[F1-PP] That Damn weapon...

[Freya 0]

After that dragon was laid to rest, Freyja went home to sleep. After a couple hours she wakes up sweating... "What the fuck.." as she touches her forehead with a hand. That memory that she had gotten back from Tuatha, it was... Freyja didn't know what to think about it. She just knew that she had to find that weapon that was being used. It was clear that she needed it. I was a powerful source and it would do her some good in the Raid coming sooner rather than later... Walking outside now, Ko yawns and follows behind her. "You don't need to come. You can just stay and sleep." Ko just gives her a big -HUFF- in response and walks past her out the door. "Okay then," Freyja shrugs and began to head toward the warp gate. 

Arriving at Floor 1, a bright light illuminates the night sky. Freyja had just gotten a new skill for this particular task. Closing her eyes she began to focus on what she wanted to find... She had some clue as to where that cave she was found in but it was a very long time. Closing her eyes tighter, nothing happens. "Damn it," she says in a whiny voice with a small yawn. Opening her HUD as she sends a message, 

To: Freyd From: Freya Freydo I need your help, I think my tracking skill is broken... Or is that me... Freeeyd help please!!!!

Closing her HUD as it chimes with the message sends. She was unaware of the time, she just knew that she had to find that weapon and quick... If she could ever figure out how that damn tracking skill worked. Sitting on the ground now, blocking the entrance to the outside gates for floor one staring out into the moonlight sky, waiting for a response, if there was ever going to be one.

Freya | HP: 740/740 | EN: 112/112 | DMG: 23 | MIT: 20 | EVA: 3 | ACC: 4 | LD: 6 | AA | BLD: 48 | PHASE | REC: 4 | V.O.: 81

Spoiler

Freya,
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 31
HP: 740/740
EN: 112/112

Stats:
Damage: 23
Mitigation: 20
Evasion: 3
Accuracy: 4
Loot Dice: 6
AA
BLD: 48
PHASE
REC: 4
V.O.: 81

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Final Calamity - Remorse (T4/Demonic/2HBA): Absolute Accuracy, Vampiric Offensive 1, Bleed 1, Phase
Armor: Dark Embrace - Sacrifice (T4/Perfect/Light Armor): Evasion 2, Recovery 1
Misc: Ebon Band - Truth (Tierless/Perfect/Trinket): Accuracy 3

Custom Skill:


Skills:
Axe R5
Cloth Armor R5
Charge
Energist
Searching R5

Active Mods:
Athletics
Tracking
Night Vision

Inactive Mods:

Addons:
Nimble
Stamina
Precision
Ferocity

Active Extra Skills:
Concentration
Survival

Inactive Extra Skills:

Battle Ready Inventory:
ITEM x1

Housing Buffs:
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Tasty: Turn 2 identical food items into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Advanced Training: +10% Exp to a thread. Limit one use per month [1/1]

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Edited November 13, 2021 by Freya

[Freyd 0]

Freyd burst through the open portal, staff in hand and blazing with power, ready to smite whatever was... 

Nothing.  There was nothing going on.  Everything in the Town of Beginnings was perfectly normal.  Too normal?  Nope.  Just normal normal.  Standing down from his stance, the Whisper stowed whatever half-considered world-ending maneuver he'd just been about to try an unleash, not quite sure how he was actually going to pull it off.  At least he could stow that particular problem, for the time being.  Figuring out how to nuke a safe zone might eventually be helpful though, so the idea was filed rather than deleted. 

Finding Freya pacing frantically back and forth by the main gate, Freyd first offered Marv a quick glance and nod.  Marv stoically refused to acknowledge him in return. 

"Good man," Freyd said to himself.  "Never change, Marv.  We need you where you are, doing whatever it is that you do."

Turning his attention back to his friend, the Whisper cleared his throat and tilted his head, wondering where this was going.

"Please tell me you didn't just lose your favourite boar tusk, or something.  I swear, I might actually lose my shit if I have to kill any more of those things."

***

Freyd | HP: 1000/1000 | EN: 134/134 | DMG: 24 | MIT: 78 | ACC: 5 | BH: 55 | LD: 5 | FLN: 16 | HLY: 16 | PARA IMMUNE | REC: 8

Spoiler

Freyd, Firm Anima O&I Captain
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 87
HP: 1000/1000
EN: 134/134

Stats:
Damage: 24
Mitigation: 78
Accuracy: 5
Battle Healing: 55
Loot Dice: 5
FLN: 16
HLY: 16
PARA IMMUNE
REC: 8

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Samael's Pride (T4 Hammer | Holy 2 | Fallen 2)
Armor: Fallen Angel Garb (T4 LA | Mit 2 | Rec 2)
Misc: The Shadowed Rose (T3 Trinket - ACC 3 | Para Imm)

