[F22-PP] Little Imperfections

[Eruda 0]

Eruda gets out of bed with a yawn. She was starting to get use to this new house thing. She just wished that it didn't feel so empty at times. As far as she was concerned, Raidou still slept in the guild hall area, which meant that even at 3 in the morning, Eruda had the entire house to herself... Picking out of her bag, a few messed up music crystals that were meant to be salvaged my the Firm Anima Merchants. Eruda had swiped a few before they could be. Walking into the kitchen, she sets one of the crystals on the counter tops with a smile. She missed just dancing around the house while everyone was out. Now that she was in the same situation, but much different in ways, Eruda activates the music. Gathering some eggs from the fridge, as she does a little slide across the floor. Setting them on the counter, she does a little twirl to the pantry to grab a skillet. The surrounding toon was fast and upbeat, something easy to keep a motion too. The burner was on and the eggs are cooking on simmer, she closes her eyes and moves away from the heat as she began to mimic that waltz that Rai and her did, what seemed oh so long ago, hands in the same formation... 

Spoiler

Eruda, The Blazing Lily
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 42
HP: 840/840
EN: 96/96

Stats:
Damage: 8
Mitigation: 179
Battle Healing: 46
Loot Dice: 2
BRN: 56
BRN IMMUNE
FL. AURA: 16
FL. THRN: 8
REC: 8
TAUNT
THRNS: 72

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Consuming Pyre - Surt T4: (Burn 2, Taunt)
Armor: Reinforced Plate - Lily T4 Demonic: Flame Aura 2, Flameproof, Recovery 1
Misc: Stalwart Defender T4 Demonic: (Thorns 2, Recovery 1, Flame Thorns 1)

Skills:
Curved Sword R5
Heavy Armor R5
Battle Healing R5
Fighting Spirit
Howl
Searching R2

Inactive Mods:
Night Vision

Addons:
Iron Skin
Focus
Rampart
Stamina

Active Extra Skills:
Block R5
Concentration
Survival

Housing Buffs:
Delicious: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed.

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 January 16, 2022 by Eruda

[Raidou 1]

The soft click of a door shut, and immediately Raidou picks up the sounds of music. At this hour? His senses twist straight to caution, placing his back to the wall and moving slowly. Approaching the source of the music, hearing cupboards and other doors open and shut. It was Eruda, up in something she normally slept in. Bouncing around like a goof as if no one was watching. A catch in his head takes him by surprise, and removing his robe as quietly as he can, he folds it and places it off to the side, his hands still a little grimy from a late night.

He adjusts his lenses in the morning light, before taking to a lean and finding a flat space to just watch. This was her moment, and he'd let it play out with a smile. These sorts of things were hard to come by these days, and in short supply. The moment continues to play over and over, increasing in tempo as he goes virtually unnoticed.

Spoiler

Raidou, The Truth
Level: 31
Paragon Level: 82
HP: 940/940
EN: 112/112

Stats:
Damage: 11
Mitigation: 44
Evasion: 4
Accuracy: 2
Battle Healing: 51
Loot Dice: 6
BLGT: 32
REC: 8
TAUNT
V.D.: 103
V.O.: 155

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Ebon Star - Vanguard Revenant [T4/Demonic/Straight Sword]: V.O 2, Taunt, Blight 1
Armor: Red Wander's Resolve - Sympathy [T1/Demonic/Cloth] 2 Evasion, 2 Vampiric Defensive
Misc: Vision of Wisdom - Whisper [T4/Demonic/Trinket] Evasion 1, Recovery 2, Accuracy 1

Skills:
Straight Sword R5
Cloth Armor R5
Battle Healing R5
Howl
Searching R5
Fighting Spirit

Active Mods:
Detect
Athletics
Vengeful Riposte
Tracking
Justified Riposte

Addons:
Nimble
Ferocity
Precision
Focused Howl
Stamina

Active Extra Skills:
Parry
Survival
Forgotten King’s Authority
Concentration

Housing Buffs:
Well Rested: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
Squeaky Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
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.
Col Stash: +5% bonus col from monster kills and treasure chests
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 []: 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.

 

[Eruda 0]

Another small twirl and her hair was just a mess. She had yet to do anything with it, but that was fine because she was unsure what she wanted to do today. Flipping the eggs as her hips began to move just a bit. She had a huge smile on face, she was really enjoying this time. She does a weird moon walk back words toward the coffee pot before brewing some. The lid to the pot drops as the crystal music ends. It was silent again, with a small sigh and a chuckle she turns, placing another crystal on the table, activating it... It was then that she realized there was someone standing there, Raidou... It was then that her face turns 5 shades of red. Clearing her throat, with a half smile and a brow slightly raised. A chuckle comes out, "I'm busted..." She was not going to let this get to her, she was feeling a bit overheated as her chest was pounding now. Taking a deep breath as she tends to her eggs. "Do you want some," he looked like he just got home... Without looking at him, her hips began to move a little from habit of the surrounding music again. 

