Realistic or Modern Fields of Aiso

[MythyDW]

< Kirito Kei Necessity4Fun Laru FireFlare JINNI >

Wolf Peak, the city at the heart of the hit game Fields of Aiso, is a bustling place with three distinct districts. In the mountain valley, there is the residential, commercial and the college districts, all separated by the Evening river. The river cuts through the center, and forks into two halfway, thus the three districts. To the south, nestled under the fork is the college district - home to Wolf Peak Academy. In that district, the campus of one of the largest and most prestigious schools can be found. Academic buildings, dorms, sports centers, eateries and stores can be found here. In the center is the main building, a large and grand structure that many aspiring students look at in awe the first time they arrive.

To the northwest is the residential area. Mostly suburban homes, there are apartment complexes closer to the river line to the east, and on the western edges is where the majority of high-class homes are found. The residential district is well-interlaced with roadways between houses, and a few thoroughfares which will take one straight to a bridge over to one of the other districts. There are a number of eating places and shopping centers interspersed, but the majority of what is not homes, is parks and the school area right in the center.

The northeast is home to the commercial district, where there are a number of large brand stores, as well as the more specialized mom and pop stores, found closer to the western edge, closer to the people who would shop there. Deeper to the east, places such as those, as well as eateries become less common, and you begin to get to the taller corporate buildings. In the center is where the tallest buildings are, and the campus of Feron Entertainment Unlimited.

FEU is the creator of the newest hit in gaming, Fields of Aiso. This VRMMO has been out for about five years and is still going strong, with players new and veteran, young and old spending free time playing the game, or having duels out in open areas for other people to enjoy. It has a large following, and it is no less popular in its home city than anywhere else in the world.

One of the many players in Wolf Peak is Cassius May, son of the game creator. As it was the weekend, Cassius was out and about for the day and didn't have a worry in the world about college or anything else. His father was out on a fun day with his younger sister and his mother, leaving the house open for him to invite one of his friends over. He'd even got permission to have them stay the night, something that they would need if Cassius got his way.

For now, Cassius lounged on the couch in the family room, waiting for Keita to arrive. He had some extra space in his gaming hub, so that's where he and Keita would set up for their gaming marathon. Until he arrived, though, the young man would look over the site he maintained on his phone, making sure all was well and nothing needed his moderation. He trusted the mods of the site, of course, but sometimes the owner needed to come down with a hammer to being some peace.​

 

[FireFlare]

Desmond Finch​

Desmond shivered lightly as the crisp, mountain air swept across his fingertips. He pulled his right hand from the body of his camera and stuck it into his pocket for a few seconds, doing the same with his left after. As he warmed his hands, he glanced to each side, checking his surrounding for any people or animals. There were none. He tried to steady his breath as he positioned himself a couple dozen feet back from the river, the aspen trees framing his view.

Desmond held his camera up, his arms easily positioning the object with his eye focused on the viewfinder. He could see the river now, the clear water flowing gently down, the white and black of the trees around him acting as a border to his photo. He pressed the shutter release once, watching as the shutter snapped closed, greeting his left eye with a momentary darkness before the scenery returned. He snapped the shutter closed three more times, each photo indistinguishable from the last, save for the small flecks of dust travelling through each frame.

After the fourth photo, he pulled the camera from his face, turning his sights to the LCD screen as he scrolled through the images he had just captured. He let a small smile grace his face at the last shot, the picture completely free of any disturbances. He admired the picture for a few moments and would have studied it longer if not for the crunching of leaves behind him. He whipped his head around, his eyes zeroing in on the creator of the noise in no time at all. Standing just feet from him was a deer, its face lowered to the ground as it calmly snacked on the foliage around it.

Desmond froze.

His hands began to shake and he dropped his camera, forever grateful for the strap it was connected to as it slung to his side. He stepped back, his feet lightly crunching against the leaves and sticks on the ground. Every other step he would jerk his head back, distressed at the idea of falling, before immediately returning his attention to the creature in front on him. His breath was coming in pants, but he was succeeding in his escape. He even might have made it if not for a root that decided it would be his demise, wrapping around his foot and pulling him to the ground. The thump of his body caused the beast to look up, its soulless black eyes fixating on Desmond's form.

He gulped, moving his hands slowly behind him as the creature continued to stare. Desmond was trapped in its gaze for what seemed like an eternity until he pushed himself up and bolted, not looking back as he dashed through the trees. He didn't stop running until he could see the edge of Wolf Peak's residential district in front of him. With the buildings in view, he paused, his wide eyes searching for any sign of the creature chasing him. It wasn't there. Desmond breathed out, his trembling hands resting on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. He heaved air through his lungs, staying at the edge of the forest until he had caught his breath.