Custom Skill:


Skills:
Hammer R5
Battle Healing R5
Light Armor R5
Searching R4
Charge
Energist
Quick Change

Active Mods:
Night Vision
Tracking
Meticulous
Untraceable

Inactive Mods:

Addons:
Ferocity
Precision
Resolve
Reveal
Stamina

Active Extra Skills:
Survival
Meditation
Forgotten King’s Authority
Hiding R2

Inactive Extra Skills:
Disguise
Brawler
Photosynthesize

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystals x7
Mass HP Rec [Inst] (+30*T HP) x7
Mass HP Rec [Inst] (+30*T HP) x7
Crystal of Divine Light (Reusable) x1
Rhino's Horn (Reusable) x1
Hmr.Pk: The Thing Behind All Lies (T4 Demonic WH, AA, Blight, Static, Para.Ven (Off)) x1

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Delicious: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Skylight (Searching): +1 Rank to the Searching skill.
Angler: +1 material gained when fishing
Advanced Training: +10% Exp to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
Decor [Potted Tanabata Bamboo Tree]: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild:
Kumatetsu Statue: +1 Base Damage for a thread

Wedding Ring:

 

[Freya 0]

Freyja chuckles while shaking her head. "Really I would rather yeet those boars off to their endless doom before I did that quest again," nudging Freyd's leg playfully with an elbow. "So long story short, I passed out that day with the mirror thing because Tuatha was showing me memories that he kept suppressed from my mind to keep me safe." Freyd already knew that she was gaining memories back in portions but that day was the last big whammy. Getting to her feet now as she  pats dirt off her ass. "I was held captive, but was not trapped in a cage for a little over a year. That you knew..." She takes Freyds arm and pulls him out into the field. She would really rather not have people staring at her while she spoke of something so weird and maybe a bit too spooky for little ones ears. "I was paralyzed with fear and felt helpless, felt like I couldn't move forward in the position that I was forced into. I black out, like one that would do so if you drank too much in the other world. Somewhere in between me being captured and that cage, Tuatha showed up, but I was not mentally aware until this point when he showed me what really happened while I was in there." Freyja knew this was a lot to take in but she promised that she would tell Freyd everything the moment shit got real so here she was.

Latching an arm around his while they walked as she continued, "I fell into a state where I could no longer function without help, that is where Tuatha came into play. Finding myself in a corner of this cave, trapped still, I was being hunted. Freyd..." she stops and turns to Freyd now standing in front of him, now being a safe distance from the beginning town. Pulling her arm away from his now as she looks to the ground, moving her hand in her view staring at it as she continues, "I went into an auto pilot state and murdered hundreds upon hundreds of orange players, maybe more, I was not keeping track but I was down there for more than a year, so you can imagine on calculations how much that body count would have been." She looked up to Freyd at this point as he was just standing there with an almost blank expression painted across his face. "After Tuatha felt like I was safe and only then, did I come into reality and all memories from that time and everything in this game was gone. Freyd he kept me alive, if it wasn't for him, I would surely be toasted crumbs floating off to nothingness." 

She let that sink in for a moment as she sat on the ground now crisscrossing her legs together. "Tuatha created a scythe to help with this endeavor that he so graciously helped with. I think that it might have been his, because I do not have it. I took the tracking skill after this memory in hopes of finding it." Glancing up at him now who was staring down at her. "I have seen you watching me Freyd and I have a feeling that Tuatha had something to do with this weird notion that I realized almost intently in your lack of reactions toward me." Her eyes go to the ground that she sat on. "If you are willing to still help me, I want to know how this tracking skill works so that I can get that scythe, his Scythe, back in my hands." She starts to draw something in the loose dirt waiting for him to say something... Anything... "I hope that you don't see me any differently..." Normally she didn't give a damn what others thought about her, but when it came to family or Freyd, she didn't want to be cast out. Freyd was the only person that she told this and she was really hoping that her best friend was still on her side... 

[Freyd 0]

"You are not the only one who saw something in that mirror, or felt it since."

Freyd's tone was soft and quiet, typical for a Whisper, yet revealed nothing about his intentions or any change in his perspective at her news.  His eyes, brilliant, steely blue carried their default intensity as they watched her manage through the words and the emotions that came with them.  When she was done, his gaze traveled back the way they came, staring at the massive city on the near horizon, thinking in silence.

