pt-op-f24 Crab Boil for the Homies

[Anton 0]

The shindig was already firing off on all cylinders, creating an endless tapestry of all manner of styles and shapes to the tune of flamboyant and elegant design. A renowned yet concealed tailor amongst the rabble rousing, here to admire the stark colors and enjoy a day to taste the bittersweet temptation of men that at least took some pride in their appearance and fitness. Among the gaggle, there were a couple of choice specimen. The host @Oscar sporting a couple bonus cans in his six pack and a jawline that could cut diamonds, or the clearly toting ball and chain @Wulfrin also affixed himself firmly in the 'Would' column. Hands splayed out drawing a box with his index and thumbs, as if stealing a mental photograph for fond recollection down the line.

His attire would shift something fit for the occasion in a silk expression of a decaying sense of modesty, leaving less to the imagination and more on blast for true interpretation or as a taunt. Pulling at a pair of strings and a flick the thing is hung loosely just below a pair of hips. There was some concern that with such an obvious or expressive show of sex appeals or physical flirtation that he'd make catch the wrong prey on the end of his line, and as a catcher he'd have to explain to their dismay that he was a southpaw.

Out of some ounce of respect, it was neither the time nor the place to start carrier pigeoning invitations or vocally checking for the swing of a bat. Instead the man would keep to his silent admiration and help himself to the food, finding the cut of that jib to be a slightly less appetizing but still more then the commons of Athenia. The bear of white flesh with the most delicate flick of a seemingly plastic butter knife to sheer off a slice of what was cooked to finely to perfection. Shellfish was on the menu, but Anton wish it were prime rib of a tanner variety.

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<<Assist System Engaged: Assisting Warren>>
Level: 22
Paragon: 0
Tier: 3
True Tier: 3

Final EXP reward: +250% Final EXP reward

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Anton | HP: 440/440 | EN: 62/62 | DMG: 1                                                                                                                            
 

Spoiler

Name: Anton, Dossier of Chaos
True Tier: 3
Level: 22
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 440/440
EN: 62/62

Stats:
Damage: 1

Equipped Gear:
Weapon/Armor/Trinket: 
  - 
Armor/Trinket: 
  - 
Shield/Armor/Trinket: 
  - 

Combat Mastery:
  - 

Combat Shift:
  - 

Familiar Skill:
  - 

Custom Skill:
  - 

Skills:

Extra Skills:

Inactive Extra Skills:

Addons:

Mods:

Inactive Mods:

Battle Ready Inventory:

Housing Buffs:

Guild Hall Buffs:

Scents of the Wild Totem:

Wedding Ring:

Crafting Profession:

Gathering Profession:

 

[Reytac 0]

Reytac had zoned out polishing the cups, one of the beers cracked open next to him. It had been a long while since he had been around this many actual people, and he was just listening to the voices around him as he worked. His reverie was broken when someone approached, and he was just looking up when the man, who had said something at first that Rey didn't catch, spun on his heels and shouted off into the crowd. 

Quote

"GET THIS MAN A PLATE! HE PUT THE B IN BYOB!”

 

He tilted his head to one side, bemused, as the brunette spun back around after the shout. 

“It's what ya do when you're a quasi-invited guest at a shindig like this. Sorry I didn't bring more options, but, beer or mead?” Reytac replied to @Abellioas he gestured to the bottles with the cup still in his hand, only then realizing that he was still holding one. He stacked the wooden cup with the others and sat his cloth down, leaning back and stretching out, his spine popping several times as it realigned. “Name's -” 

The smell of the food from the plates that were brought over was downright heavenly to someone who had been subsisting on the basic food from the first floor vendors. Reytac's stomach let out a loud growl, and he laughed slightly.

“Handle's Reytac, nice ta meet ya both.” He stood up, looking up towards Abellio then to @Warren. He gave them a warm smile as he swept his hand back to the drinks. “Figured it's a good idea to bring something along, feel free to help yourself - if you're of age. Hm.” He hadn't considered that before, that even though the game had been meant for people over a certain age, they may not actually be old enough to drink. He frowned to himself then shook his head sharply before focusing his gaze back on Warren. 

“I am, yes. Just getting active, that is.” He rubbed the back of his head, ruffling his hair with the motion. “It's surprising to see so many people on one place - I can't remember the last time I did. And a crab boil is.. Nostalgic. I grew up more around crawfish broils where I'm from. I hope showing up was alright? If not, I'm not averse to leaving. ” If these two knew the host, then they could let him know if he was actually welcome or not. It did seem like most everyone here knew at least one other person, aside from him. 

