Clearing the Clearing [OPEN]

[Deleted]

As ever, the weather was clear, without so much as a gentle breeze - a stark contrast to the country's usual weather. Not that Thestalos minded, though. While he preferred it to the heat, the bitter wind that seemed to plague every season but summer was nothing if not annoying. This was only amplified by the constant and unpredictable showers that insisted on hitting him at exactly the worst moment. His expression dropped for a moment, remembering Sod's Law. An unpleasant one at best, but one he abided by, and had been hailed as a prophet for. On multiple occasions, no less.

A non-hostile creature scampered by, too quickly for him to bother with trying to recognise it. He was out training, not sightseeing. He knew a great spot, secluded from the rest of the general area, somewhere he could just go about his business without someone interrupting. He remembered the last time it had happened, when Elder Tale was still a game. People had called him out on making a child cry, but he insisted that it was the child's fault for pestering him relentlessly. Bawling sprogs aside, the boy insisted on working alone - hence his choice of classes. He needed to provide for himself, and as he didn't need to eat, he'd be solving the practical problems.

Turning off the beaten path, Thestalos began beating aside various plants and branches, occasionally having to spit out some small items he didn't particulrly feel like examining. Getting there was troublesome, but not difficult. In fact, the most dangerous thing he was likely to encounter were either the low-level enemies he could probably take with his staff alone, or the low branches swinging back to hit him in the face. It wasn't that either of them hurt, but neither of them were particularly pleasant. It took him a minute or two, but eventually, he came upon a small clearing, the one he frequented so often.

Naturally, as it was pretty much the grinding grounds for beginners, there wasn't much to see. However, it suited his purposes just fine. There was plenty of room to move about - he could let his golem tank the hits while he employed a hit-and-run tactic. There were a few rocks nearby, so he supposed the possibility of summoning a stone golem was there, but hadn't bothered trying yet. The clearing was also well-lit - even with the skills that the pathfinder subclass came with, he needed to have visibility as high as possible if he was going to go it alone.

However, there were no mobs about, at that point in time. Thestalos grumbled quietly to himself, and continued to do so all the way to the stump in the middle, which he used as a sitting stool. It was now that he began wishing that he'd bought a book from one of the local vendors - sitting around waiting would be rather boring. He supposed that there was a reason that the area wasn't frequented as much as others - the slow spawn rate and overall low monster density were probably the chief ones. He theorised that it could be a decent picnic spot, if you timed it right, but didn't plan on testing that theory out at any time.

[Arrasi]

UNKNOWN SONGS THAT TRAVELERS SING THEY SOUND FAMILIAR TO ME

Arrasi walked with unsteady feet through the brush. She had planned to make a small expedition into the forest for mapmaking purposes, but she had inevitably gotten herself lost by losing her focus. The map that she had been attempting to put together was an utter failure – she had been so accustomed to having a higher level scribe skill in other games that she had forgotten her newbie status in the world of Elder Tale. That mistake had cost her the level of navigation that she needed to get out of the woods, not to mention a bit of her own pride. If only she had been stuck in another MMO where she had some actual skills. Maybe everything wouldn't have been so difficult for her. As she continued to trudge through the woods, she pulled a roll from her bag and began to make a small snack out of it. It had been hours since she had eaten, but even in the game world she had to eat. With the bland taste of the food she managed to acquire, though, she wished she could have bypassed the eating part. After a few mouthfuls, she started to see a break in the trees ahead of her. London? It couldn't be the outskirts of the city – it was far too quiet for that. Either way, it was far better than zig-zagging around the trees in a daze of her own foolishness. Arrasi stuffed the remainder of the roll away in her bag – at least the courier status let her carry more than most other players. She had plenty of rations to keep her stomach filled, even if the taste made her want to grimace. With a deep breath, she took off towards the clearing up ahead. When she was just a few meters away, she skidded to a halt. There was another player ahead of her, one that she hadn't met before. Suddenly she found herself in her own internal debate: talk with the player and get directions, or turn around and walk away. As she was pondering the options in her mind, a few monsters spawned at the edge of the clearing. The player wasn't looking at them, and it seemed like they had a good chance of getting a few hits on him before he noticed them. They had made the decision for her. Arrasi pulled her flute from her bag and selected the Lullaby of the Mermaid in the Moonlight skill from her menu. It would have been a shame to attempt to use her rapier against the foes, even if they were small. Her skill with weaponry as a Bard was abysmal, so the best she could do was put the little monsters to sleep, then warn the player about their presence. She placed the flute at her lips, and the melody floated through the air like the gentle lullaby it was supposed to be. It was calming for her, but it was also working on the monsters. One by one they tripped over each other and all ended up in a small, sleeping heap. ”You should probably take care of those,” Arrasi said as she took a step into the clearing and pointed at the pile of dreaming monsters. Word Count: 582