"You have always defined yourself by your past, and by Tuatha's influence over it."  He remembered his own steely eyes looking back at him in the mirror.  Freyd's struggle was different, yet shared enough in common for him to understand some of what Freya was struggling with.  A twitch of the lips meant a decision made.  It never took him long to choose a path.  But that didn't mean he always chose the short and easy route, as was the present case.  Closing his eyes, he mentally reconfirmed a series of previous connections made, and still maintained.  Whereas Freya struggled to process the basics of the skill, Freyd had been at it for awhile.  Each player did so differently.  For Hirru, it was a field of green washing over his eyes as he viewed his quarry's trail.  Apt to the Jade Hunter.  Raidou had once described it as a sonar blip on a three dimension grid.  Also apropos, given the Wanderer's strategic mind.  For his part, Freyd walked in the shadows of the world.  He viewed things through their negative: that which followed them and  was the echo they left behind.  He followed them through time, as much as space.  In that regard, Freya's trail and signature was nearly unique, and part of a puzzle that he was still working to resolve.

"Come with me."  

The demand was adamant, without any implication of choice without direst consequences, but the words carried a hint of sorrow and regret.  Freyd strode purposefully back towards town, stopping after only a few paces.  Slowly, he turned and offered her his hand in support.

"Please.  Come with me.  There is something you need to see before we find this thing."  

He stood, waiting, and Freya could tangibly feel the surreal passage of time around them.  Though surely an illusion, it felt weirdly real, the sensation reinforced as Freyd's shadow slowly crept towards her along the ground.  It was as if he stood between her and a setting sun.  Yet, that blazing sphere remained him above them, unmoved from its usual position.  His mouth and face faded from view, swallowed by the purpose of his cowl, the hand still waiting.  It was an invitation to a sunset, as if sunsets were endings to a day, and days were endings to a time.

Vanity Tag: @Hirru @Raidou

[Freya 0]

Looking up at him, the area around them, although sunset view, was beginning to darken around them. Right before the stars decided to come out and play, which was not yet that time. Something was going on with Freyd, is it what she said? As Freyja stood up she felt like time itself was shifting, slowing down... This was something similar to what she felt with Tuatha in that cave, like time itself had stopped and she was the only one going full speed. Right there she realized that they had a better understanding of one another. Freyd was the only one that knew all of what she was going through. Only two now 3 others knew very little and she felt this bond that somehow could never fade regardless of what had happened. It wasn't love, it was such a weird feeling, hell all of this was weird as fuck, but she stands. "Sure, I'm all for the crazy. Show me..." as she takes Freyd's hand, they begin to walk into the deepening of these shadows illuminating around them.

[Freyd 0]

If only this was just about 'the crazy.'  Frivolity had no place in the pending moment.  This was going to be hard.

Walking them back into town, Freyd failed even acknowledge Marv's presence as they passed.  He was resolved to an action that could harm his friend, albeit intangibly.  But friends had to be honest with friends, and force them to face the difficult things that they failed to acknowledge themselves.  Passing through the main gates, he led them passed the central plaza and its host of quest boards.  Most of this area was quiet, by this hour.  There were few who still qualified as noob enough to still undertake the starter quests.  Not after so many years.  Some semblance of hope flickered whenever he saw someone dare to come out of the shadows and join the rat race that led to the front lines, as he had so recently done himself.  They were fewer and fewer, a dwindling resource of reinforcements cannibalized from a fixed flock set at the dawn of a cursed, digital age.  

They traveled beyond the teleportation platforms to a wide plaza beyond where the monument stood.  So many names, all listed in chronological order.  Freyd studied its records well, having gleaned several valuable secrets in the process.  Steely eyes lingered over a particular patch where over a hundred had died in one day, all in one place, and every last one of them a PKer.  There was a pattern of such action spread across the stony tableau, but you had to know and actively look for it.  The picture was.. disturbingly elegant, and pointed towards terrible conclusions that he had yet to confront.

At last, his gaze settled on the group in question, dating roughly six months ago.  It was a very long list.  Reaching out with the hand that held hers, Freyd pointed to the place in question, indicating  that she should look.  It was critical to gauge her reaction.

"This is part of the legacy you wish to unearth,"  he said, solemnly.  "This is what that scythe did."  His other hand pulled loose the cowl to reveal his face.  She deserved it, especially in this moment.

"I'm not judging, and only want to make sure that you know what you're asking.  Think very carefully about what you seek.  Tuatha saved you, yes, but his motives were mixed and carried a price.  Their blood is on your hands, even if he controlled them.  You need to be sure, Freya.  There's no turning back if you go down this road."

His eyes lingered on a separate pair of names from about the same time, slain by his own hands.  His first, and very far from the last.  Soon, he'd be putting her tally to shame, even at the risk of dulling their odds of overall victory.  What he had just asked of her, he'd aimed as much at himself.  Maybe he was just curious to see what her answer was, before giving his own?

