[F22-PP] Behind the Scenes

[Eruda 0]

Eruda wakes early, at first forgetting where she lay. A new bed, just bought purple and red sheets. Light purple walls, soft black carpet. Raidou's house that was now something that they shared. Eruda gets up from her bed now and glances around one more time before gathering her things needed for the day. She was going to the guild hall today. It has been a while, and she was sure that Raidou had collected more information. Walking out of her room now she heads through the living room, Raserei found rest on the new love seat that was still wrapped in plastic. Eruda had done a bit of shopping and she would need to get it situated, she hoped that Raidou would like what she bought. It wasn't much, but enough to make it look like someone lived here. Dishes, white plates and teacups still in the box they came in. Some food for the fridge, and the tea that Raidou drank. She hoped she could allow Rai that comfort to be in his own home too so that it didn't feel so empty...

Raserei follows Eruda out the door as she locks the door and heads to floor 22 where the Guild Hall was placed. She brought a few carrot sticks with her as she opens the door and sits in her spot at the table. She began to look through each sheet of paper while munching on the carrots. Raserei goes sniffing around the building...

Eruda | HP: 760/760 | EN: 88/88 | DMG: 6 | MIT: 147 | BH: 38 | BRN: 56 | REC: 4 | TAUNT | THRNS: 72

Spoiler

Eruda, The Rising Phoenix
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 20
HP: 760/760
EN: 88/88

Stats:
Damage: 6
Mitigation: 147
Battle Healing: 38
BRN: 56
REC: 4
TAUNT
THRNS: 72

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Consuming Pyre - Surt T4: (Burn 2, Taunt)
Armor: Reinforced Plate - Lily T4: Damage Mitigation 3 (+72 Mitigation)
Misc: Stalwart Defender T4: (Thorns 2, Recovery 1)

Skills:
1HCS R5
Heavy Armor R5
Battle Healing R5
Fighting Spirit
Howl

Active Mods:
Iron Skin
Rampart

Active Extra Skills:
Block R5
Concentration

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystal:
Ebon Tether - Beauty (+3 Loot Dice):

 

[Ruri 0]

The soft rustle of paper on a tabletop littered with different size bottles and vials. Inside a book that the bluenette was staring intently at images colored haphazardly with what looked like colored pencils, handwritten notes littered about near the descriptions as to what each was usable in. Soft crunch of some cereal the girl was chewing on, trying to wrap her head around all this math. It really was the most complicated damn profession, just math and numbers: Measurements, types and specific heat. Her head was still spinning, trying to get a handle on it all.

Her guide was out and about on his own affairs, which was common place. In the times she was left to her own devices, although this was complex, it was something she could grasp and work on and begin to understand. The world, not so much. It was early, quiet, and she was left alone to think. Still a bit uncomfortable, still a bit angry, but she was working on it. Another spoonful into her mouth, twirling the spoon and sticking it on her tongue as she fiddled with a couple plants left by Raidou for her to mess with. Staring at them with intention, huffing them and moving the leaves around.

Ruri | HP: 660/660 | EN: 84/84 | DMG: 13

Spoiler

Ruri, The Blue Bolt
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 13
HP: 660/660
EN: 84/84

Stats:
Damage: 13

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Anneal Blade [T1/Vanity/Katana]
Armor:
Misc:

 

[Eruda 0]

Eruda was knee deep in some new information. Notes and scribbles on the updated Earning a living that they just did together. New info on the Monkey King quest, and Natures Treasure and a new field boss found on floor 8. A few new environment changes as well. "Wow" Eruda says softly as she scans over each print. 

Raserei sniffing around on the floor around the hall doing her own thing. The wolf's ears perk up as she hears something around the corner. Peering into Raidou lab, she sees a new face... With a huff and a turn of her head, looking at the figure that was not Rai... Raserei gives a small coo to alarm Eruda that they were not alone, "What," Eruda calls out from the main area. After a moment Eruda walks around the corner to see what her wolf wanted, eyes on a sheet of paper she had in her grasp,  as she looks slightly up seeing a blue haired girl that looked a lot like Haine... A previous conversation recalls a name, "Ruri right?" Eruda leans against the door frame with a smile, one of her hands against Raserei's head to keep her calm...    

[Ruri 0]

A twist of her head as she'd been sussed out and found by a small thing that howls softly. "Yeah, what's it to you?" Ruri attempts to dismiss this recent addition into her studies. Her head abuzz with how the hell this person just knew her name, but trying to play it cool. Intensely staring into the paper and feigning like she was busy. Maybe if I ignore her, she'll go away. A bundle of nerves still, It hadn't ever dawned on her that someone would hear her or that someone would be in the hall so bright and early. A few hurried flips of the book finds her lock onto a page at random and peel the herb that matched the picture up, sliding behind the glassware like wall she disappears behind it, and you can hear a burner alight. Be busy, look busy. She starts to move vials and the like around, turning around and getting on her tip toes to reach a dropper and jar with some golden mixture in it.