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS & GANGNAM STYLE

[Duana]

Duana HP: 100% MP: 100%

Looking pretty cute in my cloak and boots.

A day out in the woods training had been more of a fiasco than she had originally imagined, Duana wasn’t the best gamer in the world but she figured she had a pretty good grasp on most MMOs. Now sitting in the crook of a tree overlooking all the mobs milling about below she suddenly began to envy classes that were more sedentary in their battle tactics. What she wouldn’t give to stand off in the distance and not have to constantly position herself and go through her menus to try to activate her skills. She wasn’t sure how anyone expected anyone in this game to use a menu driven combat system in a game with real time combat.

She sighed and pulled a bandage she had gotten from an NPC before heading out into the forest from her inventory. Carefully she wrapped it around a wound on her arm like she would do in real life, watching her HP slowly go up as it was applied. As soon as the gauze was wrapped around her arm it disappeared completely, the item was not meant to be used multiple times. Everything about this game was weird, defying any sort of logic, she could definitely feel the blows the little monsters in the forest doled out, she could see the cuts and bruises on her body, feel them even. Even the gauze and her clothing that seemed to magically change whenever she equipped it to fit her figure had a tactile sensation. But somehow things just disappeared or changed without any rhyme or reason, it was the sort of thing that Geoffrey would have taken for granted if he were sitting at a desk playing this game.

Several minutes passed with the red cloaked girl sitting in the tree, wondering how she was going to approach a stand up fight. She hadn’t really gotten much information on how to train and even level one monsters were absolutely kicking her ass. She hadn’t even managed to defeat one of them yet, which shouldn’t have been a problem for her class. She was a monk after all; she was designed to do a fair amount of damage while taking a relatively large beating. It couldn’t have all been the menu system, there had to be something that she was doing wrong, but somehow she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

Brushing her hair out of her face, Duana waited for a couple minutes more, still watching the monsters below mill around. They weren’t even that aggressive to be honest, she was just trying to piece together some way to defeat them. Not exactly her strongest suit to say the least, she was more oriented for action than trying to come up with some sort of master plan. She generally tried to rely on her gut but in games like this gut feelings didn’t really get anybody anywhere. So she watched until finally she saw two players enter the clearing one after the other. <Thestalos> a level 1 Summoner had obviously been looking to train for a while, and seemed to be doing it until <Arrasi> the level 1 Bard came along to save him from a group of mobs that were poised to ambush the poor summoner.

Duana envied their classes for a moment, they could stand off to the side most of the time, it was really not quite fair. Though having a bard at her back to put monsters to sleep and a Summoner to use a computer controlled character to do most of the damage would mean that she’d get some hefty exp for not much work and wouldn’t have to focus on keeping herself safe while she figured out how to control her damned character. She was really meant to be a solo player but there was a time and place for that kind of pride, she needed to learn the game before she could start frolicking around on her own adventures.

With that the monk jumped out of the tree, making her presence known. She didn’t really say much beyond that because she didn’t really want to reveal her voice, so she just stood to the side while the others dealt with the mobs, crossing her arms lightly. It would be impolite to steal the kills from other players.