"If nothing else, remember this when your glee overwhelms you in battle: some things are not meant to bring joy."

Vanity Tag: @Raidou

[Freya 0]

Placing a single hand on the names, it was nearly three large rows of them. "You're wrong," saying in a small voice. Just looking at every name listed from that time. "I would not be here without him, I would not be standing here right now if it wasn't for him." Taking a hard breath, it was hard to see all these names, but she remembered being in that room, that feeling that she was overwhelmed with and then him. "They kept coming after me, they just kept coming. Freyd I would be dead right now if he was not there giving me the strength to move. Sorrow, rage, but the one thing that I didn't feel was regret. If they were willing to try killing me without a second thought or reason, then they do not deserve to be alive."

Taking a deep breath as she turns to Freyd now. A face that Freyd had yet to see from Freyja, one of complete seriousness. No jokes, no messing around just serious. "Tuatha did what had to be done, like any other player here in Aincrad. His motives were not mixed Freyd, he knew exactly what he was doing. His one goal was to keep me alive, and I stand here now. Then it was to build me up, put my shitty broken pieces back together and make me stronger as a whole, which was why I got my memory back in fragments. Again, that is where I am standing now, he only gave me back what he knew I could handle at the time. I feel better than I ever have in my entire life, I have something to live for Freyd." Taking Freyd's hand in her own, "I feel sad for these people only because they chose that path to prey upon the weak and kill just for the hell of it like they tried to do with me and god only knows who else, but I do not regret what I did."

Glancing back at those names, "From recent conversations that you surely heard that one day with Kasumi and what Rai said to me, it has changed the way I think about orange player, not all of them will be bad eggs, but these people were." Eyes go back to a gaze at Freyd, "Tuatha was not one of those people, he didn't try to control me and I know that now, I just couldn't handle what he was before, that was the reasons for my outbursts. After hearing how he died and how he felt before it happened, he was not afraid to die, he knew that what he did, sacrificing himself for another human being was the right thing to do. Right then my mind was made up." Taking his other hand, in hers, holding both now. "Yes, I was random and completely off the wall with him there, but he never once hurt me and his motives were always the same. He is not a bad guy Freyd, he is one of us..." 

Right then she pulls Freyd into a hug, wrapping her arms around his neck. If he didn't want it, then whatever, he was getting it anyway. Her voice was a bit muffled, but could still be heard. "I want that Scythe so that it doesn't end up in the wrong hands. I know that I will do right by it and wouldn't use it for anything more than it was intended for. I can handle it now, you just have to trust me and believe that I can." Burrowing her face in his shoulder now, that black shadowy substance was still there, but there was a new mixture added. A black misted fog that danced around the shadows, as if they were one in the same.   

[Freyd 0]

Freyd tensed as she wrapped her arms around him, or maybe he was just always tense.  The man never seemed to allow himself a moment's relaxation, always focused, always working and pursuing some series of unknown goals.  He was a naturally secretive soul, coming across as one of those kooks with maps strewn all over his walls, tied together by a network of pins and red threads to form a picture that somehow made sense of a universal dose of chaos.  There was also unexpected warmth.  For someone so outwardly cold, bordering on callous and a machine-like lack of empathy, at times, she'd expected him to be frigid.

Taken a little aback by her reaction, at first, his hands fell to his sides, struggling to find what they should be doing.  A leg slipped back half a step to brace against her weight, but his frame was surprising strong for its wiry lank.  It was an unexpected but useful benefit to relentless resolve.  Palms twitching, they slowly rose and pressed gently against her back, cradling her head against his shoulders.  Freyd didn't know how to hug.  As appalling a revelation as it was, the action didn't come naturally to him.  It had never been part of his life.  Fortunately, some instincts lingered, and Elora had already taken the edge off the frost over his heart.  Tension bled from his back and shoulders.  A hint of tenderness as he brushed the strands of blonde from her face. 

He didn't fully agree with her, but that had never been the point of this visit.  She needed to log this memory in the back of her mind, for when the inevitable moment came.

"It's alright.  I hear you," he whispered back, granting a rare but necessary concession.  "And I've never doubted you.  This is not about doubt or trust at all.   But you need to keep this list in mind for when the moment comes and you are forced to decide whether your ache for retribution risks turning you into the very thing you hate."  He'd long ago come to terms with this question himself, though few truly realized how far he was prepared to go.

They will know soon enough.  Or, if you do it right, no one ever will.

"This fog.  The shadows.  Is this Tuatha's legacy?  Is it part of why you feel so drawn to the scythe?"

