A Dance Midst the Flower Grove [Open]

[Blue]

HEY HEARTBREAK come on in...

ANYONE 290 BOOM BOOM BOOM

A melody echoed throughout the Savill Flower Grove this evening, it's soft notes floating in the breeze of the night air. In the center of the natural flower garden was a spinning figure, dressed in flowing garments that matched the aesthetic of the eastern cultures which thrived in the old world. The tiny baubles and accessories which lined the figures clothes jingled with every flowing movement and added to the mysterious sound which blew from an old wooden flute pressed against her lips. The sound soothed the minds of all those within the area, decreasing the agro rate of nearby beasts and enchanting all those who wandered the forest at night. This was a time of peace, something the young dancer cherished deeply. There was a solitary bliss which empowered the dancers movements, making what seemed a normal dance appear unearthly in its beauty. She glided across the flower grove, her feet gracefully stepping between the rows of flowers, leaving them unfazed by her disturbance. The gentle melody of her flute guided her footsteps, the rhythm creating a path for her to follow. This was the girls most favored way to pass time since the catastrophe. Here in this flower garden, under the blue moon all to herself, she could dance midst the beauty of the world around her in peace.  Few ever wandered into the grove at this time of night. It was dangerous to wander the outer forest in the evening, due to high monster activity. That said, if one came to the grove by sun down and stayed until evening, certain areas were relatively peaceful. There was no accounting for humans though, and Blue never knew when a random passerby could appear, or what their intentions were.

_{embers of ct}

[Endrin]

He needed to decide on what kind of character he wanted to be. He had decided after his meeting with Kaizer that the route he was going to go was roleplay. They were in a new world and they had new lives. He had a rare opportunity for a second chance. To be able to make something of himself. To be someone he never could be back at his old life. But what did he want to be? it was the same thing that kept him from moving forward in his old life. There were so many options and yet he felt trapped and confined. Like everyone had expectations of him, and it was hard to move forward without risk of disappointing someone. Even here where he didn't really know anyone he felt that tightness in his chest as he imagined what people might think. Probably that he was dumb for roleplaying or something. But was that really so bad? He wanted to help people lighten up. He wanted to make the best of the situation he was thrust into.

Maybe it didn't matter what everyone else thought. He would just need to get over that, though that was easier said than done. But he could do it. He'd just have to force himself to keep at it. But it still left the question of what to be. He needed to think it over, to take a walk and get some air outside of the city and the people inside trying to figure out what they were. He couldn't let that cloud him. Dawning his armor and weapons he made his way out of the city proper and to the flower gardens outside. Looking for something serene and peaceful to allow his mind and heart the freedom to look deep inside of himself. To find who he could be.

It was nice, being alone. Truly alone. Or so he thought. The sound of music danced with the wind, gently caressing him and drawing him in. His feet moved on their own, drawn to the sound of the music. His lips curled into a pleasant smile as the melody danced around him. It was only a few minutes of walking until he saw her. A figure dancing alone in the moonlight. Her body moving as artfully as the melody which sprung from her flute. He was transfixed and dare not move closer or speak while she continued her dance and song least he break the spell she was weaving over not just him but the very night. It was only when she had finished would he approach slowly, weapons and shield stowed away, he was no threat and did not mean to be. But he could not continue on with his night like this had not happened. He bowed to her once he was sure she had seen him, stopping in his tracks to again not appear aggressive.

"That was amazing..."

He was still stunned, but as he bowed awaiting her reply he decided on the role that he was to play. He would play the obvious role with his class and this world. He would play the role of knight. He would shoulder whatever burdens lay upon him and smile for the privilege. If people were to fall into despair then he would serve as a light to look too in the darkness. He could only hope that he could lighten the hearts of others as much as this moment has lightened his.

(583 words/claimed)

[Renai]

Had Renai been the kind of individual to enter in any normal way, it would have been reasonable to expect him to walk into the area by accident. Perhaps he would have been resting in a nearby tree, whiling his time away. Maybe he simply stumbled upon the area as Endrin had. Had someone been particularly suspicious about Renai, they might have even considered that he would crawl up out of the earth like some apocalyptic zombie, reaching out one hand first and pulling himself into the realm of the living. These were all reasonable possibilities. Provided, of course, you thought Renai was one to get caught up in reasonable scenarios. Much like every other adventure he was in on, he happened upon this particular area by one simple mechanism. The mechanism of this world that got him into more trouble than anything else and seemed to spark most of his escapades.

Fairy Circle.

