[PT] [PP|F22]Old Friends; New Beginnings

[Zajcica 0]

The boss battle was slowly encroaching on the front-liners. Yuki was simply waiting for the call. However, some small talk with Baldur had revealed that a person she once leveled with in her early days was back from a sort of hiatus, or at least she had not had the chance to speak with them in years now. Her eyes were locked on the menu in front of her with their profile pulled up: Mari.

After some time pondering if she would even give Yuki the time of day -- not that she thought she hated her -- she decided to start typing up a message.

Quote

Zajcica >> Uh, hey. Baldur told me you were back around and helping in the frontline's fight this time around. We haven't talked in awhile but I'm a frontliner now too so we might see each other when the time comes. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to catch up! I have a shop on the 22nd floor where I cook traditional Japanese cuisine. It's outside the safe zone so no guards will bother you and I'll treat you for free. Let me know if you wanna and I'll get started cooking something fresh.

"aaaand seeeend." Her nerves were setting in as she pressed the blue circle for confirmation. Almost immediately she was afraid that she was intruding on the Mari's privacy.

Spoiler

Name: Zajcica, Paladin Reborn
True Tier: 8
Level: 34
Paragon Level: 42
HP: 900/900
EN: 102/102

Stats:
Damage: 23
Mitigation: 241
Accuracy: 1
Battle Healing: 50
Loot Die: 4
Stealth Rating: -5
FL.AURA: 16
FR.AURA: 16
FR.THORNS: 8/16
Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Trap of Argalia - T4 Polearm Perfect | DMG III
Armor/Trinket: 
  - A Paladin's Journey - T4 Heavy Armor Demonic | Fl. Aura II; Fr. Aura II
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - Casseur de Logistille(T4/Sh./Per) | Thorns II; Fr. Thorns

Combat Mastery:
  - Combat Mastery: Mitigation R3

Combat Shift:
  - AOE Shift

Familiar Skill:
  - 

Custom Skill:
  - 

Skills:
  - Battle Healing R5
  - Fighting Spirit
  - Heavy Armor R5
  - Howl
  - Polearm R5
  - Searching R4

Extra Skills:
  - Block R5
  - Meditation
  - Survival

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:
  - Ferocity
  - Focused Howl
  - Iron Skin
  - Precision
  - Rampart

Mods:
  - Impetus
  - Night Vision

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:
  - Imugi's Inspiration x1
  - Imugi's Inspiration  x5
  - Teleportation Crystal x5

Housing Buffs:
  - Basic Kitchen: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps. Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.
  - Living Room: Increases out of combatHP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
  - Attic (Bedroom): +1 Expertise to declared utility skill. Cannot boost a skill without ranks, or increase a skill past its maximum rank. Cannot boost a skill the user has not learned yet. Ranks obtained using this buff will make the mods of that rank available for purchase. Mods obtained this way are unusable if this buff is removed until the skill is returned to the appropriate rank by way of SP purchase.
  - Master Bedroom: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
  - Master Bathroom: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
  - Extended Workshop: +2 Crafting EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
  - Ornate Fishing Pond: +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.
  - Dining Hall: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed. Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread.
  - Mega Slime Farm: +10% EXP to a thread. Limit one use per month. Must be used on a player's first post in a thread. Cooldown begins counting down when used in a post.

Guild Hall Buffs:
  - Meeting Room: If guild members held a completed Boss Meeting thread, participants receive +1 ACC for the first two turns in combat against a Floor, Event, or Field Boss. Limit one use per thread.
  - Dueling Arena: +3 to initiative. Limit one use per thread.
  - Trading Hall: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters and Rank 4 merchants/performers receive +1 crafting/identification attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters and Rank 5 merchants/performers receive +2 crafting/identification attempts per day.
  - Treasury: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild Totem:
  - Tanos
Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:
 - Cooking[10000exp] R10
Gathering Profession:

 

Edited Friday at 10:55 AM by Scarlet Firefly

[Mari 1]

Mari had just begun her trek back down after leaving Freyd's house. She could count the number of people who were on her friends list...who could message her on her hands. With the people who were missing..on a single hand. So she had to stop, in surprise - when she saw the little message notification pop up. "Huh?" Who would be messaging her? Macradon and Baldur were busy preparing for the frontlines...and she had just said goodbye to Freyd. Raidou? No, he wasn't the type to reach out.