[Freya 0]

A small sigh as she feels him hug her back. Her eyes still closed for only a moment before she pulls slowly away. As she backed away, she sets his hand in hers. "Back then I would have said yes, I hate this with every bone in my body and I would have told you that I didn't want it at all, hell I actually did." Glancing down at their hands connected, "The truth is though, I have gained a new understanding of this entire thing. I remembered something else, when Tuatha returned those memories to me. During my Gemini I passed out, like all that anger and fear just hit me all at once. It was similar to what I felt in that cave. In that dream state I was met by a girl, no woman. Long white hair, no name. She made me wake up, said that this was not the time be in that state. When I woke, I was somehow able to manage all the anger that this Gemini forced me to remember but I stuck through it. I almost kill it, but I chose not to..." A deep breath, still with her eyes on their hands. "If I would have killed my Gemini, I am not sure that Tuatha would have stayed."

"I am fully aware of what might happen when that Scythe is in my hands, but I will not fear that thought. It belongs me and him as one. If it was placed in the wrong hands, like I said before, death would come over this world more than it already has. I understand why Tuatha has done what he had, and with that understanding I will be able to harness that power for good. I have come this far and it is time to finish this once and for all..." Glancing around after realizing what Freyd said, a brow raises. "Maybe, but I do know that it was something that he left for me as a reminder how far I have come since that day in the caves. I am sure that you have your own opinion about it all but I am telling you that it doesn't have to be a bad thing. Maybe in time once I get the scythe you will see just that." 

Freyja feels better than she ever has, she didn't know if it was because she fully accepted Tuatha and for what he stood for, and no she didn't know how everything would turn out in the future, but the most she could do was move forward and keep that new found faith close so that everything would turn out the way it was meant to be. "So how does this tracking skill work? Wait, maybe,,," she says as she glances around and finds a spot to sit. Crisscrossing her legs, she takes a large inhale of breath to relax. Closing her eyes and focusing on the Scythe, the black mist that was created danced around her in swirls. Another deep, slow breath... When she opens her eyes they yellow. The mist started to draw a line against the ground. "Hmm... I think I found it..." saying as she gets to her feet and glances at the names once more, her face was expressionless. Another soft breathe this time, as she glances to the drawn line. "You coming?" glancing to Freyd for a moment before following the path that was mapped out for her.

Tracking is used for the first time...

[Freyd 0]

"Yeah."  A singular reply.  Freyd was already committed.  That had never been the issue.  And he still had his doubts, not that it mattered.  Freya was too headstrong to listen anyway, so he'd seared a moment and image in her memory instead, waiting to be called upon if the dreaded need ever came.

"What are you expecting to find?  It's not like I brought... actually, I do have a shovel.  But I'm not doing all the digging!  Get Marv to help you, if you're just looking for brawn.  Good luck convincing him, too.  That may is so hard-headed."

The rest of their journey passed in relative silence, arriving at last to the place of the perpetual ping in Freya's mind.  He'd kept quiet, until now, wanting the rest of this conversation to remain away from prying ears.

"Nisahime," he said, without warning.  "She's the woman in white you mentioned earlier.  She calls herself fate, and more than a few people are linked to her in a way that I cannot explain.  Eruda shares that connection.  And so do you."  He'd debated not bringing it up, but the potential for clues and connections was too powerful to ignore.  

What price will she pay for knowing, I wonder?

[Freya 0]

Arriving at the place, her guiding signal appeared to lead under a burrowed area that looked completely caved in. Turning to Freyd, "How did you know that a shovel was needed... and wait, wait, wait... Eruda is involved with this Nisa chick too. Damn, I was trying to keep her out of this and fate. What..." That word made her cringe a little, what did it even really mean. Glancing at the ruble with a sigh, she began to grab the heavy looking rocks off the pile, tossing it to the side. "Why do you hate Tuatha so much? You seem very pre warmed when I talk about him now so would you care to share what was said during the mirror incident? I was too busy remembering things to be able to possibly know what was said." She had other things sorta floating around in her head, but right now they were very selective. Taking care of one thing at a time type of situation, so that she didn't become weirdly overwhelmed by everything that was going on right now. Tossing some more rock off the pile, "Talk and work, we don't have all night," saying with a grin. They were all going off to kill some slime thing tomorrow and she was debating on if sleep was going to even happen. She wanted to talk to Gaius before this happened because chances are, she wouldn't get a chance after to do so...     

[Freyd 0]

"What? Didn't you say something about being locked up in a cave, or something?  Last, I checked, most caves aren't above ground.  Kinda, like, the opposite?"  He gave her a quizzical look, as if she'd assumed more than he'd meant from simple divination. 