He wasn't quite sure how it was that he always ended up in these messes, but by some higher power's grace, Fairy Circle grabbed him every time. In the same way, Renai had been grabbed rather unceremoniously by Fairy Circle and deposited, with as little grace and elegance as a randomly linked wormhole could muster, right above the duo. It was probably also reasonable to assume that most people would freak out at this point, but Renai was not most people. No, he had fallen victim to Fairy Circle's antics one too many times to immediately freak out. Instead, he focused on silencing the ranting voice of his mother inside his head and instead considered ways to get out of this particular situation as elegantly as possible. Based on what he saw, there was some dude a bit away and some pink-haired blob underneath? There was definitely some way to avoid crashing headlong into some unknown individual, right? But then he'd have to use his Enchanter skills...?

Renai sighed and rotated slightly as he fell through the air, casting Inversion early on and quickly entering a spin to reorient himself. On his way down, the player threw down a Nightmare Sphere, falling to the ground with as much grace and elegance as someone falling through the sky could muster. In other words, not any at all. He 'pomfed' against the Nightmare Sphere, rapidly slowing down before landing on his rear and then flopping backwards, head thumping against the ground.

Fairy Circle was so terrible. First thing he was going to do when he got back was build a fence around that thing.

[Sylreth]

If I don't move

it will all break, it will all break.

Moving in the forest, looking for something, nothing, nobody, everything. It was confusing, as the child stumbled through the space that was in between love and hate. The child wandered, the dirty forest floor staining the slender legs. Roots, rocks and other things were painful, but the Shaman didn't care. With her shirt half open, showing the tattoos that bind her to her race, she stumbled. It was a place of despair, of hate, of new life for her. To cast aside the binding of her male half, the parts of her that made her incomplete.. she could now be a true girl. That was the hand that fate had given her, and almost gratefully, the female threw herself into it. After all, not giving thanks for providence was wrong.

Her wandering steps brought her out to a clearing, her blonde locks swaying in the soft nightly wind. It didn't matter there were monsters, or how many times she would die; she had to move, to keep going forward, in order to find what it was that she could use to guide herself. The girl's tired legs collapsed under herself, as she let out a sigh. Clutching at the ground, she raised her head, looking around.. and then saw something that she could only call a sign. Her eyes, blue coloured, widened on seeing this thing. What was it? Simple. A dancer. Yes, that sounds stupidly simple, but Sylreth's heart began to move, almost dance along with the dancer. Her shaking body rose again, as if filled with.. well not vigor, but something.

She had to move forward, or it would all break. That's when she heard it; music to go with the dance. Breathlessly, Sylreth watched the red haired girl, as if entranced. Her own slender appearance looked more sickly then healthy; vulnerable in a way that held no strength. And yet this girl.. to Sylreth she looked strong. Perhaps she wanted to be alone, and that's what the Shaman thought; so with a touch, the girl quietened her steps, using her tracker sub-class. With a dash, she moved away, as to not disturb the other. However, that meant there were few places to hide in such a meadow, and more or less, the child hid in the darkness, flattening herself to the ground. It would be hard to see, but that left the other to be alone, and in case some monsters come by, the Shaman could help.

It wasn't necessarily a worry for the other more so then wanting to protect the beautiful dance she had seen. To keep it pure. However, she noted a blonde male, almost eerily similar to the Camlann line, walking up to the girl.. and telling her the exact feelings Sylreth had. It was almost jealousy that sprung up, but more so worry, as the girl gnawed at her lower lip. And then without a warning, someone landed with a sphere right in front of her face. ''KIYAAAH.'' she let out, jumping up and away. It was scary! It had just fallen from the sky, and the girl put her hands around herself, as if someone had caught her naked. Closing her eyes for a moment, flailed, and then opened her menu, and hit a Shikigami.

With a single pop, the creature was in existence. It was a cute, round thing, almost like a slime, but with big eyes and a cute mouth, and it was floating near her. The blonde flailed and then hugged the creature, before looking at the male, and edging away from the people. On her face? A guarded look, as her legs felt vaguely painful, as the dirt and crusted blood would be obvious now. ''I w-wasn't watching the dance or anything! I mean.. err... dammit!'' she just half-squeaked, half-yelled out, squeezing the Shikigami for comfort. Defensive, and scared, she just sort of awkwardly stood there, unaware that she was probably over-reacting for absolutely nothing. Well at least, according to normal people.

[/b] Blue Endrin Renai
•Words; 0666
•Music; Bad Apple :: Gumi [Touhou]
•Notes; Ohhai thur, thanks for dropping in.. and well I hope that this post is fine. >W< [#3d6fe9]
•Credit; PerfectFallacy of Gangnam Style![/div][/ul][/div][/div][/div][/div]

[Hirosame]

Hiro chased the melody, finding himself locked inside of it. He knew this song. He knew this voice. It was someone he knew, for sure. He let the sweet, serene sound carry him towards the source. Despite the night time air, he felt as though he could see throughout the fields. Hiro had just finished up another quest, and was on his way back, when he found himself entranced by this tone. He had always been easily distracted by music, no matter what type it was. It was just who he is to be entranced and enticed by a song. He'd often find himself grooving to the music if the mood was good, tapping his foot if the beat was good, or swaying if the vocals were good. This one, however, drew him closer to finding the source. He didn't know who or what he would find, but whatever he found, he would be glad to have found it. This song... He knew it from somewhere.

