Koga

In an impressive display of finesse, Jomei darted past Koga, sliding beneath the creature and thrusting the point of his rapier into the eldritch-looking being's throat. A sickening cracking sound echoed down the stone halls as time stood still, until finally, the demon burst into the cloud of fragments so characteristic of their lives. Koga sheathed his sword as Jomei got to his feet, a grim look upon both of their faces. With grit teeth, Koga nodded in agreement at Jomei's observation. Just the inner machinations of Kayaba's mind, he supposed. Or at least someone in the design team. Pro

k o g a the elder wolf The town's teleporter illuminated itself with it's signature blue light as Koga materialized in the plaza, stretching his arms above his head with a yawn, his familiar mimicking his owner, maw agap and licking his chops lazily. The pair stepped off the platform and began to slowly walk towards the Ring and Sword. All the while, Koga rubbed his eyes, trying, unsuccessfully, to free them from the treacherous clutches of sleep. As the man walked along the familiar streets, he saw a very unfamiliar NPC. One got to

As Blue got angrier, Koga leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms. It probably wasn't quite his place to critique the girl on how she went about making friends to begin with, but what he had said wasn't without it's truths. She tried to shift to a different conversation. Apple pie. "I do know," he said softly, ignoring the change in subject. "I used to do the same thing." His voice had lost the exasperated edge it'd carried all this time, replaced with a passive, perhaps sympathetic tone. "I did everything I could, for years, to change who I was for others, so that they'd like me, b

Koga wasn't quite sure if he should feel insulted. The denial had been expected, but the poking at his pride had been a little uncalled for. Ultimately though, it was something Koga needed to ignore, it wasn't important. So, instead, he sighed. "Yeah, I figured you'd say something like that." More silence. There was little Koga would be able to change the girl's mind. It only took a glimpse of the girl to know this. He wondered what could have possibly lead them both to stand here, in a field of bones like this. Nothing was right with this world, was it? It was a fact Koga had convenientl

Jomei's follow up attack was quick and decisive. A quick thrust into the eldritch creature's sternum resulted in a piercing, echoing screech of pain as it lashed out at the ginger-haired warrior. The monster was already below half health at this point, surprisingly unimpressive for how terrifying an appearance it had. Although, knowing that both the players were Frontline capable, it tempered his expectations. In any case, the fact that they would not have to be locked into extended combat with the demonic entity that swung its arms wildly at them was a relief. As Jomei ducked beneath the

Koga began to rub his temples in exasperation. He was the one who didn't get it? Koga knew he wasn't exactly the best at socializing, but he was not that bad at it. "Blue, have you ever considered that you simply can't be friends with everyone. No matter hard you try. Like, sometimes it just doesn't work, like oil and water. They don't mix. Besides, what if someone was only going to be friends with you on the condition you compromise one of your core values! What are you gonna do then?" "Yeah, I started to smith 'cause I enjoyed it. Aside from the fact that RNGesus apparently hates me, it

"Ah, a fellow solo player," Koga said, finding at least some common ground with the oppressively optimistic girl. "You know my struggle then," he added with a small chuckle. The life of a solo player was difficult. There were some things that simply could not be done alone in the game. The climb became difficult without others to assist, or carry you through the tougher battles, and the risk of death sky rocketed. But conversely, one needn't fear losing those they cared about. "Yeah, I'm not really much for parties," Koga said with another chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "My sister

"Sounds like a nice place to visit," Koga replied. He had never been big on huge cities. He enjoyed the liveliness, and the atmosphere, but only in small doses. He was, at heart, an introvert, and the peace and quiet of the suburban lifestyle suited him. Just enough interaction with others to not go crazy, but not so much as to feel stifled. The man left his place at the river to rejoin his companion once more. "So, we're at the river," he said, stating the obvious, "where do we start looking now? Does it swim?" That would make sense. There were weirder creatures in existence than swimmin