Edited Monday at 01:16 PM by Reytac

[Eruda 0]

The woman pulls the drink from her hand as they were shaking, everything was a blur. She starts getting dragged to the water and was told to focus on one thing, she just blinks a few times trying to figure out what was going on. "Focus on one thing? Oh right a form of meditation, okay." Closing her eyes she starts to listen to everyone and everything, feeling the water over pour onto her ankles. That, that was her focus thinking as she wiggles her toes in the sand with a smile. After a few minutes of her just relaxing her mind, it began to not be so bad. Opening her eyes, turning slowly she would see her twin at the tables across from Mari and some man. She was wondering if they was the mystery guest that the girl didn't want to mention. There was Lessa with a man that she didn't recognize, good. Gaius and her dad of all people were also in the crowd. Seeing Lium and Celeste also mingling, there was even Kasumi and Rai sitting on the beach. Her eyes stop at Rai with a smile. She would feel a hands on her shoulder, head shift to the new face. "Thank you Shayla, I'm Eruda" she was always being told to meet new people, get rid of this weird fear that pulled ranks on her.

Eruda shifts to get on her knees and starts to dig a small hole body length. "I want to cover myself with sand, you are going to help me" looking up saying with a smile. "All but my head, it will be fun" saying as she sits down in the small hole, tossing sand over her feet to cover them. Shayla shrugs her shoulders with a small laughter probably wondering how the topic changed so quickly but she would start to help Eruda out with the request.

[Khione 0]

Getting no response from the nekojin catgirl....thing beyond a small hiss and a clambering for more food Khione decided to move on to someone else. There was no point in being here if she couldn't at least make some sort of connection with someone, right? That was the entire point of gathering information. Khione took a deep breath and held it, before exhaling in an attempt to quell her frustration. She had been tempted to kick sand at the catgirl, but that wouldn't do her any good. Especially with the very, very tall man - @Oscar yelling at some grouchy blonde who had thrown his drink at another woman. Khione knew better than that. She was able to behave herself.

"Seems decorum isn't really your forte, huh?" Khione asked @Corvo as she paused to take a sip from her iced coffee. "Cute." She said before continuing along her way. Not that she really cared, he seemed somewhat interesting. His temper almost matched her own, except Khione felt she had better control of hers. She completely ignored Vex as he tried to garner her attention. If she ignored him he'd go away and do his own thing - and people wouldn't think they knew each other. Sure enough the man ran off to the dance floor.

Khione did a lap of the area, every so often pausing to watch someone - but it seemed that most people had already split off into their own little groups. A gruff man sat by a case of beer - and he was talking to a grey haired man Khione recognized to be friends of the host - at least she would assume so.

The man was handing out drinks after all.

Khione approached the group, finishing off her coffee she dropped the empty plastic cup - and it disintegrated into an array of pixels before hitting the ground.

"Well, hello there, mind if I have one?"

She wasn't a big beer drinker, but she'd pretend.

@Warren @Reytac @Abellio

 

Edited Tuesday at 05:02 AM by Khione

[Scarlet Firefly 0]

The pat atop her head got a relieved sigh from Firefly. Clearly she was over thinking all this. "Alright. You let me know if anything I do bothers you though. I'm not about to lose friends I just made." She said getting back to trying everything Oscar had made. It was all amazing, the moment she got the chance to tell Oscar how great his cooking was she would have to let him know.

Soon, the two would be joined by another pair. Once she recognized - Bistro - and the other she had maybe seen before but couldn't place her face with a name. Yue Hua clearly knew her from the dueling scene though. It really wasn't her style but she was playing an MMO for the scenery, not the combat. "Hi there! I'm Firefly, or you can just call me Samantha. I'm not really a dueler or anything. I only fight to see the locales Aincrad has to offer." She tried to keep it short and sweet for the two keep talking about their duels. The question Yue Hua posed about the highest ranking of the frontlines caught her ear though so she jumped a little to butt in on the convo. "Ooh!~ I bet you've seen so many lovely places! I envy that experience!"

