[PP-F4] Hands-On Training ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

[Telrenya 0]

Dressed in the same casual winter clothing as she had worn the last time she had visited Aereth, each of Telrenya's breaths condensed into a thick fog in front of her on her way from Snowfrost to the tailor's shop. With holiday festivities over and done with, the Holy Dragon Alliance seemed to be in better spirits as of late, and nearly everyone had gone back to training, questing, or other tasks that would eventually push them closer to the frontlines. With her fingers laced together behind her, Telrenya wasn't going to be an exception.

During her first meeting with Aereth, she learned that the man had been quite close to her brother during his life in Aincrad, and he had confirmed that she was indeed the sister that Beatbox--and then himself--had been looking for. After testing her resolve, he had gone so far as to not only craft her a set of cosmetic armor to help her in her solo adventures, but had offered to continue training her and eventually take her to the frontlines. A couple of weeks had already passed since she had started living with Jomei, and she was starting to worry that it would be much harder to slip away for days at a time like she used to. With several busy thoughts cluttering her mind, Telrenya finally approached the shop dusted with snow out in the wilderness, coming to a stop and giving the door a few short knocks.

@Aereth @Jomei

[Aereth 1]

Aereth opened the door after he heard some short knocks coming from it. Opening it revealed the very same blonde girl he more or less accepted to train. "Ah. Hey girl. You're a little bit early." he said with a tint of surprise in his voice. "But that's no problem. I'm ready in a minute. Come in in the meantime." The brunette added and motioned her to enter his shop. 

"I've already thought of something we will do today." he was quickly moving back behind his counter and continued searching for the item he was looking for. "Ah. Here it is." he exclaimed with an malicious chuckle. "Today we will work on your dodging and I'll go through some basic movements that will make evading and countering much more easy for you, if that's ok?" With a dull thud the item he was looking for hit the table. "It's still imperfect, but for our training it will be enough." It was a simple looking katana, but even though it was still in its sheath it radiated a dark and dangerous aura. The Dimensional Shift. He just recently converted the one handed straight sword into the katana, and it would be first time Aereth would really use it in combination with his katana skill.

@Telrenya

[Jomei 0]

Despite the raging blizzards that always seemed to blind players that were new to the area, Jomei had made the journey enough to be able to generally remember the path back. This time was no different, making the path back down the mountain with Spencer after helping him to defeat the Avalanche field boss. It had been nice to be able to meet up with the boy, being they never really had time to hang out with each other, aside from when the rest of the guild was there. Though, with things calming down after the Holiday season, and especially after the kind gift and words he had given him for Christmas, the ginger was sure to make time for his sandy haired, penguin loving friend. 

As they arrived back into Snowfrost, which, by this time, had just gone back to a regular winter city with no decorations for the Holidays remaining in the windows, Jomei walked Spencer to the center of town where the warp ring resided. Waving to the man, he stepped in the other direction, "I think I'm going to stick on this floor for a bit longer. Have a few things I need to do, and I want to try and get some recruiting in. I'll see you soon." 

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya wore a small smile when the door pulled open, the presence of the brunette greeting her on the other side providing a distraction from her troubled mind. She gave a nod once invited inside, stepping into the tailor's shop. Almost immediately after she had entered and closed the door behind her, she was barely able to focus on what the brunette was saying. Pulling her attention away from his words was the forceful nudge of a fairly large fur-covered head brushing up against her thigh. Telrenya gave a start, taking a quick half-step away from the wolf familiar while her heart skipped a beat and the color drained from her face.

"H-hi Fenrir..." She greeted the canine with a tiny voice, shoulders tense and nerves on-edge while she watched his movements. The wolf simply looked to her with innocent eyes before curling up on the floor, allowing Telrenya to hesitantly pull her eyes away and turn them back on Aereth.

As if she wasn't already a bundle of mixed emotion, the throaty chuckle that the brunette let out caused another small knot of apprehension to form in her stomach. Why did she really not like the sound of that? He pulled out a darkened curved blade, and she eyed it curiously. His explanation of what he would have her practice today elicited a nod from the girl, and after she was allowed a moment to focus on the task at hand, she took on a small smile. "Alright! I know I need to get better with my reaction time," She admitted, "but I'm ready when you are." Her smile stretched wider with a hint of determination.

