Midnight Hour Reinforcement [Endrin]

[RuetheDay]

face all the pain and take it on

RuetheDay sighed quietly, pushing his hands into his pockets as he walked. He still hadn't gotten his armor fixed yet, so there was a nice gash in the side of it, but that wasn't something that he really minded too much. He hadn't gone back out to hunt quite yet, so it wasn't as if it really mattered whether or not he had gotten his armor fixed or not. Though the flip side of that was that he hardly wanted to go out into the wilderness and try defeating more enemies without some new equipment. He shrugged, dismissing the matter. Today was about taking the time out to explore the city. He'd been toying with the thought of maybe improving himself in order to start some sort of group... for what purpose exactly, he wasn't quite sure he could explain accurately. Mostly because it wasn't the typical guild to advance further into the game. No... he wanted to try to make things as painless as possible. He remembered how much of a pain it had been for him to go looking for ways to make a new whip, how he'd nearly gotten himself killed fighting boars just to try to find some leather that had never dropped - or if it had, it had despawned prior to him being able to pick it up - and how he had a hard time putting together a party, though he did have someone on his friend's list: a certain perky pink-haired Fox Tail that never seemed to run out of energy. He would have to make a note to maybe contact her later to do a little bit of alchemy. That was something he thought would be... well, worth it. He had no idea how to really work his alchemy, and she was a higher-level player, so she'd probably be delighted to help him, especially if he bribed her with something. Maybe he'd take her down to Saint Pancras Station and let her pick something inexpensive for him to buy as a thanks. Provided that she didn't act too hyper, that is. He needed his space, and though he was doing much better in the Unfounded Kingdom in regards to being around others, he still wasn't perfect. His steps slowed, the moon casting a soft light over him, and with a sigh, he looked up, blinking when he realized that he was standing on a bridge over a river, likely what was once the river Thames in real life. A small part of him wondered if it still was the river Thames, but he pushed that part of him aside, instead leaning onto the railing, letting one arm dangle down while the other served as a pillow for him to rest his chin on his palm. He wondered where his friend was or what his little sister was doing right now. He'd not seen either of them since he'd entered the game, and while that worried him... it also gave him hope that maybe they'd escaped being trapped. He pictured his little sister running around in the game and his whole body let out a shudder, something that had him pushing away the thought with a fierceness akin to violence. He didn't want to imagine his precious little sister here in the game too, fighting and struggling and barely clinging to life. He wasn't quite sure what he'd do if that happened. It was one thing for him to struggle, but for her... he just didn't even want to think about it.

100% 100% Words;; 590 Tags;; Endrin Notes;; Let's get this started since I sorta picture Endrin being the one to inspire Rue to start his guild and then Okami ends up dragging him to join NDD since she interrupted him before he could finish telling her he'd just made one and then that's how the two guildmasters officially ally their two guilds *shot* Lyrics;; "The Only Hope for Me is You" by My Chemical Romance Template by Kuroya

because the only hope for me is you alone!

[Endrin]

He really liked night time strolls. Or enthusiastic walks as he sometimes called them. They were good for the mind and the soul. Giving him much needed time to mentally process things and all around sort himself out internally. Because all things considered he was okay with this sudden change of direction in his life. He was okay with this new world and making it a home. He enjoyed it, he enjoyed the monster fighting. Though admittedly he was terrified at first. He loved doing alchemy and figuring it out, even though he still felt like he didn't know what he was doing. He loved that there was a whole new world to explore and that he felt he could really make his mark on it. It was a good feeling.

However, there were still stresses. He missed his old friends and family. He wondered if he would ever get to see them again. He wondered how they were dealing with his disappearance or coma, or whatever had happened to him in the real world. He really didn't know. He wondered if he would suddenly vanish here if he died in the real world, assuming he wasn't already dead. So many things that were out of his control and it was terrifying. So he tried to focus on what he could do, but that nagging voice in the back of his head was always there. Letting uncertainty creep into his heart and mind.

That said nothing for the stresses and worried he had about things that he could control. Or at least partially help. The state of the city and the people who lived in it. Dealing with PKers who tried to pick off weaker players to take their stuff. The people of the land and figuring out how to live in harmony with them. Everyone had problems, himself included and he couldn't fix everything. No one could, not alone. So he had been toying with the idea of making a guild, inving the people on his friend's list and seeing if they could make a difference together. He didn't know how much of a difference they could make, but he did know they wouldn't make any if they didn't at least try. He would call them up tomorrow, see if they were actually interested in it or not.

He wandered aimlessly through the night, considering what he would say to his friends, and hopefully future allies until he found himself on a bridge. The water running under it brought a sense of peace, like he could watch his worries float away in it's surface. And it appeared he wasn't the only one to have found comfort in it's current tonight. Smiling at the young man who was already on the bridge he decided to make his presence known, if it hadn't been already.