[Eruda 0]

The girl was on edge like Raidou said. It was fine, she just need time. "Eruda, I didn't mean to alarm you. I am Raidou's..." she pauses for a moment. What does she call Raidou... He was too much to call just a friend, but where they at that point to call each other something else... "I am a really close friend..." she says in almost a question as she was unsure what to call him right now. "I am here every morning besides recently, I won't be a bother." Eruda looks over Ruri one more time before turning back to the hallway. Without turning she said, "I am glad you have someone like Raidou, I don't know what I would have done without him..." Taking a deep breath as she meant every word. He believed in Eruda when no one else would. Rai was a really unique type of person and she knew that he would help Ruri in the way that she needed... She walks to the kitchen and starts to brew some coffee, she would need it if she intended to rearrange what she bought today...

Raserei sits by the door and gives a small whine. Stepping a few feet into the corner of the room, curls into a ball and falls asleep...

Edited July 5, 2021 by Eruda

[Ruri 0]

The bubbling and boiling finds liquid beginning to pour into a jar, a faint reddish hue in what looked like Kool-Aid. Ruri was doing her best, and it seemed a bit runny. Into a bath of ice, to help it cool, she sees it flare blue for a second before the mixture turns completely black. Her haste had made the crap completely fail. Her mind just wasn't in the right headspace to be brewing potions with this sudden addition to the lab. Damn it... Eying the thing with some light shining through it with one of the candle like lights on the wall. She notices the sudden lack of the girl eyeballing her. "So she knows Raidou, kinda figures given this is like his building and crap." Her eyes advance to the roof, leaving the black ink in a bottle to spin down a drain.

What would she have done without him...

Folding her arms around her chest, she knew the answer, and it wasn't pretty. That feeling as if she was going to get consumed by time again punching needle size holes into her skin. A bit of tears welling in her eyes, lost and forgotten. Rubbing her eyes with her sleeve, "Right, back to brewing potions." A simple distraction, one thing at a time to focus on.

Edited July 5, 2021 by Ruri

[Eruda 0]

Taking a glass from the pantry, biting her bottom lip, and bringing another glass down. Eruda didn't know if Ruri liked coffee, but if she knew anything, simple actions, and time were key. No words would make Ruri look a second glance at her, but maybe showing she cared even in the slightest might. Pouring some coffee in each cup she blends a bit of Vanilla into it. Taking a sip of her own making sure it was fine, she walks back into Rai's lab and sets the coffee cup on the corner of the table. She walks past Raserei saying "Come girl," as she walks out and sits back into her chair with her knees to her chest. Shifting through a few more pages as the wolf lays next to Eruda's feet now. Taking a deep breath and looking back to the room where the girl sat on the other side of the wall, she remembered how it felt to be alone, not wanted. She felt at one point in time to want to end that feeling. This game was her last resort...  

[Ruri 0]

The faint smell of a cup of coffee, a whiff of the stuff over the smell of chemicals. Unfolding her arms and leaning around the glassware, and spotting the platter. Her eyes dart to the girl folded up, who was obviously trying to make 'peace'. What does she even care, she hardly knows me!? The words rang through her head, looking with disdain at the Joe in the cup. She has no idea what I've been through, and now she just expects me to be all 'buddy buddy' with her because she made me... Her eyes advance back to the cup and soften a bit. You can faintly hear the cup move, but instead of drinking it, she just stares daggers at it, unsure how to take it. That welling feeling of abandonment, of isolation as she punched vision clear through it with a bit of spite. Shutting her eyes and seeing visions of the dark, she sits next to it and begins to make waterworks again. I need you now. Where are you?

[Eruda 0]

The old thoughts start to seep in. From everything that she had heard about Ruri, from Haine, about her moving on when her sister was literally lost inside herself. Thinking that the one person that you thought would care the most, couldn't because they were unsure how. The thought of being alone and not wanted by anyone around you. Freya stopped caring about her until this game happened and all Eruda could ever do was care, and worry about her twin... Freya couldn't show the same to her... She remembered what if felt like to be alone in such a big world... She would not let another share that same fate. That person that she tried so hard to be, started to come out now. 