"Yuki?" Mari asked quizzically as she read over the message once, then twice. Trying to make sense of it.The erratic way she typed her message. Yeh, that was the Yuki Mari remembered. A woman with bright pink hair and a personality to match. She had been so unsure of herself when she first met Mari. Then...if Mari recalled correctly she found someone in Crowzeph.  So Baldur was already telling people Mari was rejoining the frontlines, when she hadn't even fully decided herself? Mari sighed. Well. She may as well at least try. If she wasn't feeling it she could always just not participate in the following raid. 

 

Quote

To: Zajcica
From: Mari
Subject: Re
I'm close. I'll be there soon.

 

And off went Mari's message. Normally she wouldn't be in the mood to deal with people but she was trying to be a little bit better about that. Besides getting drunk last night and the following morning with Freyd and his lover put her in better spirits. Seeing the two all intimate - whilst it was lonely being the third wheel it was very serene..nice to see. If That old fucking grouch could find someone, anyone could. Maybe... it'd be nice to catch up with someone from her past. It definitely required much less energy than meeting someone knew.

And a Frontliner?

That was what the plucky woman always wanted, guess she got her wish. Good for her.

It didn't take long for Mari to find her way to the coordinates. It was a Japanese styled eatery - no, it was almost like a mansion. Why did everyone go to such extremes? Mari thought to herself. It seemed everyone tried to go for the biggest place. It Made Mari miss her own home. Still...it was very pretty. It reminded Mari of her time in Japan, when she lived there. The architecture reminiscent of some of the bigger shrines in the precinct. It had a oddly calming effect on her as Mari broached the perimeter and lightly knocked on the door.
 

[Zajcica 0]

The short message from Mari instantly made her even more nervous. Her tendency to overthink things was match only by the sheer confidence she had in how impervious her armor made her. With a guest now coming over, and soon, Yuki was now pressed for time. She would immediately head to her kitchen and get started with cooking something simple: Karaage and rice with a side salad.

Amidst the panic to get something ready before her company showed up, a knock on the door would catch her ear despite the two walls between her and her front door. Mari would hear a couple of hurried footsteps before the door slid open. The paladin with her typical smile and pink hair stood opposite Mari and chuckled nervously. "H-Hey. Sorry if my offer was more pressure than I meant it to be." Upon entering, Mari might notice that the place was more cramped than the outside had let on. The front door happened to lead straight into her bedroom with a small place to store things like umbrellas and shoes. The next room segmented from there was her personal kitchen and it did not look much bigger. Just enough room for essentials and a kotatsu set up nearby.

"The place is a little more cramped than it looks I'm sure but a lot of space is used for the shop. Most of the other rooms I bought were just for the buff they provide..." Yuki would then usher Mari into the kitchen she was working in. The food was nearly done by some miracle despite her insistence on not using the quick work any shop can do. "The food definitely isn't my best work but I only had so much time. It should be done in a few minutes. How have you been since we last saw each other?"

[Mari 1]

Yuki greeted her, an energetic ball of nerves. Mari snorted softly, a small smile creeping onto her lips. So, not much ha changed at least. "Yuki." the other woman didn't hear Mari, instead talking quickly - apologizing and talking about how cramped the place must be compared to its outward appearance. "Yuki." Mari repeated. "It's okay. You know me, I wouldn't have come if I didn't have the time." Mari followed the pinkette, a little amazed at how the place was practically a reverse TARDIS. That was a first.

It was unexpected...to be lead straight into her room. Mari shifted her glance to a slightly unkempt bed. Expecting Crozeph to be sleeping there. Then again, he had a penchant for falling asleep in the oddest of places that Mari wouldn't be surprised if she walked into the kitchen and he was curled up on top of the fridge. Mari followed Yuki through her home into her kitchen. "You can take your time, I actually ate breakfast for once." 