"Quite an evening isn't it."

His tone was pleasant enough, he had no reason to not be. Even with his own troubles and stresses on his mind they were on the back burner, filed away under things he couldn't change. So while he was not dwelling on them overly, they were still always there, looming over him.

(531 words)

[RuetheDay]

face all the pain and take it on

Haru Katashi had been to this river in the real world. He had seen how polluted it could get at its prime, read the stories about how clogged it used to be back before the attempt to save the earth was a popular one among the masses, and yet the water of the Thames rushing beneath him didn't seem to be all that filthy. Granted, he would hardly like to go swimming in it, mind you, not with the tales... but he still thought that it looked rather clean given the historical background. Fine, he'd just admit it to himself. He was focusing on the water so that he could try to distract himself from the thoughts of his friend. He worried about the other from time to time, but even more importantly... he worried about the state of the world. He remembered how hard certain people made it to keep going, better yourself, and how some had even turned to slaughtering each other and the People of the Land just to try to get ahead. It was sickening. Sickening and wrong. Just because they were all trapped in the Unfounded Kingdom didn't mean that the rules didn't apply anymore. He kept picturing his sister or his friend getting lost in the wave, stepped over and kicked as things just grew worse and worse, their hands reaching for the objects they needed. It was probably when he saw his friend being slaughtered by a Player Killer that he growled, black hair almost seeming to be bristling as he pushed the thought away. This was exactly why he was trying to just stand here on the bridge and focus on the river. He didn't want to have to worry about stuff like that if he could avoid it. Huffing softly, he turned his gaze back to the water, orange eyes still fierce. Someone needed to be on a person's side as things just got worse. But no one seemed even remotely interested in any of that, and that just... didn't sit right with Rue. His head shot up when he heard another voice, body turning slightly to meet the other, he brought one hand up, hovering over the person to make their information come up. User name Endrin, species human, fighting class of guardian. He relaxed slightly, deciding that he wasn't in any particular danger at the moment, especially given that the other hadn't struck while he was distracted - and it irritated him to no end that he was judging relative trustworthiness by whether or not someone attacked him right-off or not. "I suppose it's nice enough," he replied cordially. "It's a good time to get away from everything and think." He leaned against the side of the stone rail, feeling the cool of it beneath his hand. "So what are you doing here at this time of night, hmm? People don't usually come out here unless they're not sleeping or they have a lot on their mind. So which is it for you, hmm?" Some people would have said that he was being hostile, sarcastic, but the thing was, that was how the Half-Alf showed concern for other people. He was nicer when it was his little sister, of course, but usually his questions came off as cold and calculating when they were anything but. It wasn't his fault that the act of showing kindness to others was so foreign to him, even though he wanted to change that. Kami did he want to change that. The Unfounded Kingdom was harsh enough as it was, it didn't need people going out of their way to cause trouble for others. That was just... cruel. Rue was a lot of things, but he'd like to think that cruel wasn't one of them.

100% 100% Words;; 631 Tags;; Endrin Notes;; I CAN DO THIS. I CAN REACH LEVEL 15. SO HELP ME. Lyrics;; "The Only Hope for Me is You" by My Chemical Romance Template by Kuroya

because the only hope for me is you alone!

[Endrin]

The young man spoke in a sharp tone. Hostile? Or just agitated perhaps. Though there was a lot to be agitated about he was sure. Between being whisked away to another world to the general state of London itself. From it's people to it's crumbling infrastructure. Add insult to injury if you were from London to boot. He imagined it would be quite painful to see a great city in this kind of state if you were actually from the city in question. Though he didn't know if the young man was actually from this city or not. Either way he chose not to take offense at the young man's tone. He was sure that he didn't mean offense, if he had he probably would have said something mean or insulting. As it was now he just came off as kind of snappy, perhaps he just needed someone to be friendly and cheerful. Maybe it would even rub off on him. After all, stranger things had happened to them.



"Oh I just enjoy walking through the city at night. I find it peaceful. Besides, I'm not from the area so it's fascinating to see what it's like at night. I suppose the London natives are already fairly used to that so it's boring for them. But to me it has a certain kind of charm."



He said smoothly as he took up residence against the railing of the bridge, his back turned to the water as he looked up at the night sky. At the stars sparkling in the distance and the constellations. It was so vast and detailed, it was hard to believe that this was all created as a computer program at first. That everything was. Especially when they could feel, they could taste, they could hear, and even smell. How did one program in a smell? No, he needed to stop thinking of this place as a video game. You couldn't program a smell.This was all very real, whatever it once may have been. And it deserved to be treated as such.