@Aereth

[Aereth 1]

Aereth could swear that that wolf knew that Telrenya was somehow afraid of him, and still he always seems to be as clingy as possible every time she visited the shop. "Cheeky b*stard..." the brunette murmured with a faint grin on his face. 

While Tel answered and told him that she needed to get better with her reaction time, the brunette started to un-equip his armor and stored it away into his inventory. "Not necessarily. Sure. Lowering your reaction time will give you slight advantages when having to react to an unexpected move from your opponent, but the goal of our training in the next few days will be how to avoid such scenarios where you have to guess how your opponent will attack. And that's what will really give you an edge in combat, especially mobs and field bosses." After he was done with the adjustment of his equipped items, he was only wearing a very thin layer of armor now, and his katana was strapped to the back of his hip, he gestured for the door so they could get started. "I will show you how to analyze and predict the attack patterns of your opponents. Because if you already know what is coming and how to counter or avoid it, you are at a huge advantage and always in control over the situation." Basically that was the core element of any combat based computer game. Predict, dodge, counter, retreat and repeat. And it was one of the few things players in here had to do on their own, without the cheap way out of using the Cardinal system to help you in combat.

@Telrenya @Jomei

[Jomei 0]

After seeing his friend and guild mate off, Jomei turned to a large wooden wall, where all information about quests, shops, and the like for players to read. Finding a nice empty space, Jomei took out a flyer, which contained information about the Holy Dragon Alliance. Pinning the message to the board, the ginger stepped back and looked at the paper to see if it would catch a passer by's eye sight. With a confident nod to himself, the man's eyes shifted to one of the other roads leading from Snowfrost. It had been awhile since he had gone hunting for materials and inspiration for his music, and with his shop becoming a bit more noticed in the past month or so, crafting songs for sale was becoming more of a regular thing. "Guess it couldn't hurt.." he thought to himself before making his way to the road heading west out of Snowfrost. With his hands in his pockets and his green cloak gently blowing in the winter breeze behind him, the man hummed a tune to himself as his eyes searched the sides of the road, looking for anything he could possibly use to create some new songs. 

ID 93733
LD 9 (Nothing)

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

It wasn't the first time she had heard of such tactics, and she soon found herself feeling a hint of embarrassment at not having taken more interest in them on her own until now. Had she just been too prideful during her run-in with Neo that she had refused to put a focus on such mechanics? That afternoon had hit much more close to home than she had expected, and so maybe it was something she had been avoiding. But now, hearing it come from Aereth as well, she held back a sigh. She had never thought herself good at these types of things, and yet here she was dedicating most of her free time to this kind of training. She gave a nod of understanding after Aereth's explanation, following his lead back to the door so they might head outside of his shop to get started. "Oh," She spoke up, finally realizing their difference in appearance. "Oh, actually, I have to ask you to repair the armor you made for me." She admitted sheepishly, making a mental note to pass off the vanity equipment and a few materials that would help to restore the item's durability once their training for the day was complete. Once again noticing the katana at his hip, she perked up, "But should I equip my weapon?"

Telrenya simply followed after Aereth in her casual clothing, without an expressed need to arm herself for the techniques they would be working on. The blonde felt herself tense when the sound of Fenrir's claws against the wooden floorboards indicated the familiar's movement. She gave a nervous glance over her shoulder and the wolf looked back up at her with the same innocent expression as he exited the shop with them. With an inward sigh, she wordlessly continued until the two players had made their way to a generous clearing that seemed to be largely free of roaming monsters nearby Frostbite Lake.

[Aereth 1]

"Hm?" he hummed and turned around at the request of the blonde. "Sure, just place it somewhere on the counter after were done and I'll get it done as soon as possible. Is it doing its job well?" Aereth answered finally walking outside of the shop. The weather was pretty ok for this time of the year. No heavy snowing, although it was pretty cloudy. Here and there some snowflakes made their way down to the ground, but it wasn't even worth mentioning in comparison what this floor had in petto in regards of snowstorms.

The brunette noticed the heavy mood in between them as they silently made their way towards the big clearing he was intending to take her for the training. He wasn't particularly warm towards her, but he was like this to everybody except a few special persons. Of course Purple, Itzal and Birdie. Itzal and Birdie were his closest friends, and Thea was obviously the cared the most for in this whole flying hell. "Anything bothering you?" he asked carefully as they reached the clearing. After that he would either wait for her to continue talking if anything was amiss, or he would simply accept a 'No.' and prepare for the training. 