He soon realized that going by land wasn't going to get him very far, being in the forest. So, he decided to start hopping along the trees. He grabbed onto the nearest tree, and started to climb his way up, standing atop strong branches and boughs, beginning his run towards the source once again. He felt his heart racing, as he had no real idea as to why this song would reach him so deeply. He was moved by its sound, its tone. He was also moved by the fact that he knew the song, and perhaps even the song's performer. He needed to know who it was. He could tell that it was a girl, obviously, but also that she wasn't much older than 20. He tried to piece it all together in his mind who it was, or who it could be, and there was only one other person that he knew of that was around that age range, with a voice such as that: Blue.

Upon reaching a small clearing, Hiro viewed the last few moments of the woman's dance, as she finished up. She had attracted a small crowd, including a knight, an enchanter, and another... person. However, he could tell who the Enchanter was, and smiled greatly as he jumped out of the tree in front of his crafting partner, hoping to give him a start. Hiro grinned at the man, and gave him a thumbs up. "Good to see you again, Renai." He said, turning to the maiden of the voice. He gave a small bow to her, giving her a soft smile. "And it's great to hear your beautiful voice again, Blue." He then turned to the knight, and gave him a slight bow as well. "A pleasure to make your acquaintance. The name's Hirosame, good sir knight. But, do please, call me Hiro." Hiro spoke in his accented way, showing that he was clearly not from Europe. He had long read about the knights of old England, and revered them as he did the Samurai. Noble men, doing noble deeds for their lords. What was not to honor about that? He looked over to the other person, and gave her a nod, before turning to Blue once again.

He needed to know what that song was. He needed to ask her. While he felt bad for not being there for the full performance, he'd still like to know. But, before he could say anything, he figured that he should probably just let it be. Seeing these two again, and meeting new people, were probably all he needed to do. He let his question go away as if they were the clouds in the sky. He instead turned around to look over his allies, and wondered if they were all there for a quest or something. Whether they were or weren't, Hiro would like to get in on this mayhem. Sure, it was getting late, but it was still plenty of time for a quest. Especially since most of the things in this place were fairly weak, such that he and Renai could almost certainly handle them on their own. Without making another noise, Hiro stood around, and waited for a few responses before making another move.

((Words: 709. Mental Count.))

[Blue]

HEY HEARTBREAK come on in...

EVERYONE 625 AND THEN THERE WERE SHEEPLE

The midnight overture had come to a close without incident. A peaceful beginning to Blue's silent night... or so she had thought. During her moonlight sonata, the gentle echo of her flutes tune, while calming the beasts around her, had attracted the attention of those odd dwellers of the night whom so happened to wander close to her place of solitude. Blue had been aware of them before they ever came within her view. The dancer was accustomed to the sounds of the forest and knew the tells of the rustling leaves. The only exception was the sky-fallen Enchanter, whom not even Blue could have predicted. She was a master of observation, but even she did not control the harp strings of fate. All that said, she didn't mind the company, so long as they made their intent clear. She wasn't dressed to fight, but that didn't mean she wasn't prepared. Taking a head count, Blue noted the four who had entered her quiet little domain. A blonde man, once unsure of himself, now resolute in his purpose. Blue was pleased to find the way he carried himself had improved upon witnessing her performance. Nothing was better than knowing you inspired someone to commit to their desires. Next was a more familiar face. Hirosame, an old acquaintance from a quest Blue had done not too long ago. He was his usual old self, and a pleasant sight for the wandering minstrel.  "I am pleased to see you enjoyed my performance, sir."  Blue gave a gracious bow and smiled at Endrin warmly. He carried himself like a man of honor, a knight like you would see in the old story books. If Blue drew a knight on a whim, it would be like the man standing before her, though perhaps with some more embellishments. To his side was Hiro, complimenting her performance openly and greeting the blonde heartily. That was certainly what she expected of him. He seemed to have something on his mind, and if Blue could guess, it would be about the song she had performed. An amused smirk spread across her face. The devious singer was tempted to say "secret" but no, not unless he asked. "It's a pleasure to see you again, Hiro. I didn't think I would meet you here. In fact I wasn't expecting an audience at all this night." With those two out of the way, the standard introductions were over with. The other two though, they were a different kind of spice from Hiro and the knightly person before her. There was a girl who had been sitting and watching for a while now. Blue had been aware of it from the start but didn't see any need to stop the show if the girl was so intent on spectating. Still, neither of them had expected a strange man to fall from the sky in front of her. The poor girl was probably scared out of her wits, holding onto a shikigami for dear life. Blue stepped forward slowly, bringing herself down to the girls height and giving a warm smile. "Hello there. Did you enjoy the performance?" The question was as far away from expected as she could get while still being contextually accurate. The girl was scared and unprepared for the attention that was on her. Blue wished to relieve some of that tension at least a little. She looked at the man from the sky and smiled, giving him a wink as if she had the situation under control. "My friend here is sorry if he scared you. He has a tendency to do that, don't you?" He looked at Renai with an expression that said "Play along or this will be unpleasant for everyone."