Night would ask the pair about their role in the trackers guild, to which Firefly took a moment to think before summoning her special notebook. "I guess I would be considered a Locale Observer? Maybe even a Location Mapper? I'm working on exploring pretty much every inch of every floor of Aincrad." She would open the book to show Night, immediately realizing that she wouldn't be able to read Braille... Unless she was also blind. "Oh uh, this is notable locations in Aincrad that I've been to. I recommend avoiding Floor Six personally... If you have to be there, just don't go to the Waterfall of the Sages. Terrible place, I hate it." Her eagerness quickly turned to disdain for that place. Just as quickly, she turned back to the bright smile she typically wore. "Floor two in the rough mountains is very pretty when the stars are out though! Lots of caves with big bats, but those wouldn't be a problem for you of course."

@NIGHT@Pollux

[Pollux 0]

If she stuck around, as she was considering, NIGHT would eventually learn that duels were all that made up Yue Hua’s daydreams. Duels, then swords, then cosmetics. She did not even suffer a drop of romantic fancy unless its subject was right in front of her.

“Of course.” Yue Hua’s tail, wagging, nearly knocked straight into a passerby — thankfully one that was deprived of food and drink. “T’would have to be after some time. My seniors in my guild have advised me to max out my levels first before picking any fights with frontliners outside of an arena.”

Oscar swept in, seemingly to rescue an embarrassed NIGHT. But his grin was teasing as he heaped praise on her merits instead. Yue Hua had no reason not to believe him. As the two friends lightly bickered, she silently ran through the numbers in her head (she wasn’t good at them), totalling her observations of Oscar’s tournament performance against NIGHT’s, and her eyes were wide and admiring as she marked her final answer with a box (she was quite far off). She outpaced an active frontliner? …What did she even do? Yue Hua muttered, coincidentally during a pause, “Wow.”

NIGHT looked at her and sighed. 

“Wise words. I have never been at the top myself, but I imagine I’d lose the drive that once spurred me forward if I believed I didn’t have any farther to go.” Yue Hua spun back to the table to take a quick bite of her food, almost forgotten amid the excitement. Oscar must have worked some strange magic into his craft: everything remained steaming hot, as though she had just picked it off the grill. The host had already moved on to attend to the other partygoers, so she invited Bistro back into the conversation instead. “How did you two meet? Is NIGHT the source of all those higher-level rumors?”

Their conversation had shifted to work before they knew it. Yue Hua worried that Firefly was getting bored, but her friend jumped in to answer NIGHT’s inquiry first. Hearing the sudden shift in her tone, Yue Hua’s tail returned to softly patting Firefly’s head. It was the most she could do without asking after a sensitive topic in a public party. “I like Floor 2,” she said fondly. Yue Hua turned back to NIGHT and her typical detached politeness bled back into her tone. “We have a rumor board. Morningstar and Bistro are in charge of updating it, and they assign each of its contents a letter rank based on inferred difficulty. There’s really no limit to the range of rumors that we investigate, other than that rumors concerning players rarely pop up. I assume Morningstar handles it himself or designates, since those matters tend to be quite sensitive.

“I’m more of an escort,” Yue Hua said thoughtfully. If the flood hadn’t overwritten the lower floors, they could have confidently called on her expertise in them instead. “My build includes support skills. I can work by myself in an emergency, but my usual role is to act as a guildmate’s second on a mission.”

[Lancaster 1]

The explanation provided by Mari to outline the utter chaos that unfolded within this sandy beachfront where all manner players continued to pour in like a leaky faucet. Paying the woman a kiss that was a little reluctant given the sharpness of his own tensions. This band of all walks held to revelry that would make even Aincrad's most nefarious blush, the rowdiness and infighting among the crowd was even more untamed and wild which was ironic given the fights would hardly escalate as far. Taking a sip of the Limoncello the woman had already drug tested, not entirely convinced he was welcome here.

What most would not realize is as an orange player among what accounted to his actual nemesis, where his own bullets had been turned into what gauged to nerf darts as to not cause unneeded trouble for Mari. Normally in such situations Lancaster wouldn't hesitate and would straight up shoot first, keep himself long and beyond far away from such a collective. The man was knee deep in enemy territory with no real way to save face for Mari if he drew the wrong pair of eyes. "Been quite some time... The beach is a new one for me.." Spoken to his beloved as he weighed the actual possibility of having to rush off barefoot when shit turned sideways. "Is alright... I will...."