Getting up from her seat now she walks into the room and sees the tears... "You do not know me and I do not know you, but I have been where you are." Her chest starts to tense, but she says, "I was hated for not talking and my twin sister did not give a dam about me when I needed her the most... My mother used me after running my father out and I was completely and utterly alone for as long as I could remember." Eruda pauses for a moment before saying, "I will not... No, I refuse for another human being to go through what I did, so whether you like it or not Ruri you will have Raidou and me behind you no matter what." It might have been a bit much, but everything she said was the truth. She could not just sit behind the scenes any longer... 

[Ruri 0]

"You don't know a damn thing about me." Ruri snaps at the blonde tank, who, despite any attempts at parley, looked like she was going to keep pushing. I was trapped in my own mind for virtually years, with nothing more than sounds of others crying and trying to heal me. Screaming against the darkness, that would never end. Winding up into a ball and sheltering herself from this assailant, who was so insistent on trying to relate with her. "Too damn late, where were you when I was stuck? You act all high and mighty, and think that some righteous self-worth will make everything ok. Get the hell away from me!" The vial shatters and shortly after in her aggressive barking the coffee cup finds the floor as well. Bits of shrapnel explode out and see the brown mass ooze along the floor. A mix of fury and anguish, being alone and being unable to bridge the gap to another. Ruri didn't need this chick to pretend to understand.

[Eruda 0]

And there is was... The explosion that she wanted to see for herself. Taking a deep breath now she walks out of the room to grab something to clean up the mess... Coming back in a moment later she gets to her knees and starts to clean up the mess that Eruda was the cause of... "You ask me where I was. I was helping my sister, she was trapped for years in something similar as you were, but she woke up on her own with Raidou's help, only two months back." Eruda scoops the glass into the tiny can. "You are right, I don't understand..." as she flips the cloth over to absorb more liquid. Regardless of how angry Ruri got, her rage out and yelling, Eruda stays completely calm. "I don't understand, but I would like to." Freya came back too with a huge anger attached to her. Something that she had never seen before. Cleaning up the remaining shards of glass, she stands up and wipes down the small amount of dark content off the counter. "Regardless of what you want to believe Ruri, you will never be alone again..." Walking to the kitchen now she rings out the glass towelette under running water. She can feel the tiny shards against her hands as her health goes down slightly before rising back to full. Eruda comes back with a plastic cup this time, water inside, setting it on the counter for Ruri.  

[Ruri 0]

Sliding out of view and pressing her back to a wall, she slides down and clutches her head. "Just stop talking." Ruri bellows out from the wall she had shielded herself behind, trying to push this girl away. Apparently, she didn't know when to quit. Burying her head in folded arms, draped across her knees, pressed as close as she could muster against her chest. To her pocket she pulls out a vial of some bright green liquid, a preventative and restorative the same. The same liquid that she was given when she woke up, the one that tasted like total ass. The bluenette cradles it and holds it close like some prized gift, as if it was playing the part of a person. She couldn't handle this, and it was this little object that offered her solace, the very antidote that was given to her the same as the last. A small piece of the guy that did it, something to cling to when things got difficult. Her eyes dance it, as her thumbs slide against the smooth glass.

[Eruda 0]

Eruda walks out the doorway and pushes her back against the wall. Sliding to the ground now, she crosses her legs. Ruri was in a tough spot and she knew that, Eruda wanted to help but she was not sure how. Leaning her head against the wall she just sits there for a while. An hour passes as she just sits there staring at the staircase. Silence was echoing to deaf ears, but Eruda wasn't going to leave, she meant what she said. She may be the cause of the outbreak and it may make things worse, but everything gets harder before it starts to get better. 

"Haine came to me after you two faught. I assume that somehow you ended up with Rai after or you wouldn't be in his lab..." This was all she said before she let silence hit the walls again. Haine was so broken up about the topic, she remembers how she fell asleep in Eruda's lap after not being able to sleep on her own. Raserei scoots past Eruda without notice and walks up to Ruri. She just lies there next to her with the head across her paws...  

[Ruri 0]

A small ding of her HUD showed it was time again for her to drink it, and dismissing the alarm, she pulls the cork out and takes a swig of the stuff. Her tongue immediately pops out, it tasted like soap. Building a little wall up around herself as she kept in a close-knit ball. "Haine forgot about me..." one can hear just a murmur of the words from behind the corner. Her voice carries a bit, given the place was so...empty "Go away. I don't need you to baby me." she becomes immediately abrasive at the mention of her sister and Raidou. "When are you going to get it through that thick head of yours. I don't want to talk. Leave me alone." she shrinks even further at the sight of the girl's familiar closing in. "I don't need you, I don't need anyone. They certainly didn't need me, care about me." Another vocal outburst that threatens to shake the building's very foundation. Save one...