As Koga finished speaking, he heard a voice, or rather voices, come from behind him. Distorted, so many different pitches and timbres shifting, weaving in and out of each other, in no manner that indicated anything even resembling musical or orderly. Koga closed his eyes and swore. "Oh, give me a fucking break." The man turned, his mouth drawn into a thin, and rather dissatisfied line as he stared up at the unholy monstrosity that had killed the real Taya. The disgruntled look quickly dropped from his face as he took in the malformed, elongated body, the unnatural way it moved, and its sm

"Honestly, I'm just here for the apple. Banging is secondary," Koga replied, quite enthused with by the possibility of more caramel apples. He loved those stupid things. "Lead on," he told the girl, before following behind her towards their destination. The path they walked down was about as barren and depressing as the rest of Serpent's Point. Damp, dank, and overall just gross. Except it somehow had obtained the virtue of smelling slightly better than the rest of this godforsaken stretch of land, like burnt sugar. Not that that really meant all that much. His eyes scanned up and do

"Hot," Koga replied with a wry chuckle, "really fucking hot." The man had once baked cookies in his car by just putting the baking sheet in his trunk and leaving the car out in the sun. It was ridiculous sometimes, and Koga had questioned everyday why he didn't try to go to college out of state. The answer had been the better price of living. And the fact that Aki would have probably tried to kill him if he tried moving away. "It's not really all that boring though, if you're in the right place," the man began to answer. "Lots of hiking to do, if you head up north it gets a lot cooler, an

"Ferret-Bears..." Koga repeated, trying to imagine the creature in his head. It sounded like something straight out of a cartoon he used to watch as a child. Was it large? With the body of bear, and the head of a ferret? Or maybe the opposite, with a long, stretched out body like a ferret's but many times large, and with a heavy head, with powerful, crushing jaws. Well, if it was to be a familiar, it probably wasn't too large, but what strange combination of features did it have, the man wondered. With any luck, the man would find out sooner, rather than later. "I'll try to stick close to

Things weren't adding up, no matter how they looked at this. If they took the new guy's word as truth, then the girl beside them couldn't possibly be real, regardless of what the green cursor above her head said. But as far as Koga knew, there was no good way to fake a green cursor. Deaths, on the other hand, were an entirely different matter. Those were easy. If they took Taya at her word, then the solution was that the new player was simply lying. What his motives were remained unknown, but the fear and distress in his eyes seemed very real. But player's could lie. Koga glanced bac

Koga didn't really know much, or really anything, about bears which is probably why his next question seemed so stupid. "Aren't all bears tree-bears?" he said, "Or do you mean they hang out in trees?" As far as he knew pretty much all bears hung out around trees. Except polar bears. And pandas, but that was only because they were around bamboo, and that was a grass. "Oh, we did," the Wolf clarified as they walked past down the dirt path, well trodden at this point. "It didn't help. I swear to God, my sister is just cursed or something. Or maybe it was karma, I dunno." Probably karma knowi

Who was this bossman, and why was he upset with Blue after she almost died? Koga was getting more questions than answers at this point, so he decided to drop the subject, but he made a mental note to avoid whoever Blue's 'boss' was, lest he get dragged out for more boss killing...which, tended to happen frequently anyways, so it wouldn't be that big of a change, but the man was lazy. Koga felt slightly surprised with himself when Blue mentioned he probably didn't have many friends. What probably should have been taken as a bit of an insult was met with amusement instead. "I've got a few,"

"I'll...choose to take that as a compliment," Koga replied to the girl, recounting their ordeal, being forced to choose between killing and sparing the Broken King. He did, however, make a mental note that apparently he looked like a cold-blooded killer. Was that good? Probably not, but hey, if he ever decided to get into the intimidation business, it might play in his favor. The man then watched as Mina waded up to their older counterpart, and poked him in the chest, causing him to shift uncomfortably, moving ever so slightly away from her. Ah, so he was uncomfortable. Koga inwardly chuc

"A sable?" Koga repeated. "Like the color? I've never heard of it before, what's it like?" Whatever it was, it better be black like its name sake. Were they even in the game though? That was the better question. Koga remembered the many, many times he had accompanied his sister out on expeditions just like this to find her familiar. They had been...painful, to say the least. Although, to hear that the man had some skills in Searching was a blessing. "Hopefully it'll go smoothly," Koga said. "Last time I did this, was...well, a really long time ago, but it was with my sister," Koga began,