When his breathing was finally quiet, he stepped out from the tree line and walked to the sidewalk closest to him. As he made his way through the different neighborhoods, he made sure to take a roundabout way, speeding through alleyways and the more deserted areas of the district so as to avoid human contact as much as possible. As he rounded the corner to his house, he pulled a key from his back pocket, turning it in his hands until he reached his front door. Desmond grasped at the cool metal of the handle and slipped the key into the lock, stepping inside and sliding the door shut behind him, quickly turning the lock and deadbolt into place.

He didn't bother calling out; his parents weren't due home for another few days. Instead, he walked through the hallway, pushing open the door to his room. He toed off his shoes, hanging his jacket against his bedpost and lifting his camera from around his neck and placing it on his desk. He sighed, plopping down onto his bed and relaxing into the silence.

Desmond didn't know how much time passed, but eventually he moved again, stepping to his desk to grab his FV Visor before returning to his bed. He pulled the headset on, leaning against his bed frame as he clicked it on. He waited moments for the system to load, and then he was at the home screen of Fields of Aiso. He clicked start and loaded into the game at his last location: a far corner of the game's underworld. He heard a scoff to his side and turned to see his champion, Ira, resting against a darkened rock protruding from the ground, the stone already crumbled in places. "Took you long enough. I was beginning to think you ran away again. You know, like the coward you are."

"I-" Desmond started, his form now that of his avatar Ekko.

"Yeah?" Ira's tone was challenging, but it was almost as if he was willing Ekko to retort.

"Nothing," Ekko mumbled, looking away from the champion.

"That's what I thought. Now come on, we have a beast to hunt." Ira said, leading the way deeper into the underworld.

 

[Malikai]

Savannah Weiss​

It was a perfectly fine afternoon on the weekend in Wolf Peak. The sun may not have been shining immensely, but it was still a light presence. A gentle touch mixed with a cool wind swiping through the city to give just that bit of chilliness the city was normally associated for. Most people were taking today to relax, and some had even gone out to enjoy some of the city's shops found scattered around. Savannah was sitting on a park bench, watching as the wind blew waves into the grass. She was perfectly content with sitting in this spot for the rest of the day, but she knew that she could only take a slight break before she had to get something to eat.

Just the thought of food alone made her stomach growl, and she frowned as she looked down at it, "Now I don't want to hear any complaints from you. I'm the one who decides when we eat here." Clearly it wasn't taking no for an answer and responded twice as loud in kind. Savannah just kept her frown up for a few seconds before letting out a soft chuckle. Since her stomach was being uncooperative with the idea of just focusing on relaxing it would seem necessary to get up and get something to eat.

Savannah was still fairly new to the city, so she had not a clue on where to head to first for food. Spinning around for a bit she suddenly stopped herself randomly and went off in that direction to find a restaurant. Thus led Savannah to trying out sushi for the first time. Also likely the last time, considering the strain it put on her budget and the fact that she just did not like sushi, Still, I did try it out, Savannah began to think, [/I]That's got to be worth something... like a few hours on Fields of Aiso. Though this puts a damper on my plan to take a break from the game. Maybe playing it will help with my new job tomorrow though. The job that Savannah referred to was her internship, and so while not a real job it could very well turn out to be one in the future! At least that was the hope that Savannah had.

It didn't take too long to get back to the apartment that Savannah had just recently begun renting. The speed at which she got home surprised even herself. Stepping into the small one-room apartment she couldn't help but frown a bit. It was a fairly small place compared to the room she had in college, which was saying something, and it was especially small in comparison to the house that she had been living in with her parents. What it lacked in size it certainly made up for in coziness, however. Savannah set down her bag and apartment keys on a table near the door and looked around at everything she had. A couch/fold out bed, a small counter and kitchen area, a desk with a fairly nice looking computer, and a door that led into her similarly small closet and bathroom.

So it definitely was not something to be excited over. Yet still Savannah couldn't help but show some giddiness at the fact that she owned this place. She finally had a building with her name on it. Almost literally in this case as she had been tempted to write down her name on one of the walls while moving in. With enough time spent just looking at her apartment she finally decided to get into Fields of Aiso. Savannah sat down in a small desk chair in front of the nicely made computer. It was one of the few things she took with her from her parent's home. She picked up the small headset required to play the game and swiftly strapped it on with a pair matching headphones. After a few seconds the system finally loaded up, and she chose to go straight to where she had last left her character.