Word Count: 722

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Deleted]

Thestalos was largely unresponsive at first - he figured that the bard would take care of the enemies without even noticing him. In fact, he hoped that she would not notice him, and would instead just go about her business. The last thing he needed was for someone to bother him while he was brooding. Much to his dismay, Arrasi 'suggested' that he take care of the enemies. His expression turned sour - even more so than usual - and he turned to face what she had put to sleep. He muttered something incomprehensible, but did not bother to get to his feet.

It took him a few tries, but eventually, Thestalos managed to open his menu, and began scrolling through it for the one thing he was looking for. It wasn't as if he didn't know where it was - it was just that he found the menu immensely fiddly. He got there eventually, though, and stood up in preparation. Before he could make a move to summon anything, however, someone jumped down from the trees above. He did not change his expression as he looked to the new arrival, but internally, the sourness of a thousand lemons could not hope to match what he felt.

After it became apparent that Duana wasn't going to do much to help them, Thestalos muttered yet again, and turned away from her.
"Anyone else going to show up?"
He wasn't quite loud enough to wake anyone, but people within the immediate vicinity would have heard him. He just wanted to get the arrivals over and done with. He'd picked the spot he was in to train because people didn't come by it, and now two had shown up in quick succession. Anyone that knew what he was like would understand why he didn't appear too enthusiastic. Anyone else would probably just think him weird.

"No? Right then, let's get this over with..."
Thestalos' tone was flat, with a twinge to it that declared that this was either boring or irritating him. Possibly both at the same time. The summoner pressed his finger to the single spell he had, and raised his staff,focussing as hard as he could. Not to summon anything, but to try and forget there were other people around him. "Summon follower - Golem!"
Thestalos slammed his staff into the floor, casting the spell in the process. While it seemed that nothing happened at first - eliciting an annoyed glance from the person casting the spell - something did happen after a few seconds.

Parts of the ground began to shake and stir, and in moments, soil began to pull itself together, forming a mound of dirt. The mound shaped itself into something humanoid, and though it was only a meter tall, its bulk was quite considerable. It made no sound, but this suited Thestalos just fine. To have to listen to it any time he summoned it would quickly become annoying, to his mind. He took a few steps back, and pointed towards the enemies that had been immobilised.
"Golem - smash."
A clear command, one the golem promptly obeyed. It lumbered towards one of the enemies, and began pounding it with reckless abandon.

Thestalos did not rest, however, and kept his spell menu open. He had no doubt that once they all woke up, even a soil golem's rapid regeneration wouldn't be able to keep up with the damage being dealt from so many angles. Thus, he would keep the spell to summon another one immediately available. He couldn't take any chances - not this early on in the game.

[Arrasi]

UNKNOWN SONGS THAT TRAVELERS SING THEY SOUND FAMILIAR TO ME

Arrasi waited for the other player to take notice of her. From the looks of him, he seemed like the sort that...well, didn't get along well with others. Even when he did see her, his expression never lightened up from one of grim annoyance. How that kind of face was even possible was a mystery to Arrasi, but she kept her mouth shut and waited for him to make a move. She didn't want to lose a possible navigation source just because she decided to talk. Being lost in the middle of this stupid forest was bad enough already. Just before he could do anything, though, another player entered the clearing. This one was a monk, a girl so tucked away in her cloak that Arrasi had to wonder if the player would get lost in them if she just went a little further in the folds. Game costumes were always such an anomaly for her, but some of them had their charm. Once again she played the waiting game to see if the other players would speak up, but the only one who said anything was the summoner. Great. With the monk's entrance, he had become even more annoyed. Despite his frustration, he still summoned a golem to take care of some of the monsters she had knocked out. It didn't matter to Arrasi who killed them – she'd still get a small portion of the EXP anyway because she had given them a kill-assisting status effect. Once the golem started making its way through the pile of creatures, Arrasi looked back over at the monk. She was just standing there. Weren't the monks supposed to be more of a fighter-type class? They were all Level 1's, so Thestalos's golems wouldn't be able to take all of the monsters out themselves. Couldn't the monk see that? It never crossed her mind that maybe the monk was just letting them take all the EXP out of a sense of honor. ”You know, you could stand to help us out a bit instead of just waiting over there,” Arrasi said to Duanna. Her voice came out a little condescendingly, so she tried to use her next words to soften things up a bit. She didn't want to antagonize anyone right off the bat, not when she was already hopelessly on her own. No guild and no party meant she'd have to put in a little more effort to be social in order to get the protection that came with being in a group. ”I mean, we're all pretty low-level here. We could use some help.” Words: 433