"You can choose either way. Usually one can use their weapon to block or redirect attacks, but with rapiers this is pretty difficult... Sometimes near impossible. Just the best of the best can do that. But first things first. As you surely have already noticed, the key in predicting your opponents attacks is firstly: remembering reoccurring beginning stances. In most cases simple mobs have always the same two or three attack patterns which always have unique beginning stances." He explained while unsheathing his blade. The blade itself had a dark greyish color and radiated a very dark and cold aura. "I will now start attacking you. Try to avoid every hit at all costs, and remember the beginning stances. I won't hold back. If I hit I hit and you will take damage. Don't worry though. I have enough health potions with me for the whole day, so you don't have to be afraid." he said and got into the beginning stance for his Ukifune stun sword art which he held a little bit longer than necessary so she could have some more time to remember it, before racing towards her.

@Telrenya @Jomei

[Jomei 0]

With a sharp whistle, Jomei's eyes moved to the overcast sky above him. From above the trees around him, Jomei spotted the brown tawny owl with a green scarf, her wings spread out to the sides as she soared through the sky. The corner of Jomei's lips pulled out into a smirk as the avian creature looked down at him with deep black pools for eyes, descending until she  landed upon his shoulder. "Hey Adere." the man said, gently petting her feathered head. "Been awhile since just the two of us spent some time together." he said with a soft voice, before swiping his hand upwards and taking his lute from his inventory. Despite the cold air biting at the few exposed fingers of his gloves, Jomei found no problems playing his lute as he continued to talk along the path, looking for more inspiration for new songs. 

ID 93753
LD 10 

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

She nodded, "Yes, thank you again!" She had been largely impressed with the set of light armor ever since Aereth had first crafted it for her. Even if she hadn't been on some dramatic and prideful quest of self-gratification, the well-fitting gear had done wonders to help her improve her speed and dexterity in combat. Making her feel like a skillful, rogueish adventurer was just a convenient bonus to give her a boost in confidence.

She was surprised to hear Aereth more or less checking on her. Had she made it seem like something was the matter? Though, if she was being honest with herself, there were many things bothering her. She had made herself scarce among her guildmates as of late, save for Jomei and her unexpected encounter with Spencer. Another person knew about all the trouble she'd been getting herself into, and she was only lucky that her friend had been so kind and forgiving towards her once he'd learned the truth. Even Jevi, despite being the one Telrenya had originally opened up to about the whole ordeal, only knew a fraction of what had happened since their initial run-in with Erin. She wondered if she might be able to stop the brunette from warping to Urbus and paying the redhead a visit should that change. She nearly shuddered at the thought of Ruby finding out. And then she felt another sharp pain nestled inside of her chest at the thought of the Irishman. Spencer had been rightfully worried about him, and their relationship.

Realizing that she had yet to address his concern, the blonde gave a shake of her head. "Just have a bit on my mind." She dismissed the matter with a half-truth. She didn't let the topic linger, however, turning her attention onto his explanation of attack patterns. It was one she had a fair amount of experience with at this point, both from topics of conversation and more recently from her own encounters. After nodding in understanding, she took a small, cautious step back before lowering her stance slightly. Chocolate eyes trained on his figure, examining the way he held the katana while the obsidian blade began to take on a telling glow. A nervous uncertainty continued to fester inside of her; one that clouded her thoughts and delayed her reaction.

When Aereth shot forward through the fresh blanket of snow that lay between them, the sidestep she though to take would have been a full second late. Instead, the curved blade's upward slash dug into her avatar from her left thigh all the way to her right shoulder. The shock of the strike did well to snap her out of her busy state of mind, and she winced in clear discomfort as she stumbled backwards. She easily lost her footing as the stun aspect of the low-level sword art kicked in, her palms planting against the snow behind her before Cardinal restricted her ability to move.

[Aereth 1]

Aereth patiently waited for her to answer, but when she answered and told him that she was indeed troubled by something he didn't press the matter. They weren't close by any means so it wasn't his place to pry into her affairs so he simply nodded when she didn't elaborate what exactly was the reason for it. "Just try and push it aside for now. You think you can do that?" he asked cautiously. 

