[SP-01] <<Feeding your Enemy>>

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia concentrated at Pacco intently as he stood almost robotically in front of her. 

“I’m going to need more from you now, Pacco,” she huffed, crossing her arms over one another as she lifted her chin into the air. The two were located at a desolate spot in the First Floor’s forest, both away from mobs and players alike. She just wanted to be alone with herself and her familiar today.

“We’re reaching the big leagues and now you’re going to have to step it up,” she exclaimed, rocking herself back and forth childishly before her gaze hardened. “And I mean it. That’s why we’re going to spend the day buffing you up! Maybe help you help me a little bit more today, too!” She said almost ecstatically, clapping her hands together like a kid.

“Alright, come one, boy!” She said, reaching out her hand for him to jump on. “Let’s go on an adventure!”

-Consumed Crazy Lucky Dog: 3 LD
-Consumed Animal Friendship Salve: Pheromones 
-Equipped Gloves of Caerus: 3 LD
-Used Ghost Treat
-Used Blackbirds: Familiar's Sight [+2 LD]

ID: 137736
LD: 7+8=15, Success

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia puffed out her chest, her red capelet waving in the air behind her. She looked over to Pacco, who was on her shoulder and frowned. “Can you at least look a little bit excited to help me?” She whined, her demeanor sagging as she rolled her eyes. “You can be such an old grandpa sometimes. You remind me of my father,” she drawled, wrinkling her nose at the bird before she shook her head.

“Gah, whatever, let’s just go,” she sighed, rubbing the back of her neck as she ventured deeper into the floor’s forest. “Might not look like where you were from but I’m sure there are lots of crows out and about here. Perhaps they wouldn’t be as grumpy as you,” she teased, sticking out her tongue childishly at her. . . bird. “Now that I think about it. The floor I found you on was awfully depressing. There were graveyards everywhere,” she exclaimed, her body shuddering. “Creepy, indeed."

ID: 137740 
CD: 5, Fail

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia stretched her arms above her head as she nodded over to Pacco. “Why don’t you fly up for a second, see if we can find a good space to train and such?” She asked her bird. He almost made it look like she was asking him to kill someone, which she guessed might be an equivalent to a bird. . ?

“Oh, come on, Pacco. Just this once, please?” Cordelia pouted.

As if sighing her familiar’s chest heaved before he raised his wings, eyeing his owner before he took flight. 

Cordelia watched as his retreating figure flew up above the canopy. “Ah, they grow up so fast,” she muttered quietly, laughing to herself as she tilted her head back to the ground. She remembered when she had first gotten Pacco. Of course, he was smaller, but she guessed that was due to the leveling that she had done with him.

ID: 137741
CD: 3, Fail

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia leaned against the tree as she waited for her beloved familiar to return. 

Pacco. She hummed. She was pretty sure he was one of the first quests she had ever done. Who. . . who did she even do that quest with? Cordelia frowned as she tried to remember. She knew that she did it with someone but it had been such a long time she had forgotten who. Whoever it was, she wasn't talking to them anymore, or else she would've remembered. 

Cordelia leaned the back of her neck against the hard bark. Now that she thought about it, she hadn't seen a lot of faces in a while. More than half of Yukiro's squad had disappeared from her life, leaving only Yukiro himself and NIGHT. What happened to the rest of them. . ? She would have to ask one of the two later.

Cordelia chuckled. She remembered when she had first met that group.

ID: 137742
CD: 7, Fail

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia stifled a sigh. She wondered. . . 

The sound of frantic wings flapping and erratic caws caught her attention as she stood up from her spot. "Pacco?" She questioned, her hand reach back for her katana as she traveled to the source of the sound. "Pacco?" She asked again, her voice clearly growing frantic. 

The fluttering of wings stopped, which only made her heart dorp more. "Pacco, I'm coming!" She shouted, propelling herself up onto a large branch before she hopped on to another, and another, and another. "Where are you?" She called, her heartbeat drastically increasing as she started to get even more worried. 

"Please don't be dead, please don't be dead," she whispered, feeling her throat start to swell up with worry. 

Another caw, though much less frantic, echoed through the air. "Pacco?" Cordelia pipped, her head sticking right up as she tried to locate the source once again.

ID: 137743 
CD: 9, Success! 

[Cordelia 0]

"I-- Pacco?" Cordelia stopped dead in her tracks as she looked down. It really just looked like a massive blob of black feathers. 

"Pacco!" She wailed, scooping up the pile of feathers in her hands as she let out a sob. "I'm sorry I didn't come fast enough!" She cried. "Now--now, you're just a pile of feathers!" She sobbed. "I-I, I never got to show you my favorite coffee shop," she said in between hiccups, "and I never got to show you where I first lived. . ." She was crying. Like, a lot. If that wasn't enough to persuade you, she was pretty sure she was starting to soak up the feathers with her tears.

Well, she was crying until she saw a pair of red eyes poke out from the mess of feathers. She let out an ungodly screech as she dropped the pile of feathers on the ground. "What the [censored]!?" 

[Cordelia 0]

And then another one opened, and then another and another. Oh lord have mercy, she felt like she was going to faint right then and there.