_{embers of ct}

[Endrin]

He had not expected quite so many people to be wandering the flower garden so late at night. Perhaps he was not the only one who needed some time to themselves outside of the city walls to adjust to this new life. Where he had sought to find solace he instead found inspiration and possibly like minded individuals? That would be nice, though he had been fortunate so far. The vast majority of the people he had met seemed to be kind and just individuals. Absent seemed to be the player killers and their ilk. Confined only to stories and rumors from his own experiences. Though he had no doubt that they lurked out there, preying upon the weak and the unprepared. There were always people looking to take advantage of others for their own gain or amusement.

"The pleasure was all mine, the performance's beauty is only matched by your own."

He said with his own bow, bringing his right arm up over his heart as he did so. Believing that was the proper and correct way to do it, and unable to keep himself from flirting at least a little bit. He saw no reason for a knight to be forbidden from indulging in banter and good company. And he was fairly sure they did not need to remain chaste. At least Lancelot had not.

The Bard seemed to move on to her other visitors in the night, and much to his surprise one of them approached him for an introduction, his accented voice giving away his foreign origins. Though that would make him like Endrin, who was not British but American despite his choice of server. A choice which had been made for cosmetic reasons.

"You honor me Sir Hiro. You may call me Endrin."

He gave the monk a bow identical to the one that he had given the bard, though minus the flirtatious compliment at the end. He allowed it to last a few moments longer to hide his face as he worked to keep his face from breaking out into a grin. The man wanted to go by Hiro. Perhaps he fashioned himself a hero? It was cute, and he enjoyed it. He could see himself getting along with this guy if first impressions were anything to go by.

Straightening from his bow his attention went to the final two members of this midnight party. A young one who appeared to be terrified at the sudden appearance of another man. His arrival was most unusual, it did not appear to be a call to home skill. Or anything of that sort, he couldn't recall seeing anyone pop out of the sky like that before. A reminder that this world held many mysteries yet to be discovered. Whether by him or others. He was curious as to how the man had appeared as he did, though it was not yet the time to ask. The young one needed to be calmed down, and it would seem that the bard Blue was on it. So for the moment he was content to stand to the side and let her handle it rather than rush in and smother the young one with all of their presences.

(539 words)

[Renai]

Someone liked to yell. By the sound of it, some young brat with no respect for the eardrums of the elderly, but Renai was far too elegant to comment on that. No, instead he remained unmoving on the ground, blankly staring into the sky as he regained his bearings. If the little brat was scared, then Renai had every right to be intimidated as well. After all, he had been teleported to who knew where and fell out of the sky. A slow glance with his eyes gave him the idea he was in the Greatwood, but he didn't seem particularly inclined to move anything except his eyes for the moment. Oh hey, the girl was summoning something. A little bulbous chew-toy? So she was a summoner then...? That didn't look like any summon that Renai had seen. Well, the girl was injured by the looks of it, but Renai frankly didn't care too much. He squinted at the girl's foul language. Wasn't this brat still in her teens? Pretty rude. He was certain his mom would have smacked him upside the head and given him tea-making duties for a week if she heard him curse like that. That old hag of an elegant maid...

Renai probably would have continued to lie there unmoving as he assessed the situation, had Hiro not shown his face. Not only that, he had gone ahead and given away Renai's name too. Great. Perfect. Well, it would be rude not to respond. What was it the gardening slavedriver had told him about greeting people? He was having trouble remembering. "The same to you." Although it wasn't exactly intentional, Hiro might recognize the style of greeting as one suited to conversations in the upper crust or between Japanese. The underlying tone of, "That is my line" behind Renai's words spoke more than he intended about his rather unique upbringing. Still, the Enchanter had no intention of getting up off the ground. Perhaps one of the good things about having Hiro around was that he went ahead and introduced everyone to everyone else implicitly. So the pink-haired air elemental was Blue. Speaking of air elementals, the breezy woman was already nearby trying to soothe Bratkid the Crying.