"Look, Nisa's just... weird.  She isn't fate.  That isn't possible.  She's just a loony who says that everything that happened was 'meant to be'."  Freyd waved his hands and arms around with grandiose exaggeration, mocking his own earlier statement and the image of the woman he had just described.  "How the hell do you know... wait.  Did she appear to you?!"

Grabbing a series of stones, Freyd started tossing them aside, channeling any frustrations he might have into manual labour.  The truth was that he had none.  It was only concern for the toll that Tuatha's gift would have on her, and the reckless abandon that seemed to coincide.  Freya was impulsive.  It might have made her more susceptible to the influence demon-ghost-whatever thing Tuatha was; an undigested bit of beef or crumb of cheese, as Scrooge might have put it.

"I don't hate him.  He...it... whatever... kept you alive. I can see why you value his strength, but you also seem to have a blind spot where he is concerned.  Simmone said that he died saving some black-haired child."  Speaking the words immediately struck Freyd as odd.  Why did the hair colour even matter?

[Freya 0]

Freya stops what she is doing and stands to face Freyd. "Okay, wait a fucking second. There is something going on here..." Freya began to get a weird situational feeling from this conversation. Trying to wrap her around all these crazy almost sci-fi relative details. "As is said before, she came to me in a dream like state." Closing her eyes for a moment, trying to remember every detail of that night. "I started my Gemini, there was a huge storm and my memories were flooding back in about the night that I was taken. It was so overwhelming and I could handle any of it, I was scared and terrified of the storm itself. That same similar feeling that I was having in this cave..." In this situation her chest would usually start to tighten and she would have started to tear up a little bit, but... This time was different. None of this happened as she continued. "I passed the fuck out right on that soggy ground. She appeared to me there. -Rise, you do not want to be down at a time like this. Remember these memories for they will make you stronger. Wake my child and face your demons.- This is what she told me right before my eyes flashed open. My entire Gemini was me trying to face those memories that were driving me crazy and didn't to to deem true. I told you about all those memories that transpired that night. After later investigating they were all true... Talking to others like Eruda and my father made those real. The Rin thing, I remember it like it was yesterday now. That was pin point on the spot with that." Freyja never took her eyes away from Freyd. "After my Gemini was when everything starts getting really crazy with me and Tuatha. Him making himself known, but we know that he was the one before my Gemini that saved me in that cave, this cave..."

Glancing down now she signs saying "Move back," and when he does, she takes out her current weapon and backs away. Closing her eyes as she takes a deep breath, as her eyes flash open she charges at the pile of ruble causing the larger pieces to fly around in every direction. It creates an exposed obvious soft gravel pile. Taking a deep breath now and relaxing a bit as she says, "The shovel now, do you have another?" Handing her the one he had as she continues to speak. "I can't help to think that Tuatha was connected to this Nisa chick. You said that Eruda was involved, how do you know this. What evidence to you have to make this statement true." Face was sorta blank as she tries to wrap her head around this. She was determined to figure this out by facts alone like her and Freyd did with Tuatha.  

[Freyd 0]

"None."  An absolute deadpan dodge, laced with mostly truth to make it palatable.  Freyd had no choice.  There was only speculation based on partial data.  Freya, as usual, was leaping to conclusions, trying to force connections that would prove a happy outcome.  He was less convinced.  But he'd agreed to help, so he would.

"Persi.  If you could, please."  A slinking mass dropped from the Whisper's back, oozing down between the broken stones to the sound of sizzling.  She had defeated the Boulder, mongoose-styles.  No gravel-filled pit would stand before her.  As the two players watched, the tunnel cleared of its own accord, like someone had filled it with chocolate that was now simply melting away.  Freyd kept his gaze deliberately focused on the dwindling pile of rubble.  He wondered what this weapon would look like.  What properties would it have?  What unique traits beyond the standard systems fare?  What would it do to his friend?

Eyes close and re-open.  A blink wipes away distraction.  A tunnel exposed and laid bare.  It should bother him that he wasn't being more supportive, but the risks merited caution, especially for her sake.  His lips pursed at the irony as the words summoned themselves.

"Can you see in the dark?"

[Freya 0]

Seeing Pursi dig a literal tunnel, a question from Freyd, "Of course I have night vision..." she turns to Freyd though a little confused though, "But that was not what you were asking was it..." Could she see through the dark path, could she see the light that would be drawn if she tried. Freyja feels like she has literally been through hell and back. She has had nightmares about that night in the cave, but she accepts what had happened. Was that just because she knew she wasn't able to do anything without the help of this soul that lingered in her very existence. It was a hard thing to think about it and in reality it scared the shit out of her. Tuatha himself didn't scare her, but the pure notion that something as big as Nisa and her odd connection, if it was even true. Taking a hard breath, she looks away from Freyd to the hole that was created. Thinking about the Monument and all those names, was she really okay with it. Freyja was broken and Tuatha helped her find that strength, but was it his or was it something that was lingering in her for a while and she just didn't have the courage to ignite it without that push. Her mind started going into a deeper concept of the situation. Was that black mist even Tuatha's or was it hers... What was the mist... Tears began to fill her eyes as she sits right there, her knees to her chest as she wraps her arms around them. Her eyes stare at that hole...