Immediately noticing the slight hesitation on her part when he initiated the attack, the brunette knew that he would be able to hit her without any problems. The katana dug into her virtual flesh and left a big red gash on her body while she stumbled back from the stun effect of the attack. Instantly after the post motion delay of his sword art died off, the brunette readied the next sword art the Han'ei. "Maybe she's focused now and at least manages to remember that one..." he mentally told himself, as his blade started to glow again before executing two downward slashes at the neck of Telrenya each time stopping mere inches away from her throat. After the quick assault was over, his blade remained at her throat for a couple of moments, before lowering it and offering her a hand to help her get up again. "Another thing. Intimidation. Don't let your opponent ever get inside of your head. Once you let him in he will always have the advantage over you." Even thought this was slightly more important in a player vs. player situation, Aereth hadn't even tried to mess with her head this time and managed to catch her off guard. "This gets really dangerous in PvP encounters. The mob doesn't know that it's inside of your head so it won't exploit it in a way another player could. But it will still hinder your judgement of distance, speed everything."

[Jomei 0]

As his spat covered boots trudged through the snow covered path, his lute in his hands, Jomei's eyes caught glimpse of a familiar looking building off in the distance. Immediately, the man remembered it to be the shop of a tailor, the only reason it being away from Snowfrost was because of the orange crystal the man wore. Despite being unsure about the history of the man, whether the player he killed was justified or not, Jomei felt as though he was friendly enough to give some of his trust. Looking down for a moment, Jomei remembered he had asked the man to help with making him a new armor piece. However, since Jomei had not heard from the man in awhile, and needed the armor sooner, he ended up finding another tailor to do so while his shop was seemingly closed.

Jomei let out a slight sigh, "I should probably pay him a visit and let him know I don't need it anymore.." Changing his path, the man walked off towards the shop, which seemed unoccupied from afar. I wonder if he ever came back and reopened it, he thought to himself as he neared the front door. Dismissing his instrument to his inventory, Jomei knocked on the door.. No answer. With furrowed brows, Jomei tried to turn the knob and push on the door-- it was locked. "Guess he isn't home." he said with a chuckle. As he spoke to himself, he heard the nearby sound of a sword art being activated, followed by the yelp of a woman.. one that sounded too familiar for comfort. Jomei quickly looked to Adere as he pulled his rapier from its scabbard, "Go check it out, I'll be right behind you." 

With swift feet, Jomei weaved his way through the snow covered trees in the direction of the possible battle. Please don't be who I think it is... The man thought to himself, his teeth grinding behind his lips, trying not to envision the worst case scenario. As the small scene came into play, it was exactly as Jomei had feared -- Telrenya was on the ground, a large red gash up her leg and hip and stunned, a man holding a katana to her neck... with an orange crystal over his head. The ginger could feel his heart begin to race in his chest as any thoughts of reasoning dissipated with the feelings of rage and betrayal of the seemingly trustworthy tailor. 

Gripping his rapier in his hands as tightly as he could, bearing his grit teeth, Jomei charged forward at full speed. "Get the hell away from her!" he roared. The rage in his eyes was apparent as he rushed towards the man, his body lowered, kicking up snow with each quick step. Using the boost from his charge skill, Jomei's shoulder collided with the player killer, creating some distance between them and the downed Telrenya. Once both of his feet were planted into the ground, Jomei brought his sword from his side to cut diagonally upwards, across Aereth's chest, ending by orbiting the blade around his head and back and thrusting the sword through his chest. 

[Telrenya 0]

Was it the unsettling situation of combat with another player? Her mind clouded with thoughts and her heart even heavier than normal in her chest? She wasn't sure what had caused her to freeze up, but it was that momentary lapse that had her sitting on the snowy floor with the blade of a katana hovering an inch away from her neck. Her avatar already bore a nasty crimson gash, and the tension she held throughout her body was one that she hadn't felt the intensity of in a long time now.

Just as Aereth began to speak, but before she could register the meaning of his words, motion in the sky caught her attention. Telrenya's eyes flickered up to spot a winged figure soaring towards them from the forest. She normally would have dismissed the sight as one of many possible monsters or neutral mobs patrolling the skies, but there was something about this one that she couldn't ignore. "Adere...?" The tawny owl gliding overhead wore an unmistakable green scarf around her neck, and while her mind worked to connect the dots of what her presence meant, her brown eyes widened slightly.