"I think I died," Cordelia gasped, her hands travelling back before they met with what felt like a tree. "I died," she said more affirmatively. "Yes, I'm definitely dead. This is hell." She repeated. "This is quite literally hell. A demon has possessed my familiar-- Oh God, I'm in hell," she whispered. 

Cordelia let out another screech as the blob of feathers started to move. "Oh, God. This is the day I'm going to die. This is the day I'm going to die," she repeated, feeling her life flash before eyes. "The demon possessing my familiar is going to kill me and I'm going to die."

Well, she never thought this was the way she was going to go out. She hoped it would be much more. . . exciting, but being executed by a demon didn't sound that bad,

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia eyes widened as the pile of feathers started to separate. 

"Hah?" She asked out loud, clearly bamboozled by whatever what the hell was happening. 

"Pacco?" Cordelia mumbled. "There's two Paccos?" Cordelia held her hand up to her head in confusion. "Maybe I didn't get enough sleep today. Yeah, I'm totally hallucinating. I definitely don't see two copies of her familiars. Yeah, yeah. 

Now the two of them were staring at her. Oh lord, she felt as if she was going to cry. She could barely stand one Pacco staring at her and now there were two? What was she going to do with that?

"I-er. . ." Cordelia crouched down low as she shuffled nervously over to the two birds. They look basically the same. One was a tiny bit smaller than the other but it was barely noticeable. Literally. Two. Paccos. She wasn't sure if she could handle one, let alone two.

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia clasped her hands together in front of her face. "You. . . two, greatly confuse me," she mumbled, sniffing. 

"I-- okay, whoever is Pacco, step up please." Both of them took a hop forward. Cordelia deadpanned. How-- How was she going to tell the difference between the two of them now?! They both answered to the same name, and she was pretty sure both of them shared the same conscious or something like that.

So the question was-- how was she going to tell the difference? Cordelia hummed deep in thought. So they both answered to Pacco. . . she wondered if she could name one of them a different name-- bleh, she was rubbish at naming things. Maybe she'll just let someone else name it for her. 

"So you both share the same mind. . . huh," Cordelia mumbled, sighing to herself. It would be stupid to name them two names, then. It's like naming your brain and body two different names!

[Cordelia 0]

"Well, this just got a whole lot more complicated," Cordelia sighed. "Anyway. . .  Pacco. Let's-- let's just go ahead and go home. I think it would be better trying to figure whatever the hell you are now when we get home," she mumbled, gesturing her head over to her shoulder. 

It was strange having two Paccos on one's shoulder. She felt like a total badass though. Imagine having not one, but two crows on your shoulder! Now that she thought about it, it actually might make her more scary. . . yeah, that wasn't really her intention but she'll take it. That last thing she would want to look like is some kind of reaper, but hey, she can't really just drop kick her familiar to the horizon, can she? She wasn't even aware that one could have multiple familiars. . . but then again, she was pretty sure Pacco was still just one entity. He was just somehow controlling two bodies at once or something.

[Cordelia 0]

She was going to have to dig in to that once she got home. 

Cordelia chuckled to herself. Now that she knew it was Pacco behind two faces, she couldn't help but think that Pacco was even a bird at all. Heck, he might even be a demon. Pulling on the strings of his two puppets that looks like crows. Would they be string puppets? Or like those little hand or sock puppets? Cordelia giggled at her ridiculous thoughts, which sent the four eyes of Pacco at her. "What? You should be glad that I'm thinking of you!" She retorted, shaking her head. It was still weird though. 

"I guess I would have to call you Pacco Pacarro III and IV now." Cordelia laughed silently under her breath. "Alright, so you're going to be number three," Cordelia paused, pointing at the crow on her left shoulder, "and you're going to be number four," she said again, pointing to the one on her right.

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia collapsed back on to her bed with a heave. Both Paccos fluttering off of her shoulder and onto the bedpost quietly as she planted her face into the the pillows of her really soft bed. "What are we going to do, Pacco?" She said, her voice muffled by the fabric. "How am I going to explain this to half of the people who already know you?" She asked, tilting her head to frown at the birds. "They're going to think I'm some kind of nutjob or something like that!" 

She didn't want to look like a complete idiot around people! The girl turned over to her backside. "Well, what do you think Pacco? Should we just shrug it off and explain it like a normal person would?" She asked, letting out a wry laugh. "No matter how long I stay in this world and no matter how much I like it, it will never cease to confuse me."

[Cordelia 0]

Her nails drummed against the wooden bedpost. "My mind is just going blank right now," she exclaimed, biting her lip in frustration. What was she going to do? What was she going to do? Not just with Pacco. What was she going to do in general? 

She was bored! What was she going to do now? She was pretty sure Oscar was off and about either preparing buffs in his shop or off grinding levels for the raid boss. Maybe she should go and do that or something! 

"But I'm lazy!" She drawled, face planting back into the pillows with a groan. Maybe it was just one of those days? She's rarely ever had days like this before. She was always out and about doing whatever she can to get stronger but. . . she just felt like a big ol' blob of jell-o that didn't want to go anywhere, well, anywhere but her bed.