Olivia Obsidian and Poetry​

The crackling fire immediately put a smile over Olivia’s face. She turned her head to the side to find Poetry was still sleeping. Of course she couldn’t have that. Not when she was ready to go adventuring. Ignoring the most obvious question of if Poetry slept the entire day with her she began to lightly poke his face. This elicited a few mumbles. Words like ‘Stop’ and ‘Poke’ were all that she could really make out. After a few seconds of no progress she knew more desperate tactics were needed.

Olivia put her hand right up to the tiefling’s right horn and flicked it as hard as she could. This immediately got a response as Poetry jumped up to his feet emitting a screech that was very uncharacteristic for the infernal creature. Poetry looked down to the smirking form of Olivia who just waved in response, ”You think you’re ready to go for today?”

Poetry glared for a few seconds, before the glare suddenly softened and he smiled as wide as Olivia, ”Am I the greatest singer in the world- don’t answer that actually I already know the answer,” Poetry smirked, the sharp tiefling teeth showing through slightly as he did, ”Still, I would appreciate you lay off the horns. I already told you about how sensitive they are.” He moved a hand up to rub the spot where Olivia had so savagely flicked him.

Olivia jumped up to her feet, walking up to him and looking at the horn herself. A thoughtful look crossed over her face, ”I’ll keep it in mind. Just so you know I’m not going to kiss it better though. That is, unless you want me to?” The smirk returned in full force as she watched the red tiefling somehow blush, ”Alright then! Let’s get this fire down and get ready to move!” It was setting up to be a fairly productive afternoon of adventuring.

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Rosemarie

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Sweeping her amethyst gaze boredly over the order packages, Rosemarie slid a tiny white and red box over to her side of the counter and slowly opened it. What was the point of sitting down as a family for once if they still had to survive on restaurant food? She honestly didn't get it. She respected that her father had a hundred documents to sort through up in his office, but it didn't mean she liked it. To Rosemarie, these sort of situations echoed hollow, like something was lacking from them.
The feeling left a bitter taste in her mouth as the teen started working her way through the yakisoba straight from the cubic box.

"So, I didn't ask you last night because we arrived late but what did you think of your daddy's co-workers, huh?"​

Rosemarie internally cringed at the use of 'daddy', and wearing an expression of discomfort, directed her gaze in the direction of the voice.

At the opposite side of the counter, in the well-illuminated kitchen, sat a casually dressed man. Wearing a light yellow and dark green rugby shirt, black sweatpants and socks, --just the socks!-- Guilbert Holtzer calmly set food from his own box into a plate, cheerfully humming to himself some catchy jingle from a commercial that his mind had just decided to start playing in eternal repeat for no reason.
Seeing her father in such a relaxed and indoors attire after the well-fit suit from last night was quite odd, to say the least, but definitely not something new to the teenager. The man was such a figure... Sometimes all that positivity really got on her nerves.

The question, however, didn't need that much fussing about. Without much delay, Rosemarie raised her head and let out confidently:

"I don't like the Hatfields.", the girl's tone was harsh and serious, "Especially the husband, he gives me a movie villain vibe. He's not someone you can trust, that is if he's not already involved in something... I'm sure of it."

Widening his eyes in surprise for a moment, before letting it fall into an expression of embarrassment and uncertainty, the man looked at his daughter flabbergasted. He seemed to repeat her sentences in his mind for a couple of times until he could no longer hold it in. The kitchen is filled with a loud laughter for a minute straight and the daughter did not seem pleased with any of it, merely rolling her eyes.

"God, Mary!!", the senator finally managed to say, still gathering air after the fit of laughter, "Where do you even get these things from?!"

"What?", she let out outraged, waving her chopsticks up in an accusatory manner as she spoke, "How can you not notice it?! The way he talks, the way he smiles! It's all so carefully crafted... to trick people!!"

"Rosemarie... What did I say about judging others like that? You don't like Amelia either and she's a sweet of a person!"

Silence.

The girl's gaze fell back upon the meal, frustrated, disappointed. She knows that once the conversation reached this point there was nothing more she could do. Nothing more than accepting defeat that is:

"That I should not do it, also to give them second chances...", the teen replied, putting the chopsticks back inside the box, "And I don't like Miss Rosenbaum for... other reasons..."

