Shift End! (Event/Lucia then open)

[Endrin]

He really hated being broke, though that probably wasn't surprising. But a man had to eat and sleep and inn rooms and tasteless food could only take a man so far. He had dreams of a house. No, a castle! He was all about the player based economy and making money. Player and guild housing were also major draws to him. He always read up as much as he could about them when he was looking for an MMO to dive into. Back in the real world at least. And this game had a pretty nice one from what he had been able to find out. With a ton of customization, and he wanted to sink his teeth into that. And with a European server! It was one of the biggest reasons he had even chosen this server. Because it had castles and all kinds of awesome locations to choose from! But housing prices were so expensive. And he wasn't in a guild, he didn't really see a lot of those around yet. He suspected since it was a new server most people were still working toward meeting all of the requirements. Or with the Apocolypse they were not even thinking about it. It was kind of a bummer though, because it meant there were none up for him to try and join.

He was spending the first part of the event working. All through London shops were set up with wares being sold all over the place. From the finest foods crafters have been able to make to the newest inventions of alchemists throughout the city. His own wares were not for sale, instead he was spending his time promoting the wares for others. He had been hired to pass out flyers for one of the blacksmiths in the city. Moving through the area handing flyers to people passing. Shouting out at the top of his lungs, sometimes getting dirty looks from players, or weird looks from people of the land.



"HEAD TO SMOKEONE'S STALL IN 7th AVENUE FOR THE FINEST WARES IN ALL OF LONDON! SMOKEONE IS ELDER TALE'S GREATEST BLACKSMITH! COME TAKE THE SMOKEONE CHALLENGE!"



He shouted such things for hours, but it's what he was paid to say. The guy had quite the opinion of himself though, but maybe he was the best Blacksmith. He really didn't know much about that since it wasn't his craft. It all looked the same to him really. As long as it was functional it served it's purpose. Though he supposed he might feel differently when he had more gold to blow. And the best part was he was about to hand out his last flyer! Shoving his last flyer in the face of a cute Cleric girl he smiled and gave her a small bow.



"Check out Smokeone's stall for the best Blacksmithing goods in all of London! And then you should grab a bite to eat with me and we can watch the fireworks together tonight."



Which was still like nine hours away. But it was worth a shot, you miss all of the shots you don't take.



(520 words/claimed)

[Lucia]

Lucia had always known that Chinese New Years was a thing, but this was her first time actually doing something for it. Admittedly, with food tasting the way it did, it was hard for her to get excited over all of the food stands. She was still bitter over how all of it had no taste whatsoever. Being both a chef in-game and real life, it was as if this weird-ass world was going out of its way to personally insult her and every other chef, whether they were one in-game, in real life or (like her) both. However, other than the issue of the food being nothing special, she was having a rather good time out here. It wasn't often that she got to go to something like this, so it, food or no food, it was a nice change of pace.

For the most part, she was just wandering aimlessly and taking in the sights, she didn't have much in the way of money, so she was keeping her spending to a minimum. She didn't plan on buying any food...why do that when you can just make some yourself? Regardless, she was mostly just having fun seeing the sights. Also, she was looking forward to the parade and fireworks that were apparently going to take place later on. When she was little, she was too scared of the loud bangs to be able to enjoy fireworks, much to the dismay of her parents. Once she got over that, however, she ended up loving them. As such, if she knew there was going to be a display somewhere, she would always find an excuse to go off and watch it.

As she wandered aimlessly, she came across someone who was apparently advertising for a blacksmith. Or something along those lines. Now that she thought about it, she probably should see about getting some better gear to replace what she started with, even if it was only marginally better. One thing she'd learned about MMOs is that ever little bit counts when it comes to stats, especially early in the game. As a player's character grew stronger, there was usually more room to be a little more flexible, but when all you have access to is basic equipment with negligible effects (if they even had any at all), then every little bit counts. Looking back, it might have been more practical to be a blacksmith...of course, if she had known things would turn out way they had, she wouldn't even even considered being a chef. While it was true that one could, for a price, change classes, Lucia was simply too stubborn.

