[PP-F24] Combat Ready Or not (Jomei)

[Hazado 0]

As It was clear to Haz the members of the frontline where quite a mess for sure, Hearing about how people thought about each other and knowing Hestia was as stubborn as it could be, He knew that some things would not pack out good. Knowing that his Girlfriend wanted to join the fight made Haz worry even more now, He was not strong like her or any of the frontliners at all. Standing in the training halls of the Colosseum where it seemed to be very calm Haz swung his Newfound Axe against the dummy there before hitting it with his shields horn. As he backed off from the dummy a bit he stormed into the dummy with his shield dealing some damage to it. It was really weak attacks all around now. His heavy green armor was shaking as he smashed into the dummy for a bit. Taking off his helmet as he lets out a deep sigh, "What Am I going to do now, this whole deal is just one big mess," He said low as he dropped his shield into the ground and leaning on it staring at his axe for a bit.

It was really something and Haz was not in the best of moods right now feeling yet again left behind a bit he drops his training unequipping his heavy armor and into some light black and green under armor. Placing his axe on his hip and still leaning on the shield a bit that he had. Whatever he was going to do was not really clear to Haz. One or the other it would end up in people getting hurt, and going after his second goal was right now not the best option as he knew nothing from his old guild. He looked over to the dummy and just stared at it before slashing out at it with anger by using his shield to drop its health to zero as it disappeared. "Yeah... Don't" He said angerly to the particles as the dummy disappeared.

@Jomei

[Jomei 0]

Even though the meeting had ended a few days ago, the pressure Jomei was feeling from taking the lead still weighed heavily on his shoulders. Did they truly all see him as the most level headed player meant to run that meeting? He was definitely far from the strongest.. but he supposed his leadership position in his guild, as well as being friendly with most of the other players may have given them that idea. Despite, the man needed to clear his mind before the actual fight, so deciding it would be a good idea to see Floor Twenty Four before having to travel there for the boss fight, he set out for a stroll on the new floor.

Jomei was quite guilty of not checking out floors after they were unlocked, Floor Twenty Four being the newest addition to his list of places to explore. He was quite surprised to see that it was mostly covered in water, with small islands connected by long bridges scattered among the ocean-like surface. The man took in a deep breath through his nostrils, the sulfuric smell from the salt water putting his mind at ease. A few islands away, on what seemed like the largest of the grouping, he saw a large, circular colosseum. Peaking his interest, the man decided to take the walk and check it out.

There seemed to be no sort of events of a large scale happening within the structure, only a few groups of players conversing in the stadium seating, a duo of players sparring each other, and others practicing with training dummies. As he scanned those in attendance, he recognized one player donned in green, heavy armor taking on a stagnant training dummy- Jomei recalled his name to be @Hazado. The ginger simply watched the man for a moment before deciding to approach him "Hey, you were at the meeting the other day, right? You seem troubled" the Irishman admitted, noticing the other player did not seem to cheery at the moment. 

[Hazado 0]

Haz was a bit spacing out as he looked down to his feet leaning on his shield again, the thought of the past was hunting him more than ever and he just needed to get better and stronger. Yet still, he did not feel strong and not worthy to even help out in the frontlines. He looked up as he hears a voice addressing him, One he could remember a bit but not really had anything else to it. Once turning to the man who was almost as tall as him Haz just tried to get a smile off his face and look at least somewhat nicer, "Yeah, that was right. I was there. But what gave it away, how I angrily smashed that dummy or my face," He said giving a weak smile to the Player. "Name is Hazado If you already Forgot..." He paused, "Most do at least," He said low holding out one hand to greet the man

He looked the man up and down for a bit and remember that he was the guy that made it less heated in the meeting that day. He appreciated that for sure, as a lot of things went down that day more then he was hoping to see. And getting dragged into the meeting was really not Haz his plan at all, "Hope you made things calm again, And I think I also need to apologize for what I said there, I know I'm just a low level but things had to be said after all that I saw there," He said standing up right now as his shield disappeared into his inventory. "If you looking for Neo, U would be better off trying to find her in her shop or at our house, She told me she was getting ready for the assault against the boss." He said with a quite worried look on his face as he said this.