Mari turned to the table, and pulled out a chair sitting down. 

How have you been since we last saw each other?

"I was in the Black Iron Dungeon." Mari said, with perhaps a little too much simplicity She leaned back in the chair, making herself comfortable. "Do you have any tea, or coffee, by any chance." Then a pause, realizing she was being rude.

"And yourself? How is Cro? A frontliner now? That's great. I'm proud, you got to do exactly what you set out to do."

[Zajcica 0]

In her nervous ranting Mari, would soon get her to stop and assure the pink-ette that she was here because she wanted to be. The paladin would let out a relieving sigh and take a deep breath while she focused on finishing her food preparations. She would portion each plate carefully, including a larger bowl with more if such was necessary. The comment of Mari's whereabouts would slip right through the airhead's ears for a moment, the request for a drink was more important than that information. "Of course, how rude of me to not offer you a drink. Which do you prefer?" Yuki would listen for a response and serve the meal at the kotatsu, also placing down Mari's drink for her.

Only now would the Black Iron Dungeon remind her that... well it was brought up. "Wait, for that long? How long has it been?" It reminded her of a very embarrassing moment she had with NIGHT on floor 25... Directions really weren't her strong suit, plus that maze clearly changed layout! Y-Yeah, that's what it was... "I've never been in there. Is it a dangerous place?"

Mari then would bring up her position as frontliner, along with questioning about Cro. "Ah, right. Cro is doing fine. He and I spend just as much time apart as we do with each other but we always wind up finding time when we can. And, yeah! I dropped that whiner attitude I used to have and I'm tanking for all you guys now. This will be the... third(?) time I tank a floor boss so if we get teamed up then I'll keep you safe!"

[Mari 1]

Mari tapped the polished wood surface of the Kotatsu in thought. She really didn't have too much of a preference - but she had coffee this morning so... "Tea." She said simply. The girl seemed rushed, So Mari allowed her to keep herself busy. Waiting patiently. Mari had no where to be. She had planned to work on some concoctions in her makeshift laboratory, but that could wait. Test tubes and steam, and all the merriment of that could wait. Mari was doing her best to actually socialize a little more. 

"That's good." It seemed most everyone Mari had known had someone. Their small little piece of domestic bliss. Someone to come home to or to call their own. The confidence that must come with that kind of thing. Truly, Mari was happy to hear that they were still together. For just as easily as couples became one - they were rendered apart.  "Being physically together or apart don't really matter when you know you have each other." Mari said with a small yawn. Yuki mentioned the floor boss, and raids. Offered to help protect her if they were on the same team. Mari didn't have the heart to tell her she was unsure if she'd return to the frontlines, that she was sick of the politics an bickering. Sick of the attitudes and platitudes. That whilst she had a newfound desire to continue to live - she didn't exactly see the point in going to a world which offered her nothing. So, instead of all that heavy bullshit Mari simply said a single word. "Thanks."

"Huh?" Mari shifted from her slouched position to a straightened back. "Yuki." she said, almost exasperated. "Its an inescapable prison guarded by a giant dragon that would even fell you in a single swipe." Mari had heard of Yuki's feats on the frontline, how she was a nigh indestructible tank. it was both a compliment to her, and a testament to how very dangerous the place was. "A maze you could get lost in for days, weeks, and all communication to the outside cut off. So yes, its very dangerous."

 

 

[Zajcica 0]

The paladin would quickly pour Mari a cup of tea and deliver it to her. It wasn't a special brew or anything. Despite being a gourmet, she tended to enjoy the simple tastes more than the invasive and odd ones many in her craft her attempted. She would set it carefully on the kotatsu in front of Mari and head back to her cooking station where the final touches to the food came along while they continued the chat. "I'm too excitable and headstrong, Cro is a free spirit that I refuse to lock in a cage. We both always end up back to each other once in awhile and those moments are always better when we haven't seen each other in a day or two." Of course, there was little reason for her to explain her love life to Mari. She just didn't want to seem neglectful of her spouse.