"I don't know Freyd..." saying in a soft voice... 

Edited November 18, 2021 by Freya

[Freyd 0]

"That's a good start," he offered, in a matching tone.  One that had struggled for years well before Aincrad had sprung its trap around him.  One that he had nearly lost, trying to decide whether to give it voice.  "We all need to value our choices for what they are, and how they represent our intentions for ourselves.  You want the strength that Tuatha represents.  And you can have it.  But never forget where you came from of the sacrifices you made in order to achieve it.  It will matter, if that strength ever fails."  ...or somehow betrays you.

Already halfway down the hole, he reached out and offered her his hand.  Black on black, like a hole in the darkness, beckoning.  She would make her choices.  He would stand by them, and her.  Freya had been the one to show him the way of it.  A Whisper pays his debts, in this case gladly.

[Freya 0]

A deep breath as she wipes eyes with a single swipe from her hand as she gets to her feet. Grabbing Freyd's hand as she sets her head against Freyd's shoulder. Without a word she guilds her friend through this dark tunnel. Her eyes shift from green to almost golden yellow, as the dark becomes clear. She couldn't fathom to comprehend what was going on and as she started to understand more, there were always more questions that seemed to pop up in its place. It was a bit irritating to think about, but she wanted to understand more, she wanted to be on the right path and she wanted to be a good person. She did not want to be that shit faced turn over person that was two faced. She was strong and she knew that, but having that much strength in so little time, it was dangerous. Eventually getting to this room, she stopped. A flash screening of dead players and then they were gone. Clear visions of what had transpired here, she takes a deep breath and releases Freyd's arm. "We are here..." Pursi was sitting there licking the dirt off herself. 

A glance around the room as she sets eyes on the weapon just laying on the ground where it was left. Another deep breath as she walks to this Scythe. Reaching down from it, another flash of the past when she was wielding it, but only for a split second before vision returns. Holding this weapon in her hands, as she walks back to Freyd. "I want to talk to Nisa, talk to her in person. On the off chance that she is related to any of this, I have to know... Eruda is involved somehow and I have to get information. I cannot sit here in the dark anymore and expect that things are going to change on their own. On another note, it is odd that Shiina's hair turned pure blonde when it was meant to be a bluish steel color. If whatever this is, is targeting the guild, we have to figure out if it is friend or foe." Watching this scythe like it was supposed to do something, she starts to head out of the memory of gore filled place.  

Edited November 18, 2021 by Freya

[Freyd 0]

"After the raid," he added.  "But yes.  We need answers.  I can find Nisa.  I can feel her, and the tethers between her and others, including yourself, Eruda and..."  Freyd's voice tapered off as his eyes narrowed and turned to black.  Walking the void stream was taxing, requiring him to stretch his consciousness to the brink of collapse;  to the edge of existence in boundless nothingness without fraying his already questionable sanity.

"This puzzle is already on my front burner, but we have real and pressing considerations that require tending.  The Front Lines could fracture without Firm Anima's presence.  The other guilds lack the strength they once had.  We need to be there, now more than ever.  When we survive," his tone brooked no tolerance for other possible outcomes, "we investigate and solve this situation."  

He'd been hesitant to reveal it to anyone, as it brought his own status into question, but Freya had proven her worth.

"I met Nisa before, long ago.  It's only recently that she seems to have resurfaced."  Discretion fought to keep his words contained.  "You're not the only ones to have had strange run-ins with that woman, or whatever she is."

