn't working as well as she thought.

Not that Koga had expected anything else. He hadn't really expected anything else. Attempted murder, tended to hurt relationships after all. Perhaps more of them than Nari had initially imagined.

Well, now it seemed she was suffering the consequences, as she appeared crestfallen, ignored by NIGHT entirely. Not acknowledged in the slightest.

"Yeah. Nothing," Koga said, following Nari's disheartened voice as he watched NIGHT disappear from sight. Not until he was certain he could find no trace of her, not even with his Searching skill did Koga finally release his grip on his weapon.

"C'mon, let's head back," Koga said suddenly, turning back towards the settlement. "I wasn't built for the cold."

[NIGHT 0]

so, the frost.

night knew where she'd wanted to go, but found it difficult to find. either the fall from earlier, the player caught up in her attack, had allowed her to find her directions mixed up in the snow, or cardinal had decided to remove that smaller ice rink that she swore had been somewhere nearby.

that was fine. the starglades were a good secondary location, anyway.

and she pried into her friends menu, as though to read the locations of the players she knew she saw. koga, on the fourth. nari, on the fourth.

unblinking. her eyes only stung further from the sharp winter air. and she sunk down into the fields open as skies above the glade seem to shimmer a different hue, beyond its bounds. that same sky, now slightly galaxial in nature. as though she could see the outlines of a distant planet against the plain blues. had it been the evening, surely it would've been a sight to see.

for now, however, the player was content with just quietly waiting, wondering, for when the group would leave the floor.

[Astreya 0]

The words that followed her question from Nari felt fake.  They were enough to look fake, despite the fact that there was no physical manifestation of them, but the hesitation between "it's" and "nothing" was more information than she likely had meant to reveal with that.  The following sentence wasn't much better.  Clarifying, but also in a way that simply just completely invalidated what it was that she was saying.  Seven words that carried an incredible amount of weight, and the dark-haired woman could feel the energy from them, like a volatile grenade that would explode at the slightest provocation.

Koga's sentiments were followed directly after.  The same words but spoken with an entirely different inflection.  The vastness of this 'nothing' was enough to create a massive gulf between her two friends.  She had sensed something, prior to, but not until this moment did she really understand just what sort of problem had occurred.  Of course, she didn't know the specifics- there was no way to without someone telling her, and she couldn't help but to wonder what had caused this seemingly strange divide.

Sensing perhaps an incoming silence, Nari continued, talking about the fight and Astreya, not wanting to leave the quiet hanging in the air, nodded. "Right?  That was like, so cool!" Astreya responded mechanically, beaming a sunny, happy-seeming smile onto Nari.

But Astreya's mind was whirring, and she didn't realize how much time had even passed with that silence until Nari spoke again, in broken, stilted words.  The young woman was reminded of how Nari had been at Koga's party in this way.  Unsure of herself and yet entirely too sure at the same time.  Rambling and unfocused.  Uncertain.  Speaking everything that came to mind without a filter and without a refined sense of what was meant by the words.

Iris was about to respond, when Koga spoke up, ready to return.  "Sure, yeah.  I might like, hang out a bit though.  I like, totally dig the cold, y'know?  And Frosty likes it too," she beamed, before glancing back to her violet-haired friend.  "But like, I'm totally down to hang and do something else!  I think I need like, a little break after all that like excitement with the big ice guy though," she continued, transitioning her grin to a sheepish smile.  "But any time!  Just like, let me know, or I'll let you know!" she cheered.

The group began to walk back, Astreya humming to herself as she did to keep up the illusion that nothing was wrong, or that she'd not noticed just how incredibly uncomfortable both of them were following her question.  She'd stepped on a landmine and hadn't realized it, and she was worried that both of them were now upset at her for that reason.  Nari...didn't seem to be.  She mostly just seemed more sad than anything.  But Koga proved harder to read.  He kept quiet, spoke in short sentences and generally just... felt annoyed and angry.

From how they'd talked, and the words used, she surmised that Nari had done something to offend Koga in a way that had caused this deep rift.  Something that Nari had either seemed to feel had been 'fixed' or that she'd been working toward.  She hadn't thought it was the party (even if Nari had caused undue troubles for Koga then with Kasumi) but it had to be something else.  She'd have to ask them later.  Separately.

But for now she merely moved with a light skip, humming the song of ignorance as she went.

[Nari-Lanreth 0]

Thread Summary

 

Total Word Count: 7752

7752 / 30 = 258 

 

Astreya: 258 * 25 = 6450 + 1500 = 7950
| 1,917 col, Zero Degree Icicle, Unlock <<Frozen Hide>> Extra Skill

Nari-Lanreth: 258 * 20 = 5160 + 1500 = 6660
| 1,724 col, Zero Degree Icicle, Unlock <<Frozen Hide>> Extra Skill
 

Koga: 258 * 25 = 6450 + 1500 = 7950
| 5,917 col [206277], 4 materials [206277], Tier 4 Rare Trinket {1} [206277], Zero Degree Icicle, Unlock <<Frozen Hide>> Extra Skill 
 

NIGHT: 258 * 60 = 15,480
| 3,272 col, Zero Degree Icicle, Unlock <<Frozen Hide>> Extra Skill