*Oscar's announcement occurs here*

The shift in demeanor would leave the man broiling in a barely tamed and quenched fire. The lid on it? Mari, and the fact that some of these were likely her friends. A strict dress code and an off the cuff stab that you could easily taste the meaning underlining it. Given the familiarity to Mari directly, the man clearly had an axe to grind and although he'd never fault her for it this was another instance of enforced expectations on the both of them. These people were her friends and yet clearly didn't understand that unless all of them wanted to gain infractions or worse, having Mari disarmed and without her defenses up would provide her no help no matter how much 'Personal shit jumping prevention' was present. Fact of the matter was dude was wearing a 'lets talk it out' on blast above his head, and PK hunters aren't going to give a damn about a strongly worded letter.

"I will...see myself out, but I will be just down the beach a ways if you need me, mi amore." Lancaster offered her slipping his boots back on, choosing chivalry and tact over the alternative. "My cosplay does not follow the dress code." The man lit a smoke and tensed up as he pulled the string tight on his boots. Standing to his feet, he'd offer Mari a smile before cupping the rim of the drink she'd given him with curled fingers and dragging it into a dangle at his side. "Have fun, mia fiamma." The crunch of sand as he'd start to wander away, his armor still worn and ready to pounce if anything came after either of them.

[Mari 1]

Mari had shifted away from @Corvo, "We'll catch up soon - and this time, it won't take me two years." Mari thought about bringing up a joke about her time in jail, but it didn't seem like the time nor the place. She'd tell him later. Mari had to side step Vex, someone she had met once before - as he tore up the dance floor with some rather embarrassing moves. On her way back to the small table where Corvo sat Mari would pick up another drink, followed by a few meat skewers. Approaching Lancaster Mari could tell he was still rather uncomfortable.

A frown played her lips. She had hoped he would be able to enjoy himself, even just a little bit. "Vincent?" Mari asked, concern filled her tone as she took a bite from each skewer before passing one to him. The meat was perfectly tender, dripping with rendered fats and seasoned lightly with pepper,sesame, and rosemary. Perfect. Mari expected nothing less from Oscar. 

Mari chewed and swallowed as Lancaster put on his boots; getting ready to leave. "Oscar...." Mari took in a deep breath, of course Lancaster took his words the wrong way, it was a matter of his mindset. He was on edge, and who could blame him? To him, these all were the people he had been fighting against for years - perhaps not physically but a clash of ideals, of factions. Coffin  vs Frontliner. "Was being light-hearted, was a joke my love, but for what its worth. You look fine the way you are." Mari would lean down to kiss his forehead before Lancaster stood, lighting up a smoke. 
 

"Have fun, mia fiamma."

He gave her a peck on her cheek before he turned to move away. Mari could practically feel the temper broilling within him. She had to give him credit for reigning it in. "You idiot..." Mari said softly. "It wouldn't be fun knowing how uncomfortable you are. I'll catch up."

Mari turned away from Lancaster and headed back toward @Oscar, who casually had an arm around a woman. Mari gave her head a slight tilt, wondering who she was - but didn't question him on it. Instead she offered the woman a smile, there was a slight feeling somewhere in Mari's chest - she couldn't lie, but maybe that was just a matter of pride. "Hey." Mari would offer to Alinta, to not be rude before turning to Oscar. "Lancaster isn't feeling too good, so he and I are gonna head off. Thanks for the invite, I did enjoy myself." Mari glanced over at Corvo, then over her shoulder back at Lancaster who was already well away from the festivities. How is it both the men she invited were like this?

Did she have a type or something?

Mari would gesture toward Oscar with her half eaten lamb skewer. "This? Perfect by the way. I've always enjoyed your meat." Mari snorted at her own joke, offering a light hearted laugh. It felt nice being able to joke about things like that. Oscar was a much needed reprise in a moment where she desperately needed it. Without him Mari wasn't sure she'd have what she had now. Mari would look upon him warmly. "Really. Thank you."  He may not even know just how much that meant to her.  "We'll catch up later." Mari said with a wave.

And with that she quickened her pace to catch up to Lancaster. "Vincent!" Mari slowed her pace when she finally caught up to him. "Sorry, I didn't....expect so many people to show up. Must have been...rough on you, huh?" She would nudge him with her shoulder. "You're so tense you haven't even commented on what I'm wearing." Mari would attempt to pull him from his mood. She knew it all to well, it was one she had during the tanabata festival, the feeling of being a complete outsider.  Trying to tamper down a simmering temper. "I guess...I should change out of it too, then?" She would say as she opened up her HUD.

@Alinta @Lancaster