Welp, her appetite was completely gone now.

"I'm finished."

With that single word, Rosemarie closed the box of yakisoba, still half-full, and put it away in the fridge for later. The wooden chopsticks are thrown into the trash can mercilessly as the girl started making her way out of the kitchen and upstairs to her bedroom.

"You're always studying hard... Makes this old man really proud, you know?"

Words that were supposed to be gentle and courageous, instead, cut deep like a knife and the teenager doesn't know what to reply. She merely stays by the door, frozen, for the tempo of two heartbeats before ultimately deciding to continue the journey to her destination. Rosemarie crossed the living room, making the way to the staircase in complete silence. The only sound she can listen to is the constant 'thumps' of both her heart and her footsteps as if in sync.

Once she reached the door, Rosemarie quickly opened it, entered the room and closed it again, almost as if her life depended on doing realizing this motion fast. She leans on it, her violet eyes slowly taking in the change of scenery. Why were Sundays always this hard? Why wouldn't her ever just, listen to her...?
With a sigh, the girl calmed down, pushing every rising worried thought aside. Since it couldn't be helped, might as well focus on something else. How many levels were yet to be beat, again? Unlodging herself from the door, possessing a new-found determination and drive, Rosemarie approached her closet and leaning down, picked up a shoe box that was hidden in the back. Inside were all of the gears needed to play Fields of Aiso, the game that Rosemarie was strangely attached towards and always ended up coming back to. She also may or may not have inflated the numbers of amounts she needed to buy materials for Student Council activities with every time she requested said money, for a couple months, just so she could buy each piece of the set in secret...

No harm done if her dad never discovered it, right?

Unable to hide her excitement about it, the teenager locked her door and proceeded to carefully set up all the cables in the right computer ports and anything that needed power into a socket. The assortment was a bit chaotic, but that's what one got when they engaged in gaming on a room set-up that was clearly not thought out for it! Rosemarie was quite used to simply 'winging it', as the expression went, at this point. Pushing one and other colorful puffs and pillows out of the way, the girl put on the headpiece, held any other controller up and after launching the game, stood in the middle of the room, right on top of a creamy color fluffy carpet.

She wondered how her champion friend had been after all this time, last exam week had been harsh on her and her free time...

hiNow Loading...​

Brunhildr

Khadhyrr

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The sudden knock at the door had startled Khadhyrr. Quickly, as if he had been doing something wrong, the minotaur threw the bamboo and hay broom he had been holding directly inside a little cabinet and shut its door closed. Then finally, he made way to the front, opening the door for whoever was knocking attempting to be the most innocent he could:

"Ah, Brunhildr! I was wondering when you'd return~! I'm glad school life didn't keep you for as long this time!", the enourmous champion opened his arms and carefully, minding his own strenght, gave the avatar a warm welcome back hug, "I wish you could have let me know you were coming though... Oh well, enter, enter! I know I say this every single time but, do make yourself at home!"

Unable to repress a malicious grin, the female is kindly pushed inside the house. First time Khadhyrr had been this cheerful and... touchy, towards her had certainly been quite a shock, but at this point, she was more than acquainted to the minotaur's amusing antics. And she guessed they had a nice balance thing going on their partnership too, though that part she'd never admit out loud.

"Good to see you too Khadhyrr, I missed Aiso. Definitely more thrilling than exams...", she put out her tongue, making a face akin to when one eats terrible food to emphasize her displeasure.

The silver-haired woman's gaze travelled through the room, a room that had been left in quite the good state, actually. She rested her amber eyes upon the little cabinet, a new grin appearing on her lips as she spoke again, back towards the champion:

"IIIIII wonder what is behind that door over there?"

Nervous and aware that he is about to be found out, Khadhyrr tried thinking of something to say, an excuse to give, but only further dug his own grave when all that he could muster was a low 'uhhh'. With the minotaur fully stuck into her trap, Brunhildr let out a loud laugh, the two knew each other enough to be able to predict some of their actions. And the champion was just that predictable too!

"Didn't I tell you I don't mind if you're cleaning while I'm around?", the female turned around, arms on her waist in indignation and causing the long hair to whip through the air with the movement, "Actually, didn't I say that I don't mind cleaning at all?"

"That'd be being a bad host though...", the reply was low, covered in a tone of embarrassment

Pretending to be bothered, she facepalmed and let out a small sigh. Khadhyrr and his manners, that'd probably never change... To be honest, Brunhildr didn't know if she would like it to change even. Soon enough she's laughing again and then he joined in. Both voices ring in unison for a while, until the laughter started to fade, leaving avatar and champion in a lingering state of mirth.
All of the common fun, however, once it had settled down, seemed to draw the female away into distant thoughts as she stared distracted at a spot in the wall.