[Jomei 0]

The ginger chuckled lightly at Hazado before reaching out his own hand to meet his, "I do remember, you had quite a bit to say for your first boss meeting." the man said with a smirk, "and I'm Jomei." After their introductions, Hazado seemed to take a moment to figure out exactly who Jomei was before apologizing for his bit of an outburst. "No need to apologize at all lad." Jomei put his hands up in front of him, "You weren't wrong with what you were saying. We needed to be smarter about planning for the fight and not be at each other's throats. It'll be our life on the line, so there won't be time to disagree with one another. But luckily things calmed down, and after we held the second meeting a few days ago, we got down to business quite quickly without much interference.." 

Jomei shook his head when the other player asked if he was looking for the mute player, Neo. "No actually, I was not looking for her, I was just taking a walk to clear my mind and happened to run into you." he said with a shrug of his shoulders. "So when do you think we will be seeing you out there fighting bosses? I remember you mentioning you were a tank in training to fight with us." 

[Hazado 0]

Listening to the guy Haz remembers it now clearly quite well, and he gave a small chuckle as Jomei said to him about not being wrong, It seemed like his word did something at least. But his face turned to his normal fast as on the mention of joining in the frontlines and helping to fight the bosses, "Well, about that, I have to think... really, I know a few people in there already, some good friends even the one I love and some just known faces. It's just... I'm nowhere near to help out at all. Most seem to forget about me already, so I'm not really a good tank at all, Even more so When I look at some people I know In the frontlines," He said to Jomei looking a bit to the ground, not in best of moods at all, maybe even a bit angry inside.

"But I think I will join... Someday, Just not this floor boss. I May have max Armor as a mid-level player now, but that would do any good in the fight against the boss." he said as he looks at his ring around his finger, "Tho I must admit I have my tricks up my sleeve, Like Safeguard, Just need to be with Neo." He said looking at his ring moving it around on his finger. He seemed to light up for a moment as he was thinking about the ring and Neo. "Well If I would admit, I never would have been here at all if it was not for some of u, Darn Hestia even rubbed a bit off me." He seemed a bit angry about the fact that he was so close to being a frontliner yet so far away as well, "Just have to keep leveling alone until I get there, I suspect," He said to Jomei with a weak smile.

@Jomei

[Jomei 0]

Jomei chuckled, "Yeah, Hestia will do that to you." The man's features softened, "We all have to start somewhere" Jomei responded in a kind tone of voice. "Sadly, the closer we get to the top of Aincrad, the harder it is for someone to catch up if they are just starting. Lucky for me, we were only at maybe the ..eleventh or twelfth floor before I decided to pick up my sword and fight on the front lines, so the level gap was not that much." The man extended a hand, placing it on Hazado's shoulder, "And I can see how much you want to be there, with Neo, but you are doing the smart thing. The last thing you want to do is show up at a boss fight only to get yourself killed because you jumped the gun. I've seen it happen... it wasn't pretty."  

Taking his hand back, the man crossed his arms and looked to Hazado's hand, where he fiddled with a simple golden band on his finger. "So you two are already married eh? Good on you. My fiance, Telrenya and I, we are still in the planning stage... and we keep getting caught up in these boss fights before we even get the chance to tie the knot." After changing the subject for a moment, something Haz had mentioned caught his attention, "Well, why have you been leveling alone? For someone trying to become a tank, seems like you would have a tough time taking down some of the field bosses." 

[Hazado 0]

It was nice to hear that not all love was out of this darn world and hearing that Jomei was one of the people who seemed to have fallen in love with someone seemed quite nice. Not only gave it a save feeling but also a small boost to what after ring u had. "It's nice to hear that people have not given up on the normal things yet. Must say Neo and me got lucky before we both got into the frontline business, she a bit longer than me for sure." Looking up a Jomei as he asked about why he was doing field bosses alone, "Well... I do not know why. Probably because I have been left behind, or just get in the way of people. Used to be with a guild in the beginning. Really don't care where they are now, they did not need me so they. for all I care, they could be lost." He said sounding a bit more angrily as he spoke about this old guild.