Okay maybe Renai was being a little rude, but the little she-witch started it first. It wasn't his fault he had been popped out of the sky into the clearing. And he wasn't the one screaming like a banshee or summoning little monsters to defend himself. Renai would have done something more, but there was something else on his mind. Something besides the really uptight and stuffy 'knight' that was calling Hiro 'Sir'. Renai almost made a visual sign of repulsion, remembering clearly just how annoying formalities and servant life was. The guy gave off the same annoying feel as Ruemia, but maybe Renai was just getting rubbed the wrong way by everyone. At this point, had anyone except Hiro not been automatically deemed 'annoying'? Still, there were more important things. Finally deciding to move, the Woodcrafter stood up and glanced sidelong at Blue and Bratkid. Sylreth hadn't introduced herself yet, so what else was Renai going to call her? When Blue prompted him for an answer, his response wasn't at all forced. He frankly believed that scaring people was natural for him and he responded as such. "Scaring people is a guarantee in my profession. My auntie was a gate guard to a castle, you know." He didn't look remorseful at all. Instead, his eyes gleamed as he stared up at the sky, waiting for something.

There it was. It didn't fall from the same spot as he had, considering Fairy Circle and the time delay, but it was close enough. Extending his hand out, the Woodcrafter caught the mop that fell from the night with an elegant gesture, spinning it back to his side. That was how he had ended up here. He had been cleaning and somehow ended up getting tricked into crossing paths with Fairy Circle again. The result was as described previously. Renai fell out of the sky and, after however long this particular conversation took, so did his mop. Well, the kid still looked like she was going to start bawling any moment now. Maybe he could go ahead and make some food for the little brat? Well, that was what he was going to do now. He hoped this kid didn't hate rice balls or something. It wasn't like Renai had a fire source or actual cooking tools on him, so a rice ball would have to do. If his mothers had taught him anything, it was how to clean house. Part of that happened to be cooking, so Renai rifled through his inventory as he took a few paces backwards, calling up his knowledge of the cooking skill. Housekeeping was useful like that. Personally, he was pretty sure the Elegant Maid would have suggested he serve tea, but tea wasn't on the menu as a chef. Good thing the gardener of the family had taught him how to make simple things early on.

Fumbling with materials in the darkness and being strangely secretive, Renai simply took a few steps back and let Blue handle the rest. Kids weren't his deal anyway. Especially not kids that screeched in his ear. That he happened to making food for this kid was completely irrelevant. It wasn't like he felt bad. It wasn't like he just didn't want to say something dumb or mean. Nope. He just happened to notice this kid was dumb and figured if he stuffed that stupid mouth with some food, then everyone would be happier off. The chef sprinkled a bit of salt into the rice ball he was making in his hands, throwing in plums in the center. Plums were good, right? Renai had a leaning towards octopus, personally, but plums were decent. And what if this kid was a vegetarian. Man, that would suck. So he was throwing some plums in there, pulling these items from out of nowhere [read: his inventory] and fumbling around with his secret machinations in the shadow of some tree and his own form. Stupid kids and their stupid cut up legs and their stupid voices. Geez.

[Hirosame]

Hiro gave a small sigh as the others introduced themselves. There was a bit of a time constraint on them, since apparently the quest had a bit of a restriction to it. The quest itself had popped up into his field of vision, after being around these people for long enough. He wasn't entirely sure as to why or how it just decided to appear now of all times, but whatever! He was more than ready to take part in the quest. Although, he had no idea what or even how they were to fight this evening. Despite this, Hiro still wanted to fight something while he was here. He was also in the presence of two of his friends, a valiant knight, and some random person that seemed to have just appeared from nowhere. Even though he was supposedly the one who was to have appeared from nowhere, it still made sense that he would revere the other person as being the random.

Hiro wanted to know just what they were to be fighting this evening, but he could probably figure it out on his own. Seeing as three of the members in this group were below level 10, and two of which were still level 1, it was easy to figure out that they would probably be fighting stuff that was below level 5. However, since Hiro and Renai were there, both being level 16, the other members could probably make good use of them, and fight something up to the level of 10. Hiro doubted that, as the original team was probably Blue and that girl over there who wasn't saying a god damned thing. It's like she was just standing there, waiting for the night to go by. Trying not to be looking directly at her, he averted his vision so he was looking more towards the forest than at any one person instead.

It was about that moment when Hiro realized that Blue hadn't told him what the name of the song was. He turned sharply to the pink-haired woman, and gave her a bit of a death glare. He figure that she could feel the burning angst in his gaze, and probably wouldn't even turn around to look back at him. She's probably just get a cold chill or something. He sighed again, and looked up to the night sky, wondering. Instead of trying to figure out what they were going to be fighting today, he figured he'd just ask about it. "So, what is it that we're gonna fight? It's pretty late in the evening, so it must be something rare." He said aloud while looking up still. He couldn't turn away from the sparkling night sky, dazzled by its beauty. As if it were actually real or something, Hiro smiled softly, losing himself in the cosmos.

[Sylreth]

If I don't move

it will all break, it will all break.