"Brun?", the minotaur called worried, having noticed the change on his partner and friend, "Is everything okay?"

She blinked twice getting out of the trance she had so suddenly found herself in:

"Oh, uhh, yeeah... It's just the usual.", the woman's voice trailed off, carrying with it a hint of disappointment, "He won't listen, he won't notice anything either. No one is moving anywhere and that's really annoying..."

"At least this restaurant actually put an adequate amount of soy sauce on the yakisoba. Last time it was incredibly lacking!"

Having heard a similar narrative multiple times before, Khadhyrr no longer needed precise subjects to understand the full message. Still, his avatar didn't really seem up for talking about it right now, and if he knew her as good as he liked to think, pressing it further would just make her flee. No one starts up a game to be faced by your problems. What Brunhildr needed was a distraction:

"Well, I'm glad you got a silver lining out of it~", the champion smiled sympathetically, before interjecting once more, "So, what do you say of picking up where we left off, huh?"

"Ohohoho~ I thought you'd never ask!!"

Already in a better mood, Brunhildr sprinted to the entrance, opening the door without even asking if she could. The fire of adrenaline and anticipation clearly alight in her golden eyes:

"See if you can keep up with me!!!!", she shouted back before disappearing from the opening, having run off.

With an amused sigh, Khadhyrr left through the doorway and, after closing the door, dashed after his excitable avatar.
The day certainly promised tons of adventure for the pair!

 

[MythyDW]

< FireFlare >

As Ira led Ekko deeper into the underworld, the scene would be about the same as normal. Other Avatars and Champions moving around, either cautiously or aggressively around the monsters that may challenge them. Every once in a while they would walk across an ongoing PvP battle, with any number of players taking part in either side. It seemed that no one was thinking of Accosting Ekko at the moment, though after some time he would see a large flaming demon, a Baelrog, charging it's way through the area, and Ekko was in it's direct path.

< Malikai Necessity4Fun >

Brunhildr and Olivia each moved out of the places they stayed at, and walked out into the wilds of the wetlands. If they stuck to the paths, they wouldn't be set upon by monsters, and so could walk in relative peace. Wherever they were going, it was generally good to stay out of the wilds until they were ready to fight - unless they wanted a harder path. Either way, it wouldn't be too long until they actually crossed paths.​

 

[FireFlare]

Desmond Finch​

The pair wandered farther into the underworld, passing the occasional player until they departed from the more explored parts of the underworld. The two left the areas that had been 'settled' and ventured further into the darkness. The low light that seemed to emanate from the stones eventually dimmed, leaving the only light around them as that from Ekko's form. The two could only see 10 feet in any direction.

They continued that way util there was a faint glow from the darkness in front of them. Ekko squinted his eyes while Ira did the same, although the champion's looked more like a glare. Ekko could see a pool of lava forming in the distance, the size increasing inch by inch until he watched as a blackened, flaming hand shot from the molten stone. Ekko's eyes widened and Ira smirked. The avatar turned to retreat, hopefully before the creature fully spawned, but Ira's hand, nails digging into Ekko's shoulder, held him in place. He gulped, eyes darting back to the flaming beast. "Ira..." Ekko tried.

"We're staying." His champion replied. And that was the end of the discussion.

Ekko watched as the monster finally pulled itself from the lava, remnants of the magma dripping off of it as the pool beneath it slowly disappeared. The creature was one Ekko had encountered before. You couldn't venture anywhere deep into the underworld without coming across Balrogs on a regular basis. He knew Ira could beat it, but that didn't stop Ekko from attempting to run every time he saw the creatures spawn. They were 3 times Ira's size, a mix of flame and bubbling obsidian, and wielded a whip and sword, both conjured from the fire of its own body.

If he ever saw one of these in the real world, Desmond was sure he'd die from fear on the spot, but here, as Ekko, he didn't have that luxury. Instead, his champions was already moving towards the creature, the beast's eyes locking on Ira's form as it charged.

"Hex, Gauntlets, and the Cursed Blade." Ira ordered, not stopping to wait for his directions to be followed. Ekko nodded, left hand moving to his side to activate his deck while his right hand fumbled around inside his chip case, even as the 3 chips in his mind automatically appeared in his hand. "Now, Ekko."