Instantly, Yuki would notice that Mari had no desire to say anything about the frontlines. She didn't even consider that Mari might not want to go right back into the deadliest fights the game has to offer, if at all. Perhaps she'd misheard Baldur on that part and made it up in her mind. So, in courtesy to not upset her guest, the paladin would choose to drop that subject by offering a simple smile and a nod at her thanks.

It was at this time that the food was ready! After compiling all the pieces of the meal it would be transferred to the table. "Order up! Take as much, or as little, as you like. Vanity food is free for people on my friends list." The girl would say as she sat opposite her company and get comfy under the table. The food was laid out to allow for Mari to take as much as she was feeling at that moment so the choice was all hers. Yuki took her choice and loaded her plate since she'd yet to eat today.

"The Dungeon sounds crazy if it could truly fell me. I don't believe one strike will put me on the floor, though!" A hearty chuckle escaped the paladin. Her reputation had pushed her confidence to the maximum. Most things could not even put her below 95% health these days. "I take naps outside of safe zones these days -- I know that's not a good analogy to this crazy dungeon but my build is made to be unbeatable!" Her words came between stuffing her face with the food. "If I can't survive it... Then I'll simply have to find a way to if I ever do go in!"

[Mari 1]

Mari picked up the plain cup of tea. blowing on it she drank. It wasn't anything fancy. Just plain black tea with a splash of milk and sweetened with a touch of sugar. It's simplicity comforted the woman. Yuki would go on to talk about her relationship with Cro, how they weren't always together - but always found a home within each other. It was sweet. It was nice. Mari didn't think she'd ever have something like that - but at least others did. Mari set the cup down and began to trace its rim with her index finger. "Nothin' wrong with that Yuki." Mari said as she watched the steam dance around her hand. "if I ever found something I think I'd like the same thing honestly. Being around each other 24/7 sounds too suffocating."

. "Order up! Take as much, or as little, as you like. Vanity food is free for people on my friends list."

Yuki set down a plate, filled with an assortment of karaage pieces and rice. The ginger haired woman waited for her host to take what she wanted, then started on her own much smaller portion. Just three pieces of karaage and some greens to wrap around them. Mari ate two of the pieces, chewing thoughtfully as Yuki gushed about just how much damage she could mitigate now. How she just took naps outside of safe zones, for the hell of it. When that was Mari's entire life. In the past, Mari would have given Yuki a snippy comment about how cavalier she was being - that a nice night under the stars for her, was an isolating nightmare for Mari. But now? After everything she had been through? Mari didn't even feel bothered by it. It was just an excitable way to show her strength.

"So I guess you've been in the past few Floor Raids then?" Mari asked. "What are you all up to now?"

Yuki still seemed to think Mari was talking about the dungeon, despite mentioning just before it was prison.

Mari shook her head, Yuki didn't seem to understand. "No...Yuki. Yuki." Mari said, trying to get the excitable womans attention. "It. Was. A. Prison." There was a long pause as Mari let the words sink in, then for good measure she reiterated. "Jail. Incarceration. A place you are not meant to leave. Designed for no one to leave. I'm not talking about the dungeon - I'm talking about the prison. One strike would kill you."   Mari didn't want to be the one to ruin the mood, especially with how proud Yuki was of herself, but Mari didn't want there to be any miscommunications or misconceptions.  There was a small hint of nostalgia, as Mari recalled just how easily confused and distracted the woman could get. And it was nice to see that Yuki hadn't lost the essence that she extruded, the absolute chaotic Yuki-ness that made her, her. But Mari had seen it, seen the sheer amount of damage those things dealt with the fools who tried to escape. If Mari to equate it to any existing mob she'd have to scale it right up to the 100th floor.

"You don't go in to the prison. You're dragged in. Only those deemed the wardens can navigate its maze-like structure. I think..." Mari pursed her lips, realizing her faux paux. "I think I fucked up when I initially called it the Black Iron Dungeon, because I guess that is also a thing. But no. I'm talking about the Jail. Two different things. I'm afraid."