Just as her heart started to beat faster, Aereth's words now lost on her, she was startled by the sound of Jomei's voice carrying an emotion she hadn't heard in just as long a time. The woman stiffened up completely when the Irishman's shoulder collided with the figure in front of her. "W-wait..." Despite how loudly her mind was yelling at her to stop the scene that was playing out in front of her, Telrenya's trembling voice was little more than a whisper. She flinched when Oathkeeper slashed across the brunette's chest only to strike it through a second later. With panicked eyes locked onto the heated exchange, she tried to pull her right arm forward, wanting to push herself to her feet. The limb failed to obey her, not because of the fear that gripped her, but because of the katana's earlier stun sword art.

[Aereth 1]

Aereth was about to turn his head into the direction of the sudden scream as he already felt how an unknown player forcefully tackled him away from Telrenya. He wasn't even able to defend himself in any means.  Immediately Aereth changed to survival mode. But only having the few seconds to analyze and assess the situation while being ripped open and impaled by the other player was enough. "'Get away from her.' So he knows Tel. 'Green armor, ginger hair.' The guy I received an order from but wasn't able to finish it. 'Same guild tag as Telrenya.'  Guildmates. 'Armor?' None. 'Talking?' Useless. 'Other options?' Not many." His mind went into overdrive while processing all the information he could gather in that short amount of time. 

He probably had more PvP experience than any other player inside of this game. "And I will make good use of it." he thought as he triggered the only skill in his arsenal that could get him out of this tight situation. Suddenly his appearance started to change. In the blink of an eye, the appearance of the katana wielding brunette changed. In his place was now the delicate blonde that was the reason for the green warriors fury. " W-Why?" the figure stuttered in a pained voice, tears in her eyes. 

Disguise... The skill that allows one to completely change his appearance when fighting other players. Aereth waited patiently for his opening slowly seeing his health drop further and further, but as soon as he saw the first signs of weakness, the brunette hunter used his free hand that lost hold of his sword during the assault, to push himself away from the ginger while charging up the strongest stun sword art in his arsenal, the Iai. A high pitched cutting sound was heard while the Phase enhanced blade made its way through the armor of Jomei, shortly followed by the thud his body made as he landed next to Telrenya, stunned. 

"I mean no harm and I do not intend to fight you, so please calm down." he said as he moved back a couple of paces and took a defensive position. Only through pure luck was he able to use another stun sword art right as the cooldown timer hit zero. "I can't risk to draw this battle out longer than necessary." he noted to himself as he glanced at his yellow health bar. Never never never NEVER again would Aereth leave the house without his armor.

@Telrenya @Jomei

[Jomei 0]

Jomei's own rage clouded his judgement, charging at Aereth without using any sort of sword art. With his initial combination, he seemed to have the man held at bay, with his rapier plunged into his chest, and his health slowly dropping. At least, that was what Jomei thought. As he blinked his eyes, the image of Aereth had been replaced that that of Telrenya.. one large gash going from her thigh to her shoulder, and Oathkeeper stabbing directly through her heart. Jomei's eyes widened as his entire body began to shake. Her tiny, pleading voice like daggers, straight into his heart as it dropped into his stomach, and his blood ran cold. The man stumbled backwards as tears began to roll down his cheeks, removing the blade from Telrenya's chest. "E-estelle... no..I-" As the man blinked again, Telrenya's figure had disappeared, being replaced yet again with Aester, who's sword was charging up an attack. Moments later, leaving Jomei nearly no time to react, the darkened katana sliced through Jomei's chest. Despite wearing armor, it felt as though the blade had completely bypassed the metal plate on his chest, and opened him right up. 

The attack was enough to cause Jomei to stumble backwards, yet was not too devastating. Jomei stood his ground for a moment, before he felt a tingling feeling pulsate through his body, starting from the wound on his chest. Before the ginger had a chance to realize he had been paralyzed, he fell back into the snow, laying on his back. Jomei struggled to move his body, feeling every muscle in his body contract and freeze in place every single time he tried to move. "If you think I'm going to let you attack Estelle and get away with it, then you've got another damn thing coming!" the man said with a shaky growl, tears still forming in his eyes as he tried his hardest to move. The tawny owl that had been flying above the players lowered herself so she hovered in front of Telrenya, willing to do whatever she need to help defend the girl. 