Sylreth could just feel her cheeks turn red. Dammit, dammit, dammit! She didn't want to admit stuff but still.. Shifting, she could feel the dull throb in her legs, as another person showed up. The girl squished the soft looking Shikigami closer, the creature making cute noises in order to soothe it's owner. Lucky for her, the new guy, with red hair, seemed to have.. well maybe he didn't. But she could feel it; he felt like the people that mocked her for her weird gender issues. Instantly, she felt a dislike for that guy, because he wasn't better then any of the retards that filled her life with prejudices and needy wants of shallow intentions. Tch. She would focus on those that mattered, the better people, as the blonde pointedly avoided the male's gaze. Serves you right, bastard.

However, Sylreth got a much better view of the beautiful dancing girl, and felt her cheeks reddened when addressed to. ''I.. I.. um..'' she mumbled, unable to openly admit she did, and thus gave a quiet nod that only the girl would see. She didn't want anyone else to know, she felt kind of shy about the rest. She had already decided to not like the red-head male, but this girl was actually really nice. It made Sylreth feel just a bit better. The knight guy was in the corner, and from a peek, Sylreth felt a pang. They looked alike, almost scarily so; was he a Camlann too? Or just a stranger that ended up with similar traits on his game character?

The other guy, she wasn't sure. He felt.. stand-offish, and the overtly sensitive full of issues girl could tell that he wasn't pleased. That or she was just over-analyzing paranoidly, either and or. The girl nodded to him, and let out a soft noise. ''I see.. I'm sorry I screamed I just.. didn't expect it.'' she said, voice a bit rough. She didn't like biting out the apology, but even she could see she was in the wrong. Why the heck was she being so shy for anyways? She was in a world that it didn't matter if she died or lived. So if she slit something or the other, and watched their - no.

That was a bad thing right there, as the girl closed her eyes, and breathed out. She still didn't want to talk to red-head guy, she didn't even want to know his name. But the others.. even the white hair, seemed decent, although she was on guard with the guy. But the weird movements out of the corner of her eye made her curious, she gave a small smile to the bard. ''I'm Sylreth. And.. erm.. you're really pretty.'' she said, nodding softly. Okay there, see? Wasn't hard to be nice. It just took her a few moments to get over the people falling in front of her thing, as she just shuffled her legs, the throb of pain fading in the back of her mind. She didn't even care; she felt excited that there were nice people here.

Elated? Pft, she knew she wasn't contributing much, but.. she could always try right? Her fingers curled slightly, as she breathed out. She wasn't useless.. just a lost person. Just someone that had no idea what the hell, and just followed the sound of the other's voice. Yup. Okay so it was obvious she was the youngest here, but that didn't bother her. She was used to being the only one of something.. but that generally had to do with her equipment more so then her age, but it was fine. ''Hm... I'm really sorry though. It's been a long day..'' she muttered, again apologizing. More so to the white haired man's, Renai was it, that red-head over there had said, benefit. Well she figured she insulted him somehow, since he didn't really talk to her.

Bah, was she over thinking again? Probably. Stupid rambly thoughts.

[/b] Blue Endrin Renai Hirosame
•Words; 0666
•Music; Bad Apple :: Gumi [Touhou]
•Notes; Sorry for the wait. Also, nothing personal, Sylreth is just a brat '.' [#3d6fe9]
•Credit; PerfectFallacy of Gangnam Style![/div][/ul][/div][/div][/div][/div]

[Blue]

HEY HEARTBREAK come on in...