He didn't share what was on his mind with the other Adventurer because frankly it wasn't the other guy's problem. His parents used to joke around saying that they couldn't complain and that no one wanted to hear it anyways. Well that's how most people were. Strangers didn't want to hear his problems or what was bugging him, and everyone had them. However he always had a bad habit of sticking his nose into peoples business and trying to fix their problems. Offline and online.



"What about yourself? You seem like someone with a lot on their mind. Are you adjusting to all of this alright?" He asked turning his head to look at Rue, offering him a small reassuring smile. "It's alright to be having trouble adjusting to everything. It's a big change. You know?"



He was inviting the young man to open up about what was on his mind. It seemed like something was bugging him, and having someone ask was sometimes all you needed to open up. Though he was by no means obligated to spill his guts to Endrin simply because he asked. But he wanted to make sure the offer was there.

(543 words)

[RuetheDay]

face all the pain and take it on

RuetheDay shrugged, turning his gaze back to the river. "It has its merits, I suppose," he stated, orange eyes watching the rippling water, "but after a while, it'll all wear out again." He then chuckled, looking up from the river Thames. "Besides, I'm not actually a native to London, technically. My family's from Japan. I was born there too, supposedly, though I don't remember it." He didn't really know whether or not to consider himself Japanese in the first place, now that he thought about it. Sure, he may have spoken the language fluently, but it was hardly as if he understood the culture any more than someone else in London. He didn't identify himself with the country any more than he would some place he'd never been to, like America, but it seemed so... odd to think of himself as anything but what his parents had always told him. Or the maids had told him that his parents had told him. The two rarely spoke to him anyway; he could barely even remember their voices by this point in time. The only thing he had was his siblings. Maybe that was why he was so protective of his baby sister Miyako and why the thought of his friend Daenes struggling made him almost... want to bend over the stone railing of the bridge and empty the contents of his stomach into the murky depths. He could handle if he was the one being made to scavenge for himself, but for Miyako... for Daenes... it angered him and disgusted him all at once. Why people couldn't just help each other without taking advantage of each other was beyond him. "I suppose I have a lot on my mind..." he answered, shrugging, lifting his gaze up to the stars. "I've handled being here just fine, and yeah, people haven't really helped me... but it's not like my life was too much better anyway." His fingers traced patterns on the stone, meaningless little things that had absolutely no purpose guiding them whatsoever. "I'm mostly just worried about a friend of mine. He was supposed to meet me when we were in the game, but I've not seen him since then... And with the way people are, I'm worried about him. Sometimes he's just... a little too easy to take advantage of. And that's all anyone seems to do here." He scowled, chin jerking up. "All anyone seems to be able to do is take advantage of each other, and it's disgusting! What happened to being comrades, to being kindness? Just because we've been trapped in a game doesn't mean that it goes away! What happened to kindness to others!" he snapped, orange eyes gleaming with the ferver of his emotions, the Half-Alf having reached the tipping point and spilling over, what few shreds of his self-control being dedicated to keeping his tongue vaguely still in English rather than Japanese, something that he had very nearly slipped up on with the last sentence. He wanted to make a difference in the world, if only because he couldn't stand seeing how rotten that people had become!

100% 100% Words;; 522 Tags;; Endrin Notes;; I WILL SPEEDPOST THIS CRAP SO HELP ME Also all grammar mistakes in his speech or awkward sentence structure is me trying to butcher the language intentionally to create the impression that he's struggling keeping his Japanese and English straight because he's so emotional orz Lyrics;; "The Only Hope for Me is You" by My Chemical Romance Template by Kuroya

because the only hope for me is you alone!

[Endrin]

"I see..."

He said slowly as the young man spoke. Seeming to keep himself on the very brink of breaking down or snapping. He suspected that he was not coping as well as he said that he was, but he would not call him on it. A man was entitled to his pride and to his privacy. Endrin would not want someone prying into his own state of things after he had answered them. To shoulder ones problems was the sign that you were a man rather than a boy. He listened silently as Rue explained that he was worried about a friend that he was supposed to meet up with in game. But for whatever reason they had not been able to connect yet. He could empathize with how stressful that must be. Being alone here was bad enough without thinking about someone else who was waiting for you and is up to Lord only knows what. Endrin turned to face Rue and with a small smile he would clasp the young man's right shoulder.

"Then let's find him. Let us find your friend. Do you know their name? Or what it might be? Would they be in London or did they start somewhere else?"

Basic questions that he would need to have answered before they could even hope to start looking for the young man's friend. But if someone was lost and alone and possibly in danger of being taken advantage of then Endrin had to help. It was his duty to help those in need and to protect the weak. And if this friend was just a mark to be taken advantage of then he was surely in need of help, whether he knew it or not.

"Did you have a solid plan on where you were going to meet up or when?" He continued pressing, trying to find out what he could so that he could help this stranger with his problem.

(326 words)