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS &amp;amp; GANGNAM STYLE

[Duana]

Duana HP: 100% MP: 100%

Looking pretty cute in my cloak and boots.

Duana uncrossed her arms, cloak covering most her upper body as she let her arms drop to her sides, both the bard and the summoner were being a little stand offish. This was generally the way she expected everyone stuck in a video game to act upon initially meeting a stranger. In a way it was the way a lot of real adventurers would act upon meeting each other in a fantasy story, initially untrusting of one another until someone finally broke the ice. As it turned out it was the bard, which sort of made sense in her own mind, the bard was meant to be a sociable type at least in most adventure stories.

After a moment of looking between the both of them Duana let out a soft sigh, lifting her arms out of her cloak to scroll through her skills. Of course at level one she didn’t have much going for her, pretty much all of her skills were passive. There was of course the basic attack button, but even pressing one button every couple of seconds was a bit cumbersome. That said she had the beat down ability which allowed her to increase her damage and attack speed over time, which said she had to continue downing enemies in order to keep it active. Problem was that her basic attack didn’t really have enough power for her to keep taking down enemies, the monk class didn’t really scale well in damage in the very beginning of the game.

Luckily though the summoner had dealt with most of the damage on the enemies, leaving a good opportunity for Duana to come in and finish the job. Activating her beatdown ability by sliding through the menu she approached the enemies with and began her arduous process of initiating the auto attack function on the monsters to try to take them down. All the while silently cursing this stupid system and wishing there was an easier way to get through it.

Word Count: 333

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Deleted]

Thestalos remained silent throughout the whole affair - it wasn't as if he wanted to make idle conversation with strangers he didn't particularly trust, and he wasn't the kind of person to spew out Bond-esque one-liners like there was no tomorrow. He just observed the battlefield, hoping that the conflict would conclude quickly. These people had disturbed alone time. He'd have to find a different spot, and he'd have to set up there as well. He sighed quietly, fairly disgruntled at the whole situation. This was the one thing he hated about MMOs - people would always interact with him, in one way or another.

His soil golem seemed to be holding out, but the repeated attacks made on it were whittling down its health faster than it could reassemble itself. It was drawing aggro to itself, however, so it at least had that much going for it. Its attacks weren't making much of a mark, but he supposed that the monk could make up for it. Her attacks didn't seem particularly powerful, though. Not that this bothered Thestalos much. He could always summon another golem. There wasn't much time left on its cooldown counter, and he bet that he could probably just hit them with his staff if he really needed to.

Eventually, the stress proved too much for his soil golem to handle, and it collapsed into a pile of dry, packed, dirt. Thestalos grumbled a little, but as the enemies were now focussing on the person who'd had the second most aggro - Duana - he had the chance to summon another one. Hopefully, something a little more substantial. He'd need a little more time to let the spell cool down, but once it did, he'd be able to provide a distraction to let Duana do her thing, assuming she didn't take them all out before he had a chance.

"Come on, come one..." he muttered to himself. Thestalos' eyes flitted between the menu and the enemies. He jabbed violently at it, hoping that he could somehow abuse a glitch in the system that hadn't been patched , but to no avail. It wasn't like Dun couldn't take the blows or dodge them - the enemies she was facing were hardly the most dynamic. But it'd be inconvenient for him if he let her hog all of the experience.
"Come on, not long now..."
In less than twenty seconds, he'd be able to summon another golem, hopefully a stone one this time. In the meantime, Duana and Arrasi would have to fend for themselves.