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

"W-wait! Hold on, stop fighting!" She finally found her voice, desperately calling out to the two men locked in combat. Then her eyes went wide when Aereth's form changed completely before them both. It was like she was in a bad dream, where she was stuck as a helpless bystander--only able to watch as the horrific scene played out of Jomei's rapier running through what looked to be her avatar. Hearing her name shakily stammered in the ginger's voice caused a pang of emotion to strike her heart.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, her body would listen to her again. "Jomei!" She called out his name as his body crashed into the snow-covered ground beside her. The blonde pushed herself to kneel beside him, tears already formed in the corners of her still-panicked eyes. She hesitated, overwhelmed and unsure of what to do or say. She knew she had to clear things up as quickly as possible, but she struggled for a moment just to keep herself together. "A-are you okay?" A glance at Jomei's health bar gave her a fleeting sense of relief--he wasn't seriously injured, and he was just left stunned for a few more seconds.

She should have taken those few seconds to try and calm him down and assure him that she was fine and that Aereth truly wasn't a threat to them. Instead, with a clouded mind, her torso spun to face Aereth taking a defensive stance a few paces away. Adere held herself in between the two players, and while she normally would have been grateful for the avian's protection, Telrenya stood and walked passed her to stand in between Aereth and Jomei. "How could you do something like that?!" She shouted, still shaken by his use of the Disguise skill. She had never imagined something like that existed in the game until she saw it happen in front of her eyes. Telrenya glared at the brunette. Her blood ran too hot to take his perspective into consideration. It didn't occur to her that using what little knowledge and resources he had at his disposal to catch Jomei off-guard was possibly his best option to defuse the situation as quickly as possible.

Her breathing was uneven, but Aereth's hard stare seemed to bring some of her back to the present. His expression alone seemed to tell her that she had better do something productive before their blades would clash all over again. She drew in a sharp breath through her nose, accepting defeat and turning back to the Irishman now that the stun effect had worn off. Before he would have made it much farther than getting back to his feet, Telrenya hurried to place herself in front of him, grasping his arms in an attempt to draw his attention to her. "W-wait, please, don't fight anymore!" She pleaded. What had started in her head as a request and an explanation immediately crumbled into cracking, panicked words and tears the finally rolled down her cheeks. "It's a big misunderstanding, I swear! Jomei, I--I'm so sorry!" Her bottom lip trembled as she choked out the words.

[Aereth 1]

"Finally.." he thought as Telrenya got up again, hoping that she would defuse the situation. Slowly his mind was starting to work at normal speed again and the adrenaline rush began to fade away. This however didn't mean that the brunette would let down his guard even just a little bit. He remained in the defensive position. Aereth couldn't risk anything. This was the first time he would have to take on somebody way beyond his level without preparation, and without his armor. He was practically naked. 

As soon as Telrenya began yelling at him however all of his hope that the situation was defused faded away. Without much thinking the brunette removed one hand from the grip of his katana and fetched something from his battle ready slots. An instant teleport crystal. He was disappointing that she yelled at him because of the use of his Disguise skill. Was it wrong to use the disguise skill on him? Yes of course. Did he care about it? Not in the slightest. "I can't die here because of an f*cking misunderstanding." the brunette simply thought, still letting no glint of fear, regret or pretty much any other emotion shine through his hard gaze.  He couldn't leave Thea alone.  Had she even looked at his health in comparison to the minuscule dent he hat put into Jomeis? Why were both of them crying sitting at a perfectly comfortable amount of health, while he was already in the yellow.

"If Ginger-Boy only moves only one finger I'm out of here and you guys will never see me again." he said in a flat tone immediately after Telrenya would have finished her last sentence. 