[Eruda 0]

Eruda did not know Haine or Ruri back in the day when this hell first started. "No one deserves to be alone..." Thinking back to Haine's conversation, Eruda had made a connection to something about what she was told. "You would not be here walking around if Raidou didn't care about you. I heard what he did for you..." feeding her bottle after bottle till he got it right... He kept fighting for Ruri even when the chances were slim to none. This in its own way proved he cared for her. The baby comment confused her a bit... "There is a big difference in needing comfort and being babied." Freya at some points in her life acted like a child so no one took her seriously. "I care for you for one reason... You are a human being in this world of death. I live to protect everyone that deserves it. Putting myself on the line so others don't have to. Keeping you and everyone in this guild safe, I will not allow you to say that no one cares about you because it is simply not true." Eruda wasn't going to give up. Ruri had thoughts in her head that were not going to let up. "If I knew you existed..." it was sad to say, but she only just found out about her a month ago... She would show Ruri somehow that she was not alone... 

[Ruri 0]

A clutch of her head with both hands, a soft murmur that built in volume with each successive continuation. "Shut up..." Twisting toward the door frame with an increase "Shut up!" Leaning just a bit, she bellows "SHUT UP!" she binds her hands to the side of her temples, becoming so overwhelmed she was internally screaming. Ruri couldn't take this, this constant badgering by the blonde. She felt cornered, trapped in here like an animal. Trying to push herself onto Ruri had only made her more and more locked up and frightened. Fumbling around in her inventory, for something, anything. She heaves the glass bottle against the wall with enough force to see it explode like a hand grenade. I have to have something... Ripping through what little items she had, some untouched for what felt like eons. I need to escape, I need to get out of here. Anywhere else would be better.

[Lium 1]

Hearing this entire conversation unwillingly, Lium opens the bedroom door and peers around the corner standing at the top of the stair case staring down. "I think you should leave now..." in a very serious voice. He brushes his hair out of his face with his hand. Eruda gets to her feet and looks up to this new person... "I mean you no disrespect and I say this in the nicest way possible, leave before you make things worse..." Eruda glances down at the ground for a moment before heading to the door now. "Smart," he just says as Eruda walks out the door and closes it. Lium slowly walks down the stairs now with a yawn. There was another female in the building, but he didn't know this till that whole debacle. Sam suggested this place to sleep so he did. Sam also mentioned a few people in charge and Eruda seemed to be that blonde... Damn, she is pushy. 

Walking to the kitchen now, he looks to the black coffee that was made... "Meh," he says as he pulls a white coffee powder in a jar out. Taking a paper cup he dumps out the black grossness and fills it with white coffee. Taking another paper cup out for the other girl, he makes a fine made mixture of hot white coffee with white chocolate interior as the base flavor. Walking into the room with both coffee's now he looks for the girl that was yelling and after a moment finds a small girl in a ball in the corner, trying to hide... While holding both coffee's up in the air like a defense mechanism he says "I come in peace, I promise..." as he slowly walks to the girl and sets the cup beside her. "White coffee, white chocolate. It tastes amazing," giving her a small smile as he backs away slowly. 

Glancing to the vials and herbs littered on this table top. The notes on this paper, they were so extreme looking for most eyes, but he understood every number marked. It looked like a basic healing potion formula. Another for some form of antidote for a poison. He then sees a small bottle of black ooze. He takes a sip of his coffee with a sigh... This was something that he dobbled with back in the world of the living. With no words he takes out a few herbs of his own and attempts to put together a potion with some issues, it was way different from back home. He sets it to the edge of the table so that the girl could see what was created. A dark green liquid with a dark specks in it. Still no words, he really rather not speak because he had so much anger toward the found evils in the world and it was all that he thought about since being free from his own hell. He needed to distract himself, to not go after those known people until he was ready... He needed to calm his nerves inside... This was a great way to do so, that and his favorite coffee blend. 

Hikkato | HP: 20/20 | EN: 20/20 | DMG: 4

Spoiler

Hikkato,
Level: 1
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 20/20
EN: 20/20

Stats:
Damage: 4

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: 2-Handed Assault Spear
Armor: Black Robe
Misc:

Skills:
2HAS R1

Battle Ready Inventory:
Starter Healing Potions (Heals 50 HP): 3

 

Edited July 6, 2021 by Lium

[Celeste 1]

A sharp bark from the door as she casts an extended thumb toward the guild hall door. "Whose that?" the woman exhumed rather quickly toward Lium, soft claps of boots against the redwood floor. "Morning asshole." she eyeballs the fellow and shoving him as about as hard as he can handle. Tossing a heavy looking cleaver over her right shoulder. "You done yet? we got places to be. We got to beat your ass into shape somehow." Celeste remarks before eying the sobbing blue puddle of emotion in the corner. "Friend of yours?" she asked loosely because frankly she didn't really give a shit.