HIRO, RENAI, ENDRIN, SYL 1036 - 0/5 CAIRNS FOUND - GUARDIAN UNDEFEATED

When dealing with four different and colorful personalities, what did one do? That is a question which very seldom did any one have the answer to. It took a second for Blue to analyze everyone fully. Their canvases were... well, they were all colored differently. The white-head, going by the name Renai as Hiro had called him, was an interesting character. Around him, she saw a dark sort of color, something anxious and shackling. Could it be... fear? Was that the emotion that lurked deep in his heart? Such a thought made the bard feel sad, but Blue retained her calm demeanor, looking at them all with soft blue eyes and a gentle smile. ''I'm Sylreth. And.. erm.. you're really pretty.'' Blue turned her gaze towards the lost little girl, tilting her head with a curious look on her face before smiling brightly and patting the girl on the head gently for the compliment. Taking a second look at Syl, Blue could see a canvas painted with both light and dark colors. There was energy, happiness, but also anxiety and hatred. The child carried with her the emotions of a troubled youth, hiding behind a mask of cheer and effervescence. Blue knew the type well, and the familiarity reminded her of the old world and what it was like to be a child Syl's age. "Thank you Sylreth. I'm very glad you enjoyed my dance." Blue then turned to Endrin and Hiro, her analyzing gaze piercing the masks they wore in this world and staring long at the canvas that was their egos. Endrin was... interesting. Not in that it was colorful or dark, but blank. On the contrary, there was too much white, too much negative space. He was a normal person, who was yet uninfluenced by the world around him, or rather, he had been... Now there was a tinge of color Blue attributed to nobility. He was a man of knightly caliber, that was for sure, and Blue had the creeping suspicion that sir Endrin was aware of it. Hiro though... that boy was an extremity that Blue only saw every once in a while. He was bright and strong. A melding of colors that overpowered the canvas and threatened to paint the canvases of others. What would you call that, Charismatic? Influential? Yes, those are the words she would use. He was a dangerous individual, and one Blue would need to keep an eye on. It might be that this man would be a major player in events to come, or at least that's what Blue felt. But never mind the psycho-analysis. There was something pinging her visual display in the corner. "Hmm? What would this be...?" Blue, curious as to what kind of message she would receive at this time of day, opened up her menu and checked the quest tab. Yup, there was a new addition to her tracker that wasn't there when she started dancing. Reading the quest carefully, Blue determined that it was an area event, something she didn't recognize from the game pre-patch. So this was a Novasphere event. Blue read further on, checking the objectives and giving an inward sigh. It was vague, that was for sure. "Defeat the Flower Grove guardian with no casualties." was both distinct and vague at the same time. There was no monster in this area to speak of, and Blue had been coming to this grove at this time since the cataclysm. "So, what is it that we're gonna fight? It's pretty late in the evening, so it must be something rare." Said Hiro, looking off into the sky with a dazed look.  Blue kept reading the quest, trying to figure out what kind of guardian would be in the garden and how to fight it. There was a mention of five players being needed, some proper placement, and some flashy ritual. They always made these events too complicated didn't they? It sounded like a simple instance queue to Blue, but hey, why criticize new content when you hadn't even tried it yet? The Bard turned to Hiro and shared the quest details with him via the quest share app. A neat little trend in MMO's pioneered by older games like Tera.  "I believe there's an event tied to this place. It's the first I've heard of it but it sounds like fun, doesn't it?"  Blue shared the details of the quest with everyone else, not wanting to leave them out. Looking at Syl, Blue wondered if she was up for the task. The girl was obviously wounded in some way and it worried the bard to put a girl in such a position if she was already hampered by other issues. Still, if worse came to worse, Blue would keep her out of harms way. After all, what kind of support class would she be if she couldn't keep her party members on their feet? If Blue had interpreted the quest correctly in all of it's vague glory, they would need to find five cairn stones within the grove and... activate them, whatever that meant. Searching her memories on knowledge of Gaelic culture, Blue summarize that they would be arranged in a circle of some kind. Still, finding them in a grove of tall flowers and grass would be a pain. She was certain that finding one would lead to another though. There was always a pattern to Gaelic design. "So, if you four are interested in a little quest, why don't we party up and look around? If there's something about this grove I don't know, I would like to know." Blue gave them all a serene smile, showing her sincerity in asking for their aid. The bard was never above asking others for help, despite her disposition as a solo player. This was a world where everyone needed to band together in order to make the best of things. Though that didn't necessarily mean one needed to join a guild. Blue treasured her solitude too much to be bothered with the politics of guilds. If something was dragging Blue away from her desires, then she was clearly playing this game wrong. Or so she thought at least.

_{embers of ct}

[Endrin]

Tension seemed to fill the forest air with the mysterious appearing stranger that Hiro had identified as Renai. The tone they used when addressing the startled child made it apparent that their social skills did not include handling young ones. Annoyance seemed to drip from their voice as they spoke, and while he could understand the feeling while the young one had been... overreacting to a startling situation with the summoning of a creature. He still couldn't fault her for being cautious all the same. But the situation seemed to defuse itself as apologies were made and Endrin smiled at the relief of tension. At least it was relieved enough for his sake. Taking a step forward he bowed to the young girl as he had not yet properly introduced himself to her with the small scene that had just played out.

"Good evening Lady Sylreth." He said warmly. Opting to use her name since she had given it freely. As opposed to Renai who had not yet introduced themselves but rather had Hiro blurt out his name before an introduction could be made. All the same he would give Renai a small bow out of courtesy as well. "And a good evening to you as well." He said politely, opting to not use his name as he had not yet given it himself, not had he been properly introduced by Hiro.

The notification popped up for him as well as Blue was reading through the quest log. A slightly surprised look crossed his face at the notification however, he knew it was an MMO but he had been under the impression that quests had not appeared since the Apocalypse. This was an interesting development that he would share with Kaizer. He was sure to be excited since it was a puzzle that he himself had been pondering. It was interesting that it just seemed to appear with no quest giver in sight. Perhaps it was like the old Dynamic Events from Guild Wars 2? Or a FATE from Final Fantasy XIV? And if there was no proper quest giver he wondered if the quest reward, whatever it was would just appear in their bags or if instructions on where to go for a reward would show up in their HUD.

"Of course I shall aid you." He replied to Blue with another bow of his head. "It would be unseemly to leave at this time. Besides, I would be lying if I said I was not curious about this quest as well. It is the first of it's kind I have seen appear since the Apocalypse."