[Jomei 0]

"I'm fine, just stunned. Are you okay?" Jomei quickly turned the question around to her. He noticed that her health was still fairly in the green, and that she was no longer stunned. It brought a wave of relief over the man to know that she was still okay. As if out of instinct, Jomei tried to raise his hand up to wipe the tears from Telrenya's eyes.. yet the stun prevented him from doing so. After keeping his eyes on the woman for a moment, they snapped back to Aereth, who was standing a ways off in a defensive stance. Slowly, Telrenya rose to her feet, staring over at the man. "Tel what are you doing.." he said in a softer tone, trying yet again to move his body. As she passed the hovering owl, Adere looked over at her, before landing on the ground aside Jomei. The blonde began to scold the man for his actions, whether they were for attacking Jomei.. or for using that skill to mess with his mind. The ginger shook his head, trying to erase the thought of his own blade piercing through Telrenya's heart in his mind.

One by one, Jomei was able to regain motion in his fingers. As his hand dragged through the snow, he was able to find his rapier, grasping the handle yet again. His eyes watched carefully as the timer for the paralyzing effect wore down, until the icon finally disappeared. He didn't know what Aereth's plans were, but Telrenya was left defenseless.. if he decided to attack, she could possibly die. In one motion, the Emerald Duelist shot back up to his feet and pulled his rapier back to charge past Telrenya and at Aereth before he could attack again. However, before Jomei could even take a step, Telrenya had quickly moved to his front, a bit faster than he had ever seen her move before. Her hands grasped onto Jomei's arms, gently shaking him to get his attention, begging him not to fight anymore. 

Jomei's hating eyes tore from Aereth to look into Estelle's chocolate brown eyes, which seemed to immediately calm him down at first. His hand that held his rapier slowly trembled, before his fingers uncurled, letting Oathkeeper fall into the snow. The ginger continued to shake, before taking a step back to separate himself from Telrenya's grasp. His eyes looked back up to the girl, a stern but questioning look. "What do you mean.. its a misunderstanding?" To Jomei, the whole situation seemed pretty clear.. that she was being attacked by Aereth.

@Telrenya

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya hadn't realized her own fingers had begun to tremble until Jomei slipped away from them. The mixture of emotion in his eyes caused her stomach to twist with unease, but she forced her way through the feeling as she took a couple of her own hesitant steps back. Tearing her eyes away from Jomei, she turned slightly to look over her shoulder at Aereth, who held a teleport crystal in his free hand. Once again she placed herself between the two men, and the tension in the air grew thicker with each second that passed. Turning back to Jomei, Telrenya took in a deep breath as she tried to find the right words to say. "He was friends with James." She started, her breathing less heavy but still uneven. "I met him a little while ago... Maybe a couple of weeks?" She was sure that it had been longer than that, but pinpointing such a detail was far from her priority. Her eyes fell and drifted to the side, "I... Recently I wanted to talk to other people who knew him. I...contacted Hikoru after you told me about him, too." She admitted meekly. Despite how much she had tried to move on, she felt almost embarrassed to realize she was still working to dig up more information on the fallen player.

"S-Since I was in the area, I paid him--Aereth a visit." She was lucky that stumbling over her words wouldn't seem so out of the ordinary given the circumstances as she stammered out a half-truth. "H-he offered to help me train, so we were just practicing." With the initial bloodlust draining from the air around them, Telrenya was left anxious, ashamed, and guilty. Her eyes turned back up to meet Jomei's olive gaze, and her chest tightened. "I-I'm so sorry. I should've just told you, I didn't think--" She choked on her words when she realized it wasn't just their mistimed encounter on the snowy floor she was apologizing for anymore.

[Aereth 1]

The moment Jomei got up again from his stun, his grip on the teleport crystal tightened. Only a little bit more and it would activate, but he still hoped to get this situation sorted out. So he decided to wait. 

Then. Finally Telrenya started to explain the situation. The rapier dropped from Jomeis hands and finally he was able to put down the crystal, while his other hand was busy sheathing his blade on the back. "James Cardona also known as Beatbox. Frontliner, fought for the weak, killed by Death_Adder. He was a good friend of mine and told me look for his sister shortly before he died. Estelle Cardona, age twenty, hair color: blonde. I also should look out for her in case I found her. I'd never harm her. I never break promises to dead friends." Aereth cut in as Telrenya chocked on her last words. "I'm sorry for the techniques I used against you." A lie. He would do it all over if it was the only way to survive. "But it was necessary. You wouldn't have listened to me if I tried to reason." He saw it in his eyes. Blank and straight fury and hatred. And he knew these feelings quite well...

@Jomei