[PP-F4] Saving Valentine

[Sir Five 0]

It was the flurry of the storm coming through key locations of the fourth floor. Snow had crept its way onto rooftops and began stacking up on the ground forming crystalized layers that shimmered under the sunlight. Clouds swarmed the skies to cover up the blue that was showing above every now and then. For a rather nice looking day, the weather spoke differently, especially for Sir Five.

 

The time had struck noon and he began to worry, unable to find the one he loved. The one whom he wanted to spend the Day of Love with. Beginning to think that she may be missing, he had left his cottage to go into the main city of the fourth floor, Snowfrost Town. "Help! Help!" he cried out, in desperate need of someone to come to his aid. "Please! Somebody  help me!" he cried once more as he was now on his knees begging random players to come to his aid. At this point he was willing to give up the cry for help and admit to himself that he had lost the lover of his dreams.

 

Sighing and sitting, Sir Five was now crying. Sir Five's brown hair and green eyes were covered with crystals and glittering features due to the snow. His tears burned through the snow until it sunk deep enough to freeze as a pearl of ice.

[Life 0]

Life was again in the frozen tundras of floor 4, he wondered just what made him so attracted to it? Perhaps it was the cold, to numb his aching heart, his burning mind.. After the run in with hydra he couldn't bare to see Mari again, not in the state she was in, not in the state he was responsible for. He waltzed into snowfrost town, looking for a place to spend the night when he heard a strange call for help. His ears perked and he looked over his shoulder. An interesting encounter to say the least, it wasn't everyday he heard someone calling for help in this game.. everyone seemed to suffer a slow silent death, clinging to the walls of their solitude, much like L himself did. He turned back and walked over to the man, he shifted his stance and rubbed the back of his head looking at the man with a curious concern "Are you ok Sir? What happened to you?" He crouched down to the sitting man and placed a caring hand on his shoulder "Hey.. you'll be alright" He was crying rather excessively, perhaps he had lost a loved one?

[Azide 0]

"Help me! Help me!" echoed a voice in the distance.

"Good god, that sounds like as if it might be a cry for help," thought Azide. He stopped in his tracks and rubbed at his chin in quiet contemplation. "But it'd be a waste of time if it turned out there was no helping to be done. Context can be rather important sometimes, or maybe I just plain misheard them. Better not jump to conclusions." And with that, he straightened his jacket and took another step forward, only to be interrupted by the same voice yet again.

"Please! Somebody help me!" called the voice. The shrill pleas seemed to cut through the wind and the snow, and dripped with so much desperation that they seemed to flood the entire city of Snowfrost Town, drowning out the gentle whisper of the winter breeze.

This continued call had halted Azide once again, making him turn in the direction of the pleading man. "Well, I suppose there might be some sort of problem worth checking out," he thought, sighing. Although he couldn't see the man from here, he could still hear the sound of heavy sobbing, which seemed to be as good an indicator as anything. Following the trail of tears, he turned a frost-covered corner to see two men.

One was kneeling on the streets, tears in his eyes, and shaking clasped hands towards crowds of passing players nearby. The all seemed to disregard him, except for one: a dark-haired man in blue. This man walked over to him and placed a hand on his shoulder, then spoke some words that Azide hadn't been able hear from his then-current distance.

"Good to see at least one other person has some common decency today," he thought. And with that, he'd felt content to turn around and began to leave, until a shred of humanity managed to prod at his indifference long enough to make him turn back to the man. "Ugh, fine, I'll go over and help." He walked over to the two men, and concluding the kneeling one to be too hysterical to talk to at the moment, he turned to the one dressed in blue. "Hey there, is this a friend of yours? Oh, and what seems to be the problem here?"

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah was busy cleaning up her shop in Snowfrost Town just as she thought she had heard something from outside. She took out the window, into the streets below, that's strange. However, she decided to investigate what was going on, as she walked outside and locked up her shop. Then she heard another scream somewhere, and she decided to run towards where she thought the sound was coming from. As she ran, she took out her rapier, and wield it in her arms, as there was no time to waste.

 

Even though she had no idea what was going on, it had felt like she was the only one left on this floor today, it was rather quiet, as she had seen nobody all this way, until she arrived and saw two people standing nearby. She had recognized the first player immediately, Life, who she had seen around previous boss fights, but she had not seen him in quite a while. The other player had its back turned, but that figure seen awfully familiar to her. She ran a list of names through her head, it was Azide, right?. That sounded quite about right, and she walked over to the both of them and asked, "So, does anyone know what is going on?"

[Sir Five 0]

Sir Five had continued to sob his eyes out, weeping for help, begging anyone that passed him. When not one, not two, but three players all arrived at once, Sir Five cleared his eyes and nodded towards "Life" for comforting him. Beginning to stand up, Sir Five brushed off the snow from his clothing and slight amounts of armor that he wore. Taking a look at all of the players: "Life" "Azide" and "Rebekah". All three player's names had registered with his system and the Cardinal had now launched the code to take over the body.

 

"It appears my lover, Lady Valentine, has gone missing. I can't seem to find her anywhere. I'd check out in the wilderness, but it's far too dangerous for me. I was wondering, no... begging players to help me as she is my world, my everything. Could you guys and fair lady be so generous to help me out by finding my Lady Valentine?" he asked them alternating eye contact among the players before him. "I'm willing to pay a reward if you find any clue of a sort." he added as a closing statement.

 

Once his voice had cut off, his system had relaxed again. Prompting a white, holographic menu before each of the three players with the header "SAVING VALENTINE" it had the description and objective right below the title of the quest. At the bottom was a blue circle and a red "X" that would identify if they should choose to partake in this quest.

[Life 0]

Without a moments notice L accepted it, a determination gleaming in his eyes. "I guess that explains it. Don't you worry, i'll help you find your lover for sure" It turns out he was right, he did loose a loved one. That kind of pain wasn't something he would wish upon anyone. He looked behind him, two other players had showed up as well, he remembered Rebekah from pretty much all the boss battle he had been in. It was the first time he had actually met her out side of one. The other player he roughly remembered. He was there when Mari had attacked him. He didn't exactly remember his name but it would come to him in due time. "Do you guys plan on joining me?" L was confident he could do the quest on his own, however, an extra hand was always appreciated. 

[Azide 0]

"So he's just an NPC," thought Azide. He rubbed at his chin, considering it for a moment. "On the other hand, I've been looking for a quest, and this one practically has my name on it. And then there's also the reward..." He tapped at the menu that appeared before him, accepting the quest, then turned to Life. He was suddenly reminded of a certain night that'd taken place many moons ago, back when he'd been nearly defenseless. "Well what do you know, it really is the same guy after all. Small world."

Adding to the coincidence, another player had joined them right before Sir Five had begun speaking again. "That's Rebekah, isn't it? She did mention running a shop on this floor, so that's something to be expected."

He nodded. "I'll definitely be coming along. After all, it's not every day I get the chance to save a holiday. Granted, not every day happens to be a holiday, but you get the point."

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah was not going to turn down a quest, especially these events that seem to happen spontaneously, unlike some other quests which she could take at anytime and would still be available. She looked at the other two, and was to the last to make her decision. She press the big blue circle, signaling that she would be joining them on the quest. She was lazy, and decided to add both of them to her friend list, instead of searching for their names. She had forgot if their names were on her list, and did not bother checking. Of course, if their name was already there, nothing would happen, but if it was not, then they will get a notification window just about now. She waited for further instructions from Life before proceeding forward.