"I do not really seem to fit in with people. Being from the UK traveling to Japan as a kid does not do you any good." He said with a small grin on his face. True as being British was not really helping Haz back in the day as a kid, somehow people seemed to just be straight up jerks at best. At best Haz really did not bother to even try and do quests with people, sure this nearly has cost his life multiple times before both on floor 9 and floor 4 while fighting the floor bosses. "Well I can say I have been getting helped by Hestia with clearing this Floor Boss, but that was before I picked up my shield skills, Used a two-handed spear before this, quite a strong thing for sure." He said with a grin on his face.

@Jomei

[Jomei 0]

Jomei let out a small sigh, "I wish that we had that same luck, but I met Telrenya while I was already fighting on the frontlines. She truly gave me something to fight for. And If things go well, hopefully this can be my last one so we can actually get married." The ginger felt a bit of remorse when Hazado mentioned that he felt left behind and forgotten. The smile that had mostly lingered on his face up to this point had faded to a small frown. "Well, I know how you feel with the whole guild thing.. My first guild fell apart once everyone kind of went their own ways.. and when our leader was killed... Starting to feel that way a little bit with my current guild. A lot of the other members haven't been around, even Hestia jumped ship once things started declining." he ended with a heavy sigh. "Sometimes you just have to reach out though, a lot of us on the frontlines would be more than happy to help you out if you needed it." 

"And moving to Japan as a kid not doing you any good?" Jomei added with a small chuckle, leaning forward and poking a thumb into his own chest, "I know exactly how that is. You don't think I picked up this accent just because I wanted to did you?" he said, over exaggerating his Irish accent a bit. "I definitely had my fair share of not fitting in, but I made it work. Just as you will as well. You just have to get yourself out there." 

[Hazado 0]

Haz looked up from surprise as he heard the accent even more. "Darn, U bloody Irish, I didn't even notice until now," He said getting a small spark up in his eyes, It was rare to even find others with different culters, From what he knew there were only just a few people he knew coming from the UK, "Well I'm just being a great Darn Tosser ain't I," He said as British as he could really getting that London accent out of him. Getting a low grin off his face as he said it. "U know wha they say, We stand tall and full of pride," He said jokingly to Jomei. "But yeah, I should probably ask for help more often, really should. Could have been dead before if it was not for my last minute luck I seem to pull off most of the time, But maybe ur right, I could have asked for more help, But not for the next part I'm planning." He said holding his arms behind his head a bit stretching out quite a bit as well.

"It would be something If I was gone, But I have some things I need to handle lately, and I think I will do this alone No need to get other in danger anymore, not after I heard what they did to my friend after he kicked me out," He said looking up at the ceiling of the training hall they where standing in. It maybe was not really clear to others but Haz spoke about his old guild, sure they had a name and that name was clear in his min, yet he did not want to do anything with them. "Just making sure we are clear Jomei, when I say I don't want anyone's help with this I mean it, they are my own demons and I have to face them even if my friends are involved already, I was their tank and I failed them back then," He said to Jomei slipping a bit of his past and his past guild.

@Jomei

[Jomei 0]

Jomei laughed along with Hazado as the two joked back and forth about their European roots. It had not been the first time Jomei had met someone from the UK, or someone from a country other than Japan, but he felt Hazado needed that little boost to help him know he wasn't alone with being an outcast for a bit. "Well, I'm always up for going on some quests if you ever need someone. I definitely know a few of the others in the raid party would be more than happy to join as well." As their conversation continued, it seemed Hazado's 'plans' drifted a bit farther away from simply questing and leveling, and more to a plan of personal growth.. especially the part about 'his own demons.' The ginger dropped the friendly smile as he looked a bit more concerned for the other player. "We all have our own journeys that we want to accomplish alone, I get that, and I won't force your hand to accept anyone's help." He crossed his arms at his chest, "If you don't mind me asking.. what guild were you in? And what happened?"