Either way, she took a look at the flier that some Guardian was handing out, and then looked up when she realized he was talking to her. Luckily, she heard him talking clearly, so it only took a moment her to realize what was going on...it would seem he was hitting on her. All Lucia could do was give him a blank expression. She did plenty of hitting on girls herself, so she couldn't really say anything. It wasn't that she disliked being hit on. It was actually rather flattering. However, she simply wasn't used to it. In the real world, her boyish looks and reputation for flirting with every girl in her school pretty much deterred any potential suitors. So, now that she was an attractive blonde in a world where barely anyone knew her, she found herself attracting a bit more attention. Regardless, she decided to let the guy off as easy as someone with her lack of subtlety was capable of "I'm flattered...but you're not even close to my type, so I'll pass." Somehow, she managed to say that in an extremely polite and inoffensive tone. If it were anyone else, she probably would have sounded like a massive bitch.

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Post Summary: Lucia enjoys the festival, laments that food here still tastes like ass, then proceeds to shoot down some random guy who hit on her.
Words in this Post: 649

[Endrin]

Her rejection didn't phase him too much, he learned a long time ago that taking that kind of thing personally just lead to making yourself depressed. And just because there was an initial no didn't mean the door was actually closed. Maybe she was just put off by the situation, perhaps she was to focused on what was going on with their whole situation. Or she might even be shy and passing on a knee jack reaction. Though it's possible that she actually wasn't interested, even if she didn't exactly know him well enough to determine what kind of type he was. Either way he wasn't invested heavily in the result, but he decided to try and push just a little more.

"Well how do you know unless you give me a shot? There's no pressure, but my shift is over and it would be a shame to not have anyone to enjoy the festival with."

And she was pretty cute. He wondered what she looked like offline too, though he supposed it didn't matter while they were trapped here, she could even be a guy. But in here she was what she was, and that was enough for him at the moment. And if she shot him down still he could always go and collect his earnings and find something to do to have some fun. Maybe scope out some of the buildings or shops for prices. Even if it wasn't in the spirit of the festival that did sound kind of fun. A lot of people window shopped after all, he just wouldn't be looking for clothes. Though if she relented then that would be a very different story.

"Wouldn't you rather have someone to talk to and hang out while we explore the city and the event? Who knows when the next time something like this will come up. Right?"

He didn't plan to push much further than that though. If it was still a no then he could just go on his way. Plenty of fish in the sea and all that. Still he did his best to keep his tone inviting and not too pressuring. He meant it with the no pressure bit, he wasn't expecting anything more than spending the festival with a pretty girl. Which is how every festival should be spent if you asked him. It's how most things should be spent really. They might even be able to find some good food, though his wallet would probably lament the price tag attached to that, it still seemed to be expensive and fairly hard to find.

"So what do you say?  Would you do me the honor of being my companion for the festival in this new and strange world?" He asked holding out a hand for her to take or reject. A bright and cheerful smile still on his lips despite her previous rejection.  He was hopeful that she would relent and take his hand and go exploring with him.  But if she was against that then he wasn't going to try and force her to endure his company.

(518 words/claimed)

[Lucia]

So this guy wasn't giving up, apparently. Honestly, Lucia could respect that, if only because she had been known to be just as persistent from time to time. As such, she felt like she could probably come to like him. Not in that way, of course. Short of the cosmos intervening and retconning existence itself to either turn Endrin into a female or make Lucia straight, the poor guy wasn't going to get anywhere soon with Lucia. But, from one shameless flirt to another, she had a feeling he might be fun to hang out with him. At the moment, it was just a matter of whether or not she should let the guy get his hopes up a little before revealing they have very similar interests. After a bit of debating with herself, however, she decided not to be that mean to him. She certainly wouldn't like being lead on like that, so she wasn't about to do the same to him. Besides, he seemed like a pretty cool guy.