The avatar nodded, finally slipping the 3 requested chips into the deck. Ira smiled.

The combat began less than a second later. Ira brought his hand up, his mouth forming words that sounded like thousands of whispers at once, a dark mist moving from his hand and towards the Balrog that was just now reaching combat range. The darkness traveled towards the creature, forming wisps of shadows that encircled its body. It roared as strength began to drain from it, and Ekko took a step back. The creature raised its whip, the flames of the weapon dancing in the darkness, and slashed towards Ira. The champion didn't move.

The flames connected, cutting over Ira's skin. The creature pulled back its arm and a strip of singed skin was left across Ira's chest. Ekko saw, in the corner of his eye, as Ira's health went down to 70%. He gulped. He knew this was how it went, but he could never stop worrying. Ira would always take a hit, and since he never wore armor, the damage was significant, but he never got hit a second time, not anymore.

Ekko watched as the Gauntlets materialized around Ira's fists and the shining silver blade, letters of the curse's warning glowing in the metal, appeared in his hand. The fight progressed quickly after that. The Balrog was strong, but Ira was strong and fast. He spent half his time dodging the creature's attacks, but the time Ira spent dealing his own damage was more than enough to dispatch the creature. The final blow was dealt; a slash across the creature's chest that mirrored the wound Ira had received. The Balrog fell, the fire sizzling out to leave only a faint glow from the residual heat.

Ekko sighed in relief, cautiously walking towards Ira and the Balrog's body, his champion standing with an eyebrow lifted and impatience plastered on his face as he waited for Ekko to collect their loot.

 

[Necessity4Fun]

Brunhildr

Khadhyrr

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Swift like an arrow Brunhildr dashed upwards the Northern path, her light-weight, graceful like steps being closely followed by the natural stomping of her Champion's hooves, doing his best to keep up with her but clearly lacking the agility to make up for the delay. Armed with that knowledge for a while know, the woman would take advantage of the stops to recover her stamina to playfully taunt and tease her partner, saying things such as that the monsters would fall asleep in boredom, or comparing his progress to ones of animals known for being very slow. Each time, Khadhyrr would throw a tease back, just pretending to be bothered, wearing a soft smile right afterwards.

This exchange of friendly banter was repeated a couple times, until the two had, at last, reached their destination: the entrance of the wetlands. Last time, Brunhildr's impulsive behavior had prompted the pair to stray from the path and slay monster on their way here. Though in the Avatar's opinion that made the trip a lot more enjoyable, in hindsight it had weakened their offensive and depleted their resources, forcing them to retreat. Having learned her lesson, -and finally listened to some of the Minotaur's advice-, today the two were determined to cross this gauntlet 'till its end. Today, the wetland level would be conquered in its entirety!!

Gazing up at the stone arc before her, the undine posed confidently, a wide grin plastered on her face. Khadhyrr had taken his time to join beside her, but once he had arrived the two had exchanged looks, something they did almost religiously at this point to signal to each other that they were ready to dive in. Shiny platinum hair and brown fur stood being blown by the wind for a moment, nothing but the peace of nature and the whistle of the breeze passing through the mountains... and then taking one step forward, it had finally been broken:

"I'm gonna peek inside, come in when your stamina fill up, 'kay?", Brun had let out as if giving an order, crossing the arc after she had gotten a nod in reply.

The Minotaur watched her leave, an amused and fatherly expression on his face. The usual tone but as the Champion knew, softer words even if they still sounded demanding... She was an odd one for sure, with her covert way of conveying her true feelings. But he could notice her trying, and he could pick up the tiny hints of progress she'd give out. It filled him with pride, he was so very proud of her. He hoped Brunhildr could tell it since she'd deflect the praise if he tried telling her...

Staring at nothing and everything at the same time, Khadhyrr had gotten lost in the types of introspection. Thoughts over how both of them had grown up and how their friendship had evolved with time. Eventually, though, a slightly stronger breeze had hit the Champion with a leaf on the face and his thought indulging moment had been broken with the man-bull releasing a sequence of funny startled noises. And then he was effectively seeing the environment again... Wait, are those silhouettes on top of that hill?

"Oh, hello there! Uhh, it's a nice afternoon today, isn't it?"

Waving at the other two, -that had a chance they were just rocks with funny shapes-, the Minotaur put on his most pleasant smile being his usual polite self, but also perhaps hoping that the greeting would distract the could be-people from his comical reactions from earlier. He didn't have time to try anything else, however, since less than a minuter later the unmistakable voice of his Avatar angrily called his name. Oops, better hurry!