[Cordelia 0]

"I need a cup of coffee!" She said immediately. Yes. She needed it to get out of whatever state she was in! Now that she thought about it, it's been ages since she's actually drank coffee. She's been so busy in the mornings that she rarely ever had time to ever get a cup made for herself. . . she supposed that was something that might be for the better. It was an unhealthy obsession. . . but it couldn't hurt to have a cup of it now, right? Just for the sake of it? 

"Alright, it's settled. We're going to go get coffee! Maybe a bit of cake or something too!" Cordelia exclaimed, untangling her legs from the sheets as she bounded up straight. "No time to waste, Pacco!" She said, gesturing to her shoulder at the two birds before they hopped on oh-so-quickly. "You just detest me don't you," she muttered, giving them a frown before she shook her head. "No matter, let's go!"

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia sniffed as she took a sip of her coffee. "It doesn't taste the same. . . but it's still good," Cordelia mumbled, shaking her head. 

"How are you doing over there. . . Pacco?" Cordelia asked, watching as her familiars pecked away at a few crackers. She sighed. Ever since Oscar had served him that plate of crackers, it was the only thing he would eat. She wasn't totally against it, but his diet was basically just dry wheat. Dry, salty wheat.

"I guess you're enjoying it?" She muttered, phrasing it more like a question than an actual statement. 

She groaned, leaning back into her seat with a frown. "This isn't really helping. Maybe a tad bit, but it still isn't helping!" She exclaimed loudly, attracting a few glances in the cafe. She grumbled under her breath as she stirred that one tiny spoon around in her drink. "Well, what do you suggest we do Pacco?" She asked, tilting her head. 

[Cordelia 0]

"I can't drink coffee for the rest of the day," she exclaimed, running her hands down her face as she sighed in exasperation.

At least she'll be already ready for the floor boss after she trains Pacco. Well, she'll have to get a couple of new things including gear but other than that, she was all set for the next floor boss!

God, the floor boss, huh? She wasn’t even there for the last floor boss. Heck, she was still a tier one player on the last floor boss! How she had managed to climb her way all the up here was still remarkable to her. It had only been a few months since the last boss was cleared and yet they were already on their way to making it to a checkpoint vital in the clearing of Aincrad. . . almost three years. Or four? She can't remember. . . 

[Cordelia 0]

It had been two to four years since the game had started. . . and they weren’t even halfway there? They were less than a quarter done, how were they going to finish the game? How long will it take at the pace they were going at? Five years? A decade? Longer than that? How long would it be before her real life body would start giving up on her? Before everyone’s real life body starts giving up on them?

Was she dying? At this very moment? Her body was already unhealthily underweight before this. . . how was it doing now? Cordelia sucked in a sharp breath. She was barely above the hundred pound mark when she first came here. She must be less than that. A dozen or two pounds, at least. . . Cordelia shivered. She wondered how much time she had left before her internal organs would start failing. 

[Cordelia 0]

How would she die in this game if that happened? Would she just suddenly be gone in a snap? Or would she feel the effects of it in here, too? The girl frowned. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. She was in a time where she was happier than she had ever been. No need to be spoiling it with thoughts about her inevitable death. . . all she hoped was that this dream like reality would last forever.

Cordelia chuckled bitterly to herself. What was her life coming to? She needed to push these depressing thoughts away! She couldn't think like this just yet! She had to make it to the front lines! She had to be stronger. Not like this. 

No! She wasn't going to be depressed before the floor boss raid! She refused to do so! She had to be strong not just for her but for everybody else, too!

[Cordelia 0]

Cordelia yawned. Whatever. She was honestly too pooped to even care at the moment. "Alright, Pacco," she huffed, standing from her seat before she let out another yawn. "Let's go ahead and go home. I don't know how much longer I can stay here without passing out," she sniffed, gesturing her head to her familiar before the two grudgingly hopped on her shoulder.

"Oh, hush. You're getting a free ride. I don't get why you're always so angry to get on my shoulder. Like, I'm practically a walking taxi for you!" She exclaimed under her breath, pushing open the door of the cafe. 

Cordelia groaned silently as she shook her head. Pacco had always confused her. He was perfectly normal before, but he's just been getting more and more like an old man for the past few months. She had no idea what had sparked this new personality but it wasn't exactly the greatest thing ever.

[Cordelia 0]

As they walked to the house, Cordelia couldn't help but feel a tad bit concerned for her new familiar. Would he be even more grouchier now that he was actually helping her deal damage? She sure hoped not. He was already angry and grouchy as is! She didn't need him to be even more snappy with her! Or else she was going to have to straighten him up. Is there some kind of familiar training center in Aincrad? Maybe she could even send him there in hopes of teaching him to behave better!

Although, she serious doubted there was one. Who wanted to take care of a bunch of wild animals? Not to mention most of them were animals that didn't even exist naturally in the real world. Elemental cats-- three headed dogs, fish that swim in the air? No sir, she did not want to be the type of person to be taking care of those kinds of animals. Not any day.

SUMMARY:

-2 SP [SP EVENT/THREAD]
-400 Col