With a smile, she responded to his questions, once again speaking in a surprisingly polite tone "Just trust me on this, you're definitely not my type...but, I suppose it couldn't hurt to hang out for a bit. It does get a little boring here without someone to talk to." After a brief pause, she then added with a slight grin "Though, just so you know, the moment I see a girl who is my type, I may or may not have to ditch you." Hopefully, that would be enough of a hint for him to get a clue. At the very least, her voice was one of the few girly things about Elena, so it would be difficult to actually mistake her for a guy in real life. In any case, she found herself glancing at the flier that was shoved in her face handed to her, and she figured she'd try breaking the ice a bit "By the way...this Smokeone guy...how are his prices? I do need to replace my basic equipment, but money's a little tight. Haven't been able to do much in the way of grinding, what with Clerics being not that great on their own..."

She let out a soft sigh, pausing for a moment before continuing "Maybe I should've picked Summoner after all. Even if their defense sucks, they can at least summon a meat shield or two to take hits for them" She shrugged "Meh. Then again, I can't really complain. Especially since I can throw spears of light now. Not gonna lie, it's kinda fun." She chuckled lightly to herself. Since she was set on being a "combat medic" she figured it would be a good idea to invest in one of the few offensive Cleric skills early on. For the next few levels, she'd focus on boosting her healing capabilities a bit more, but, once she hit Level 4, she couldn't not take Martyr Spear. Something about lobbing a spear made out of light just sounded too awesome to pass up. And since it was only Tier I, she could only hope there was a stronger version in the later tiers. Either way, she looked back to Endrin. "So what about you? You have any trouble deciding on your class, or was it an easy choice for you?"

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Post Summary: Lucia figures that Endrin doesn't like like a bad guy, and decides it might be fun to hang out with him, while dropping a not-very-subtle hint as to why he's not her type. Contemplates her choice of being a Cleric. 
Words in this Post: 560
Total Words in this Thread: 1209

[Endrin]

Well her hint was certainly blunt enough for him to catch the hint. His face cracked into a huge grin at it, things making a bit more sense. He could totally get that too. After all he also saw all of the charms that ladies had to offer, how could he blame her for appreciating the same charms. Besides, he was still getting what he wanted. She was going to do the festival with him, at least for a while. And that was all he had wanted for the immediate future, because doing this alone would have been totally lame.

"Well then how can I hold that against you. If nothing else I'll help you out if she has a friend. Break her off from the herd. I mean I can't exactly turn down helping a damsel in distress can I?"

He said with a wink before he offered her his arm. She may be batting for the other team but that didn't mean that the two of them couldn't play the roles. But hey, maybe she was uncomfortable with that too, but it was a fantasy world. Why not live out a bit of a fantasy. Besides, he'd be lying if he said he had never wanted to go on a date with a lesbian. It was just something that he had never done before. So this was going to be fun, even if nothing would happen.

"Hmmm?" She switched gears back to the flier and the smith he was advertising for. "Yeah, his prices are pretty fair. Though I think I am mostly going to save up for a better set of gear. I can't wear level one gear forever. But he did patch up my gear for free in exchange for some advertising help, which was nice of him. And if you need a tank I am a guardian. I'm sure you can do better if the monsters are not always smacking you around." He said playfully nudging her with his elbow.

"I actually enjoy my class. But damn, that sounds like an awesome ability. Do they actually look like spears or are they just like pointed bolts of light? It's crazy how some things in this game are detailed." If it was still a game. "And it was a pretty hard choice. But I decided I liked the theme of guardian. But it was tempting to be a swashbuckler type. Think I could pull off the dashing rogue thing?"

He asked with a wink, dramatically brushing the bangs away from his face before gazing off in the distance away from her. Though sadly there was no dramatic kick up of wind or anything to really seal the moment. That stuff never happened in real life. Relaxing his shoulders he turned back to her with a goofy grin on his face.

"I enjoy my shield smash ability. Interrupts are fun. Next I'm probably going to get anchor howl though, just so it's easier to keep the enemies on me. From there I might look at some of the passives. Let me tell you, lugging a shield around all day can be hard on the arms after a while. I am looking forward to the one that makes them lighter and increases their defense. What made you choose Cleric in the end though? Was it the theme or the look? Or do you just like healing?"

(568 words/claimed)