"Finally! Jeez, what took you so long? At this rate I'm going to be the one falling asleep while standing!", the figure of an angry Brunhildr crossing her arms and pouting had welcomed him.

Khadhyrr had simply looked away embarrassed and muttered a little 'sorry about that'. Arrrrgh, she couldn't. She couldn't stay mad when the Minotaur did this, it was just... weird! In a good way but argh! So unfaaaair~!

"Just don't let it happen again.", the woman sighed in defeat, shifting her attention back to their goal, "Anyway, It's time. I take it that you're prepared?"

An amused laugh had left the man's lips, before he had stopped in front of her, a grin of anticipation akin to his avatar's now ornating his face, "I was born ready! Let's smash some of these fish-heads."

"Now we're on the same page!", Brun had exclaimed enthusiastically while loading up the Berserker's Fury chip on the deck, "The small fries will be good warm-up for the big boss..."

Khadhyrr took a hold of his beloved, beloved Warhammer (oh, it was so dearly missed!), shifting his grip on the pole a couple times until he had the best position down, bringing the weapon into the air and placing one end of the hammer on top of his right shoulder.

"He-eey~ Remember us from a month ago? Well, guess what? We're back for round two!!!" "Huuuuaaahh!"

And then they charged in unison towards the aquatic-themed creatures of the wetlands area.

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Malikai (Brief interaction) and MythyDW (GM)​

 

[Malikai]

Olivia Obsidian and Poetry​

The pair set off into the gigantic wetlands. Both had traveled through the area before and would likely be able to travel through easily alone, but there was always something about moving through it together that made it more manageable. Poetry had once claimed that it might have been an actual magical effect of the wetlands that was meant to hesitate anybody from traveling alone, but Olivia tended to just laugh at the idea that the area was somehow actually magic. The idea was just a bit too far out even with all the other magic that existed in the world. Eventually they had just shrugged it off and kept moving through. Now thinking back on it Olivia wondered if perhaps her dismissal was a bit too early to tell. Magical areas was not an entirely unheard of idea. The actual area itself casting it sure was, but there was nothing to explicitly state that the wetlands themselves were doing that.

After quite some time meandering around, enjoying the oh so invigorating environment, the two decided to stop for a moment on top of a hill. The sun hit the area perfectly, and the ground at the top was relatively dry. To Olivia it was dry enough to drop down onto and lay back. Poetry kept to his feet looking down at her. He put his arm out waving it in her direction, "And so this is... what exactly? Are we relaxing now? You've hardly even walked in the swamp for very long."

Olivia smiled up at him from the ground. Though it was more than just a smile, it had that very telling sign of a plan in motion, "Oh, am I taking too long? I just thought that I might rest for a moment. Perhaps even say... five hours." Her smile dropped down into smirk level as she watched Poetry's face move into a bit of shock before settling into a glare.

"Oh, are we actually doing this now? That was a week ago, and I thought you said it was fine," Poetry crossed his arms, taking care to place the Lute over one of them, and stared down at Olivia. She kept up her smirk. Poetry's eyebrows twitched, "Are you actually going to be this petty?

Oh, she was so going to be this petty. Before she could respond to the question, however, a series of strange noises alerted the two from down the hill. Olivia immediately bounded to her feet. Just as she did Poetry moved right in front of her, lute ready in his hand. Olivia prepared her usual deck while still guarded by Poetry. Sure they might not be able to do an extremely effective amount of damage, but worse come to worse Poetry can throw out a stun song and they can get their escape.

Poetry's attention was immediately caught by, well, the only thing that could possibly catch attention in the wetlands. The gigantic minotaur that was in front of them. Poetry was definitely not ready for a fight against a minotaur, but thankfully before he could even do anything the minotaur looked over at them and spoke a surprisingly kind remark. Poetry looked back at Olivia who just shrugged before turning to the minotaur and shouting back down the hill, "Uh, yes! A nice afternoon indeed!"

Poetry waved back to the minotaur as he began to walk away from the two of them. A lot of questions approached his head, but one of the more prominent ones was mirrored by his companion, "Was he the one that made those funny noises?" Olivia had a grin on her face as she spoke, "Oh, and uh, also that was not what I expected at all." Poetry shook his head as a way of nonverbally stating, Me neither. The duo looked at one another and then back to the direction the minotaur had gone. One shared smile told both of them that they had the same idea, and they ran off in the direction the Minotaur had gone.