[Arrasi]

UNKNOWN SONGS THAT TRAVELERS SING THEY SOUND FAMILIAR TO ME

Well, at least things were going a little more smoothly now. Duana had actually started to involve herself in the battle. Quietly. Was it really so hard to communicate? Arrasi found herself regretting her decision to help out. No matter how much EXP she got from this, she just didn't feel comfortable. Both of these players behaved like her existence was a drag on theirs....which was kind of right, being that she was a Level 1 Bard. All she could do was put enemies to sleep and try to stab them with her Rapier. Speaking of sleep, Arrasi looked back at the counter on her skill and saw it tick the last few seconds down to zero. Thestalos's golem had already fallen, so he was waiting for his summoning skill to recharge. Duana looked okay, but Arrasi couldn't only guess how long that was going to last. With a sigh, she pulled out her flute again and placed it at her lips. The melody floated out of the instrument again as she passively let the skill work. In reality, she had no idea how to play the flute, or any instrument for that matter. Being a Bard was just meant to be a helper skill for her brother to do a lot of damage in their old adventures on other games. Now that her class was a reality, she found that being able to play music with the push of a button was rather strange. Did all the other Bards do this, or did they all actively play their instruments? Maybe if they made the songs up themselves then the spells would be stronger. She made a mental note to experiment with that later, after she figured out a way to get herself out of this forest. Once again the enemies started to fall over and doze on the ground. It would only last for another thirty seconds or so, so she had to make sure that the others took care of them quickly. ”You don't have much time,” she warned, ”so you guys should really deal out the damage before they wake up again." If they could be cold, then so could she. It wasn't like they were taking the lead or anything, and this situation was dangerous enough already. Cooperation was key, and they seemed to understand that bit. Still, their guarded personalities bother Arrasi – being a loner in an MMO was like asking for multiple trips to the Cathedral. Didn't they know better? Probably not, but Arrasi wasn't going to let that get in the way of getting back to London. At least one of them had to know the way back, and as soon as these enemies were out she'd make sure to at least get directions. Words:  461

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS &amp;amp; GANGNAM STYLE

[Duana]

Duana HP: 100% MP: 100%

Looking pretty cute in my cloak and boots.

Duana turned her attention to Arrasi and nodded her head at the request to do as much damage as she could. There was a certain snappishness in each of their tones as they fought on that seemed to suggest that none of them were getting along very well. It wasn’t that Duana was trying to be rude she just didn’t really want to speak at that moment; she wasn’t averse to being in a party even if she did like the idea of being a solo player. At level one it wasn’t like she was going to get much done by herself anyway, she doubted she could take on a group the size they were taking on at the moment and come out unscathed even with perfect control over her move lists.

Her damage wasn’t much to write home about, luckily though the beat down effect was something that made her potential much higher. When she defeated one of the monsters it would yield a higher damage and attack speed boost until she got to the skills damage cap. Her class was designed to be a tank class by nature but with a couple of tweaks to the way skills played out she had heard that Japanese players had made the monk class more viable in a DPS capacity. That paired with the high HP meant that it could function pretty well in all aspects of the game if the player watched their skills well enough. This meant that it was probably the most optimized class for solo play, being able to take on monsters at a much higher level than the individual player.

At the moment though she was just relying on auto attack, she’d actually let the summoner do the brunt of the damage, using anything that he damaged as a focus point to keep her Beat Down buff active. While she waited for a monster to get down enough to down it though she would focus on the other monsters that weren’t downed by the sleep debuff, drawing their agro with a consistent higher attack speed than the other players. She relied mostly on her high HP pool than her defense at this point to keep her up and going. It was fortunate that the bard was around keeping the majority of the monsters sleeping meant that she had to worry less about the hit to her HP as she drew more and more agro.