Besides he had a few levels under his belt and a decent spread of skills he thought. It would be fun to fight something other than slimes and boars. Plus the chance to be in a party with more than once person was appealing. It would be a chance to see actual party dynamics in action rather than just duoing. Which often devolved into a very basic tank and spank. If Blue sent out the party invitations then he would quickly accept ready to see what this quest had to offer.

(528 words)

[Renai]

Renai squinted at his object in the darkness, continuing to patch the food object together as he worked. The player's eyes were focused not at the rest of those gathered, but rather at the thing he was making. His eyebrow quirked upwards as a quest arrived and he stared at it as his hands continued to move, wondering just why this had devolved into a basic hack-slash fighting adventure. And here he had thought that it would be a simple social gathering, without needless displays of skill or power. Frankly, Renai didn't really want to party up with anyone, much less use his Enchanter skills. Still, it seemed like there wasn't really much of a choice by the general consensus of the group. That also unfortunately meant that Renai would actually have to commit to his plan instead of changing halfway through. How unfortunate. How incredibly unfortunate.

Renai continued to roll the object in his hands around, turning it over and over, grabbing objects from inside his pockets and continuing to work. It wasn't like Renai was particularly annoyed or irritated, it just happened that Bratkid was a bit of a brat. Whatever. It wasn't the first time he had dealt with spoiled kids. Some happened to be much older than Bratkid as well. Well, at least she knew how to bite the bullet. Score one for Bratkid, he supposed. "Thank you." Somewhat detached and matter-of-fact in his response, Renai continued to fiddle with the object in his hands, sprinkling something over it. Sylreth had introduced herself, so now she had an actual name. No more Bratkid, it seemed. With a final nod of satisfaction, Renai finished his object and inspected it. It was a simple riceball, with plum filling on the inside. "Good evening, Endrin." With his mop under his arm, Renai shuffled over to Sylreth and handed the kid the riceball he had made. "If you're coming along, best to recover your health first." His housekeeper skills let him make a basic food item to recover health. If the group was going to move along, then Renai wasn't having anyone fight starting halfway to death. He shot a glance at Hiro and then shuffled away again, accepting whatever party invite and quest notification might have come his way.

[Hirosame]

Hiro's eyes opened up a bit, as he soon realized that there was no quest to be had. He felt stupid, of course, since he thought that some monsters needed to be ended, only to find out that it was nothing of the sort. He sighed a bit to himself, but didn't lose his composure. His normal, sincere smile was there on his face again, hiding the idiocy that he had just performed. He looked back down from the sky, towards the dancer. She had on a smile, which Hiro had grown accustomed to. She never did seem to have any problems with almost anything, from what he could tell. However, he didn't know her that well, in all actuality, so he could only make inferences and assumptions. He hoped that they would be right, in the long run.

It was just a moment later that he felt an overwhelming surge of hatred and disapproval on him. As if being crushed by a boulder of hate, Hiro felt the powerful force coming from the other girl nearby. Hiro clammed up a little bit, and his face turned to a silly surprised look, like one would see in an anime or something. He didn't try to look over at her, so as to avoid making things worse. From what he could tell, it wasn't her eyes, burning a hole into him from the side. No, it was probably the way he had acted when he first arrived. Maybe he did something she didn't like? Maybe he didn't do a specific thing that he should have done? He had no idea what in the world he could have, or could not have, done before. He wanted to fix it, but even asking anything of the female might prove detrimental. He simply avoided confrontation, for the time being.

This was about when Blue had mentioned that there was an event that was going on nearby, or even at this spot. That having been said, Hiro noticed that not everyone made a motion towards this comment much, yet. Aside from the valiant knight, it seemed like Renai hadn't mentioned, or thought much of, the offer. Then he recalled the statement made towards the knight, mentioning the state of his health or something to that effect. So, maybe that was a sign of confirmation? It probably was, knowing Renai. He was always subtle with stuff like this, seeing as he was probably of higher status in the real world, much like Hiro was. But, Hiro had never gotten into that whole higher blood crap. He looked down on the idea that others were higher than the rest. It disgusted him. The very idea caused him to dislike his family a bit further.

But, before he went off on a larger mental tangent, he figured that he'd better mention his participation to Blue. Whether or not the other female would come along might possibly depend on his own answer. He hoped that she would come along, since more people meant more stuff to do. While he was feeling a bit tired, he wouldn't mind taking part in this event. He'd like to see what was up, for sure. So, Hiro responded to Blue. "Yeah, I'll tag along, if you'll have me." That was his one line answer. A bit dull, probably, but it got the point across. He wondered where, or how close to this event, they were. But, he'd find out soon enough, more than likely. He figured that he should just wait for it, and let the party leader take the lead. He'd love to jump into the fray, and deal some extra damage, if monsters were involved, too. Holding high hopes, he waited silently for Blue's next move.

[625 Words]