She didn't have time to him to dawdle around like he liked to, the guy was always so fancied on taking his sweet ass time in the mornings. "Hurry your ass up, theres a wave of spiders popping up in Nemo's cavern. I want that loot and if you make me miss out on it so help me. I'll get that coin out of your ass like a pinata." The guild hall door slams shortly after, the redhead would wait. But not for long, and there would hell to pay if she did.

Celeste | HP: 580/580 | EN: 76/76 | DMG: 26 | ACC: 1

Spoiler

Celeste, The Crimson Tide
Level: 29
Paragon Level: 0
HP: 580/580
EN: 76/76

Stats:
Damage: 26
Accuracy: 1

Equipped Gear:
Weapon:
Armor:
Misc:

Skills:
War Hammer R5
Light Armor R3
Charge
Extended Mod Limit

Active Mods:
Ferocity
Precision
Athletics
Surprise Attack (Assassin)
Stamina
Vanish

Active Extra Skills:
Hiding R5

 

[Lium 1]

Liums eyes dart to the familiar clank against echoing heels. A chuckle was given as the front door slams shut. Soft eyes glance to the female in the corner. "Speaking of pushy, duty calls." His hand slides across the table. "Keep at it, you will get it soon enough." A small smile toward this blue haired girl before rushing to the kitchen and making another cup of the white coffee. Leaving the one on the floor next to the girl, he walks out the doors with two steaming cups. "Yea, don't get your panties all bunched up, coffee?" Was heard before the door shuts behind him. Cel was a good change of pace from Sam. It was sorta weird though, because all that time that he spend with Samantha, it really didn't pay off in the long run... This red head was pushy and fast, but equally sexy. He would keep that to himself though...

Edited July 6, 2021 by Lium

[Ruri 0]

Fiddling a crystal she had found, transposing out a message rather quickly, and it was but a simple few words. Even more people, more that didn't understand at all and persisted on trying to appease her or make her feel better about what happened. How could she? It was terrible, and she had nightmares about it still. The act of closing her eyes felt like it could last forever. It was worse than pain, the mental scarring that occurred drastically outweighed the missing momentary glimpse that would fade quickly. This lasted longer.

Find me...

She shrinks up as Lium gets way too close for comfort, being pushed even further. Keeping her distance as best as she could, averting her gaze and shielding herself from all these voices, ignoring them all. As soon as the guy left she eyed the potion that he'd made, messing up her hard work with his attempts to relate with her. A flash of blue light as the necklace she had been given is triggered and sends her down quite a few floors. Floor 7, she'd been shown this by Raidou and remembered it quite well. Finding the field they had rested upon near a large lake, she sat in silence with her legs close against a tree. Waiting for the answer to the message she had sent, for him to show up.

"Son of a Bitch!"

The loud decree from the water's edge shows some dude basically screaming at the water before diving in. She pauses and wipes her eyes for a moment, adverting her gaze from being caught staring. Slinking out dripping he stands there eying the lake virtually unaware of the girl sitting and watching.

"God, damn it."

Ruri perks up again, a bit angry at the loud outbursts. "Would you shut up, I am trying to relax." the guy pivots, tilting his head off to one side with a raised eyebrow. "And I am trying to fish, go relax somewhere else." His sight immediately leaps back to the lake. "You suck at it." she grumbles, and his ears perk up. "Like you could do any better." Pissed she stands up and rushes next to the dude, plucking a fishing pole off the dock. "Better than you." Another tossed spear into the water, before he yanks a rope and pulls it back out. A bit of her nerves welling up, not to sure what the hell it was she had just gotten herself into. Stealing glances at the guy, having not a clue who he was, he didn't seem to be even paying attention. She sighs before the bobber sinks into the waves. Her disposition shifts immediately to fright. "Woah there." he reaches and grabs the rod before it yanks her ass under the water. "You were almost fish food." she bites her lip "Shut up and keep fishing." as a trout flounders on the line. A soft smile as she eyed what she had done.

A pair of glasses removed, a smile that mirrored it. The wanderer wasn't needed here just yet.

Thread Closure:
Eruda:
4*200=800*1.03=824 EXP
Ruri:
4*200=800*1.03=824 EXP
Simmone:
(824*.1=82*2=164+400=564 Col)

Edited July 6, 2021 by Ruri