Koga turned when he heard a feminine voice behind him, one he vaguely recognized, and a face he had equal amounts of trouble placing. The man took a moment or two before he was able to place where he'd seen that pink head of hair before. "You were at the last boss raid, right?" Koga said, turning and drifting slowly to the side, and sitting himself on the natural(?) bench of the spring. He remembered her mostly because she had been one of the few to speak out when most had wanted to simply kill the boss and move on without a second thought. "Uh...Mina. Right?" This was one of those times Koga

Following along the others, Koga took up the rear of the group while Jomei took the front. Best to keep those most liable to get ganked between them, so that he and Jomei could protect them long enough to start assisting. Or run. Whichever came first. Koga could just make out the contents of what Jomei was saying, when another man came approached them from down the corridor. "What the hell are you going on about?" Koga asked, drawing his weapon in response. "Put that shit away unless you wanna get your ass handed to you," he added as a warning. Stepped forward, past the group, joining Jom

Koga suppressed his chuckle as the older man struggled to catch his breath. It was respectful to laugh in a moment like this. He gave the man a moment to recuperate before responding to him. "Yeah I don't mind giving you a hand with that. You shouldn't really run into too many mobs on the way, but I could use a stroll and some fresh air anyways." Okami at his side began to excitedly scratch his ear. "Looks like he's down too," the swordsman relayed. "I dunno what you're trying to grab, so I'll follow you wherever. Consider me your body guard for the evening," Koga answered before followin

There was a time to be gentleman, but now wasn't it. As Jomei took care of the girl, Koga readied himself for battle. A shift of a foot, the tightening of his grip. Except no enemies ever came. The man peered around the corner ahead of them to see...nothing. Nothing but flagstone and slate. "What the fuck?" he muttered to himself as the girl too looked around the corner. Although his guard relaxed, Koga still held his weapon tightly in his hand. "I guess you lost them," he said, eyes fixed down the long corridor. His head turned to look at the girl, "You shouldn't be this high up," he tol

'Sounds like a bribe to me,' Koga thought to himself, as he nibbled at the sweet confectionary. Not that he would complain too much, food was food and Koga was lazy. Maybe he'd finally grow a sweet tooth if Blue decided to keep bringing him random pastries. "Your boss?" Koga questioned, unsure if she meant her real world boss, or some kind of guild leader here in-game. At the end of the day, it didn't really matter though, because what Blueberry said next troubled Koga. He gave the woman a serious look as he leaned forward a little, his cookie-grasping hands resting on the wooden counter

When Koga opened his eyes up again, Jomei was standing over him, the moon behind his head, casting a glorious, silver halo as if he were some angelic being. 'God is that you?' "Ballsy?" Koga groaned as he took the offered help getting back up. "Good thing you didn't see the trail of shit I was leaving behind," the man joked. His demeanor changed to serious, however as he looked to the wall that had nearly crushed him. "No, honestly though, woulda ran if it didn't mean putting you guys at risk. Those things are no joke." Koga looked to Jomei. "If they could give us trouble, that girl is te

k o g a the elder wolf Another day at the shop. Another day day of the small wooden building being filled to the brim with people trying to buy his wares. Weapons, armor, shield, Koga was hardly able to keep up with all the customers. It was gonna be one hell of a payday. Ha. He wished. No, the store was empty, as usual. Naught but the occasional passerby glancing into the store with a passing curiosity, before going about there day. Call it a bore. Relief came to the man by way of an unexpected message. The message's sender was

Important questions. Important answers. A lone girl, underlevelled and quite possibly nothing more than blue pixels at this point. All in all, not good. The great roar of a minotaur only signified things getting worse. "Oh you have got to be fucking kidding me," the Wolf said aloud. Without warning the Minotaur swung what looked like massive cleaver at the party. The sound of steel echoed hardhly off the stone walls as Koga brought his weapon up to defend against the blow. "You don't need to tell me twice!" Koga said as he strained against the Minotaur. "Get going, I'll be right behind yo