[Freya 0]

"Then it's a plan. I'll make sure to bring coffee and those honey rolls you like so much..." Turning to Freyd as the arrive back at the top where the moonlight would shine in the starry sky. Trying to force a smile as she was trying to hold back tears. She didn't like the unknown, she hated knowing that at any moment the surface, she walked on could crumble right beneath her feet. Once again, Freyja couldn't understand what was going on. Once upon a time everything was so clear and collected but now what... Did Tuatha create a monster when he saved her. Was she supposed to be a monster in his eyes. "I can't..." Shaking her head at the thoughts that formed in her obtuse mind. "I need..." What did she need? Clarity? Did she need something absolute. "Freyd," she says in a sad shattering voice that cracked under her voice. Why was she feeling like this, what was she so scared of. Was she terrified that she was that very thing, one of oblivion and a lifetime of darkness. Was she that very thing that killed all those players in the endless shadow realm of fierce Sorrow. Taking a hard breath as she closes her eyes, not looking directly at Freyd when she says, "Freyd you are my friend, my best friend an I cannot lie to you. I am not sure if I can see that light in the darkness. I pretend to understand what I am feeling and I am trying to understand what is going on... But the entire thing just terrifies the fuck out of me." She could feel a drop down her face, as she opened her eyes and turns to Freyd. "Am I what killed those names, is that truly who I am? I just..." Freya looks down at the ground now. The cold breeze causing her to shake a bit. "I think that I just need sleep... Thank you for your help. I will see you tomorrow morning for the slime dude..." A slight irritated slice in her words. Maybe that was it, maybe she just needed sleep... Walking from Freyd without another word, she began to walk to her shop.

Walking in the door, it was really late and she knew that Gaius would already be asleep. Tears ran down her face in silence, "What am I..." saying in a very small voice. Walking up the stairs as her mind races against all the odds. A small opening of a door as she pushes herself in a room quietly. Seeing Gaius just laying there, his clothes littered the floor. Taking a deep breath as she was trying not to make any noise. Freyja takes off her shoes and climbs under the blanket with him. Closing her eyes, as she feels Gaius shift suddenly. Freya closes her eyes tighter... She then feels a hand placed on her side as she was facing the door. Gaius would have a smile on his face that Freyja couldn't see, she was just glad that he didn't kick her out. God only knew that she needed this tonight...

 

[Freyd 0]

Freyd listened to his friend's words, hearing them as if mirrored back at him by himself, as they had been only weeks earlier.  The anguish and uncertainty in Freya's voice struck an unexpected chord for which he lacked outward symptoms.  He simply didn't know how to express them.  Emotion had always been viewed as an affliction in his worldview, and assumed to be a debilitating weakness that could cripple any titan or monolith.  Yet part of him had fought so hard to infect itself with their insidious source of malignant mischief.  He'd watched emotions nearly consume Raidou in the battle against Shadow, at the sight of some unknown woman he'd only just recently spotted wandering the guild hall.  A mental sidebar devoted to future intentions had her penciled in roughly halfway down his priority list, to be followed up later.  There were simply too many things to be done, and he had spread himself too thin.

A pang of something thudded in his chest.  Confusion graced his brow.  Had he done something wrong?  Had he harmed his friend?  Perhaps, but only out of necessity.  She's been deluding herself into the harmlessness of her fantasy, after all.

Just like Blueberry.

Freyd frowned at Montjoy's interruption, but could find no counter-argument.  

"What alternative was there?  To let her delude herself into some folly of absolution, causing others to fall for her inaction?"

Look at my hands, Freyd.   Montjoy acted independently, raising them for inspection.  They were black as pitch, consuming any light that sought to reach them.  Do they act by your will or mine?  It felt like a trick question, given that Montjoy was no more real than Freyd enabled him to be.  That's the point.  Do you actually control my actions, or do I? 

"You're not real, Montjoy."

Am I not? 

The shadow pressed the tip of its extended index between the man's eyes, spreading unimaginable cold and numbness through his brain that caused his knees to falter and fold.  Anger flashed behind Freyd's eyes at the notion of usurpation.  The machine was still there, struggling behind the scenes.  It would never cede, and seethed at the notion that his heart and conscience could so easily override.

This is how most people live, Freyd.  This is Freya's world.  Best you remember that.

Rage bled away, replaced by a growing awareness and perhaps even a touch of wisdom thrown in.  Turning his head to face the direction she had gone, the Whisper wondered whether he'd just caused more harm than good.  Fate would decide.

*** 

Thread Summary:

7324 words / 30 = 244*5= 1220*Tier
7324 / 300 = 24 seeds

Freya receives:

10248 EXP (Word Count [1220*7] + 20% from event)
2258 col (200 [1 page/2] + 1537 [Laurel, +15% of EXP as col] + 30% from event)

24 Seeds (Event)
0 tags - ID: 201881 (CD 8); 201882 (CD 8); 201883 (CD 2)

Freyd receives:

17568 EXP (Word Count [1220*12] + 20% from event)
3685 col (200 [1 page/2] + 2635 [Laurel, +15% of EXP as col] + 30% from event)
15 mats (10 [tag] + 50% from event)

24 Seeds (Event)
1 tag - ID: 201878 (CD 3); 201879 (CD 9); 201880 (CD 3)
Gain: 10 materials, +5% EXP to the party