Word Count: 408

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Deleted]

"Three... Two... One. Golem ready for summoning."
No more time was wasted - Thestalos wanted to leave as soon as possible. If he was going to get rid of them - or if he himself was going to be able to leave - he'd have to deal with the things standing in his way first. He jabbed at the icon in front of him. This time, he only needed a single press - whether it was because he was beginning to get the hang of it, or because he was just lucky that time, he didn't know. If someone asked him, he'd tell them he didn't particularly care.

He placed the end of his staff on the boulder he had been sitting on, prompting it to shake violently for a few seconds. It shattered, and reformed, forming a meter-tall golem. Thestalos theorised that this one would be a lot more useful - its stats were more balanced, as opposed to the mass of packed dirt that had tried to pass itself off as a golem before. The grunt that came from it when it was complete was reminiscent of something, but Thestalos couldn't quite place it. He shrugged the thought off, and issued a command to his temporary slave.

"Smash."
The same command, but it wasn't as if anything more complicated was needed. In fact, Thestlos was beginning to think that he didn't even need to speak, and could just wait for it to act on its own. It was computer-controlled, after all, and would likely target any hostile entities within range. Thestlos made a mental note to test the theory out on some slimes later. They would probably be the safest to experiment on. Slow, stupid, and abundant, he was surprised that they hadn't been renamed 'Newbie Fodder' at some point. Thestalos broke his chain of thought to concentrate on the battle.

He watched as the stone humanoid lumbered towards the enemy, its feet making a thudding sound as it did so. It raised a fist, and brought it down on the enemy, like an executioner swinging an axe to cleave a head clean off. However, this time, it was the golem bludgeoning something to death. And it was working. Though slow, the golem was steadily drawing aggro to itself, giving Duana the openings she needed to start bashing heads. Thestalos was tempted to jump in himself, but refrained from doing so. He had to remain cold towards the strangers, and keep them distant. He wouldn't do that by engaging up close.

[Arrasi]

UNKNOWN SONGS THAT TRAVELERS SING THEY SOUND FAMILIAR TO ME

Things were going much better now that they were working a little more cohesively. At least, that's what it looked like from Arrasi's perspective. Duana was drawing aggro while Thestalos was finally able to summon another golem. Her rapier was at her side, a mere tap on her inventory screen away from being in her hand, but she held back. She already had two fighters taking care of these monsters; there was no use putting her in harm's way when everything looked like it was under control. At least, that's what her brother would have told her if he was here. It was like she could still hear every little word of advice, every single scolding he had ever given her when they had gamed together. It was helpful, but it wasn't getting her anywhere in terms of decent survival in the reality of the situation she was in now. Too bad. She knew he would have loved to have been stuck in the game instead of her. The numbers of the monsters were dwindling down. With the assistance of the summoner's stone golem, the tides of the small battle had definitely turned in their favor. Only a few more were milling about trying to decide if they wanted to attack Duana or the golem. The counter on Arrasi's skill ticked down to zero again. She punched it, put the flute to her lips, and let the melody flow one last time to create a final knockout sleep debuff. Without as many targets, the spell was a little stronger. Once again the monsters fell over in a snooze. She could have attacked with her rapier – she knew she could have done it, but the weapon remained at her side. She was holding back, letting the others deal with it so she wouldn't embarrass herself with her pathetic attack level. They could handle it, and she had done enough for them already (even if they were rather silent). Arrasi looked over at Thestalos to see that he was doing the exact same thing: staying put. Her eyes narrowed in annoyance. He didn't have to sit around like that. Sure, he had summoned a creature to do his dirty work, but he also had the strength to take on these wretched creatures, end the fight faster, and maybe gain some more EXP in the process. Why wasn't he taking advantage of the opportunity? Because he's one of those jerk, stuck-up players was Arrasi's first and only line of reasoning. She could never understand people who chose to play MMOs alone: what was the point of Massive Multiplayer if you only wanted to run around as a single player? It made no sense. She crossed her arms over her chest and let her gaze fall back on the small battle. So be it. If he wanted to be a soundless bugger, then two could play at that game. Words: 485

MADE BY MINNIE OF FTS &amp;amp; GANGNAM STYLE

[Duana]

Duana HP: 100% MP: 100%

Looking pretty cute in my cloak and boots.