When they arrived they noticed the minotaur charging at some of the creatures in the swamp. Nearby was a girl wearing a very noticeably blue outfit. Olivia figured that the minotaur must have been her champion in the same way that Poetry was hers. The girl did not seem like she was completely human, but Olivia was not sure what she could be instead. She smirked, running towards her. Stopping just a few feet short of her, and with Poetry right behind her, she called out to the girl, ”Mind if we drop in for a bit? Seems like the both of you are having some fun.”

Poetry brought out his lute once more, fingers dancing along the strings of the perfectly carved instrument. A chuckle rose out of his throat,and he yelled out, ”I’m sure it’ll go a lot better with our help!” His perfectly yellow eyes already settled on the first creature he saw, which happened to be fairly close to the minotaur and he strummed out a selection of five notes. He rapidly played these five notes over and over before finally punctuating with a surprising change up to a different fifth note targeted straight at the aquatic critter, ”The Stun Sonnet. Well if you double it it’s a proper sonnet, but I think it just adds to the confusion how it is honestly.”

Olivia smirked over at the girl whose name she still did not know, ”Name’s Olivia by the way. I’m sure you were just about to ask. And that lovely tiefling over there is Poetry. We’re both pretty skilled with music, as you may be able to tell.”

MythyDW Necessity4Fun​

 

[MythyDW]

< Necessity4Fun Malikai >

After a nice set of food, Cassius stood up and stretched, looking around the place that he shared
with his family. He would lean back in his chair and look up at the ceiling before standing, moving his dishes to the sink. He was rather excited as he always was before he got into Aiso, but only those who actually knew him well would be able to tell from his small smile. He headed off into his room and linked himself into his computer. "I'm on my way..."

-----

Cathion opened his eyes to a face quite close to his. He blinked, and there came a yelp as Annakhon stumbled back, revealing the tree above him. He chuckled and would sit up, looking at the wolfling as she bowed to him. "M-m-master Cathion! I-I am glad you're here!" she said to the half-elven Avatar. She stood up, picked up a canvas bag and handed it to him. "T-these are what I found w-while you were g-gone." she said, though as Cathion scrolled through the menu, she would point in another direction. "I-It's good you came wh-when you did. There's a g-group over there about t-to face that one m-monster.."

That made Cathion raise an eyebrow. 'That monster' was an area boss, tough for even a group of five if they weren't prepared for the spawning. Cathion had been preparing to fight this thing for days now, and so he looked over, seeing... two avatars, a minotaur, and a tiefling. He stood, grabbed the battle blade and crown armor chips, equipping them onto Annakhon.

"Here we go, Annakhon!" he said, calling back to her as he ran off.

"A-ah! M-master w-wait for me!"

-----

As Olvia and Brunhildr killed low-level mob after low-level mob, they would probably be having a good time and have some time to chat. Though eventually, after about fifty total kills, the swampy ground below them started to ripple, and they would have barely enough time to dodge the epicenter before the area boss - Reshran - appeared.

It did not attack right away, letting the two players react. But before anything could really happen, it reared up and roared in pain as a gash appeared on its right front leg. After that, a figure that they might recognize appeared. The three-year running FOA champion (out of three years since release) and the first to start post-endgame after defeating Angdal, Cathion.

"Hey there. Pleasure to see you, ready to beat this boss?" he asked, though the armored wolfling soon came up by his side.

"M-master, this is not something to b-be taken l-lightly-" she paused when Cathion patted her head.

"We can do this, don't worry. You two look strong, think you can handle some tactics?" he called the second part out to the two he joined with a playful smile.

< FireFlare >

As Ekko walked towards the Balrog's corpse, an arrow would fly and land right in front of him, blocking his path. "That's a warning shot!" yelled an unseen avatar. If Ekko looked to the right, he would see a trio of them standing on a rock pillar. "Blame my Champion's sense of justice." he laughed, the three avatars jumping down. The bow-wielding Naga champion stayed up on the pillar, while a spear-holding human and double-dagger demonborn walked up with the champions.

"You look strong." said the leader to Ira, before eying Ekko. "You took down a balrog by yourself, you can't be too worthless with that avatar of yours."

"Looks like a wimp though." said one of the others.

"Shut it." was the reply. "So, as I was saying, you got a tough champion. How about this: You pay us half your Ferron Coins and give us your most powerful chip, and you can join us for a delve into the Nine Circles." he said with an evil-looking smirk.​