It seemed as though the battle was dying down for all intents and purposes, the monsters that had attacked had either burst into orbs of experience and gold, or were retreating from the battle entirely. Those that stayed were quickly being driven by the impromptu group, each doing their part to take them down one by one until they were finally done with. Duana continued taking the brunt of the damage, only laying off when her HP was getting a little too low, she’d back off for a couple of moments so she could regenerate her health slowly with the bandage cool down. It didn’t bring her health up by much, certainly not as much as a healer would have been able to do but she wasn’t about to complain about that.

As soon as the battle had wound down completely Duana disengaged, letting her cloak fall around her body again and letting out a ragged breath. There just had to be a better way of combatting the monsters but she just couldn’t wrap her head around it. After the adrenaline of battle there was a short silence between the three of them, Duana could tell there was a slight mistrust still boiling between the three of them. She didn’t really want to nurse that mistrust anymore than she absolutely had too, it wasn’t like she wasn’t sociable; she was just pretty quiet. Especially given her current situation, she’d love to be more sociable with others.

She’d very much like to be all inspirational and make long flowery speeches about the nature of teamwork and friendship and all that but she didn’t really want to embarrass herself either This whole situation was so stressful, She needed to make a gesture of good faith, but she needed to do it without making this whole situation into her ending up as a laughing stock. It came as a sort of inspiration to her that maybe she should facilitate her persona as the silent type, she already had a face covering cloak that could make her appear mysterious and all that though that wasn’t the reason she was wearing it originally. It seemed as though it would be easy to take the step into the silent monk archetype who only spoke with her actions, with that said she let one hand reach from under her cloak.

Her index finger slid over her menu until she found the friend requests, sliding Thestalos and Arrasi’s names over into it to send out the request, a gesture of good faith whether they accepted it or not.

Word Count: 430

Made by Sifr of GS, Synesthesia and Adoxography.

[Deleted]

Thestalos' finger shot immediately to the button that would deny the friend request - too quickly, in fact. It was a swift, instinctive reaction, as if he had practised it over and over again.
He had.
People he quested with would sometimes send him a friend request, and would ask to partner up with him sometimes. Being the perpetual loner, he rejected them without a second thought. Sometimes he reflected and regretted - he could've had friends. Allies. People who he could travel and fight with. People that genuinely thought he was worth sticking around, people that noticed him. people that'd care.

Those thoughts were always dismissed. Sometimes immediately, sometimes after they were allowed to sit there for hours. It didn't matter - Thestalos would always loop back to wanting to be alone. He was alone in real life, he was alone in games, and he'd never truly suffered for it. People came, people went. Some stuck around for a while. Some didn't. He didn't care. None of them ever seemed to want to stick around. He didn't care if it was his doing or not, he never really wanted them to stick around. He scowled as he recalled memories he'd rather have left buried.

His finger moved ever loser to rejecting the request.

And then, something stopped him. Another thought, an unfamiliar one. It spoke of hope, and new beginnings. It told him of how nobody in the game knew him, and how he could be a completely different person. He didn't have to be alone in the wilderness, with only a sentient pile of packed soil to keep him company. He had to start somewhere, though, and that somewhere would be the friend request. Just a simple gesture, something to show he was willing to cooperate. His finger moved slowly across the menu, poised and ready to jab and accept a new ally.

Like Hell I'm going to do it. Like it'd ever be that easy.
Thestalos snapped himself out of his trance, and denied the friend request before he had a chance to change his mind about it. He had decided to stick with what he knew - remaining solitary. Some guy in the background. You'd see him, but you wouldn't notice him. You'd talk to him and forget eh was ever there a few minutes later. He was that guy, and it was all he knew. It was practically what kept him sane.
"It appears as though I'm done here." He said abruptly, tone completely deadpan. "If you two don't need anything else from me, I've got to find a different spot to train."