[Raidou 1]

An eyebrow raises, watching something forcing her hips to pop in an almost unnatural fashion. Raidou never had the groove, he simply couldn't feel it. This was all new to him. He understood it only on a base level, but not truly. "I uh, am fine." he remarks with a soft inhale. Eruda turning as red as she had had a way of reciprocating the same problem back to him. Reaching a hand to his brow, and swallowing hard. There was something that still needed to be said. Slowly peeling the lenses off the bridge of his nose, folding them up and carefully setting them atop the folded robe. A sudden and unexplained word, one with adamantly that was normally found in combat. But where it was absent of anger. It was determination, an eagerness to understand that which he did not.

"That however, I'll take..." Flush still, he twists the meaning around, "Show me." as he starts to unhook and roll up sleeves from gloved hands. His decision was made.

[Eruda 0]

Placing the last egg on the plate, turning off the oven as he says -Show him...- Her hips stops the moving. Glancing up toward him in pure surprise. -You can do this, just show him... to dance, that's not dancing, that's letting loose... Getting a move on he's waiting...- Eruda argues with herself quickly in her head before walking around the counter. Taking a slow, deep breath followed by a nervous chuckle. -No thinking...- This is what they always when their action got rough toward either. It seemed to help. 

"It is much like the waltz that you are so great at. Only difference, less board like and more... Hmm." She thinks for a moment before saying, "More loose movement. Here... Listen to the music, close your eyes if you have too. That fluent rhythm behind the main base like sound. That is what you want to move with." He does just that, but it was weird looking, Eruda chuckle and takes his hands and places them on her shoulders. Eruda places her hands on his hips and began to move them mimicking her own motion to the music. "Just... don't think about it. Feel the music and just move with it..." Eruda face was so red right now but she continued...

[Raidou 1]

Sporadic and seemingly random, Raidou was disjointed from any semblance of rhythm. Something so wild, untamed and outside a method alluded him greatly. The girl was so bustling and flushed, an earlier version of him may not understand as to why. But a small message dangling on a branch made it much more clear. "It certainly seems much different." Shutting his eyes catches a twist of a woman, smiling back at him for only a brief flash. That causes a surge to race down his hands and soft sparks between him and the blonde. Like static, gentle and yet electric. No pain or damage, but there was a linking of the circuit.

In the back of the blonde tank's head, she'd hear a recollection It is through you

"Like this?" Raidou remarks, shifting in a way that would clearly leave someone else feeling like an idiot.

Set him free

A pair of curious amber eyes, watching carefully and doing its best to pick apart what was being shown. An appearance strapped to his face that hadn't seen the light of day for a very long time.

[Eruda 0]

He was matching her movement as his eyes close. A smile peers on Eruda's face as she hears those words in the back of her head. Right then a static between them that was felt so many times before, this was different. "It's perfect," saying in a soft voice, right them she moves them in a swirl, a change of directing. Feeling the warmth of his hands and an electricity surging through them, she knew that he could feel it too. It was too real not too. Closing her eyes too as they moved in unison, Raidou was starting to catch on, she would think nothing less. He was a fast learner. 

After the music ends, a few minutes pass before she sees her reflection in the window. It was right then that she realized what she was wearing while in Raidou's grasp. A long white button up T-shirt and short shorts... The shirt was only buttoned half way up... "Oh jeez," she says as she grabs his robe that he set down, putting it on quickly, covering herself and her face with a small nervous chuckle. Setting her burrowed head on Raidou's chest, she didn't want this to end... back in the day, every bone in her body would have told her to leave, run... Now, it was telling her to stay right here... "You did great, you're great," Raidou would hear in a muffle...

Edited January 18, 2022 by Eruda

[Raidou 1]

A pair of glasses clatter to the floor, finding their way there after the robe they were resting on was disturbed. Once it clicks what Eruda was wearing, Raidou turns his view to the side and scratches a cheek with a single index. As a way of affirming, he didn't notice and was doing his best not to look until she slapped that crimson red robe around her shoulders. Warmth catches his attention, and when he looks down, he finds a blonde haired scalp pressed into his sternum. Hands fire almost immediately out to his sides, contemplating the next course of action to take, like an array of options that blaze through and are dismissed one after another.

Eventually it clicks and gets stuck: No thinking.

His right hand raises, and a bit hesitant at first, it finds the back of her head with a soft collapse. "Thank you, but I am only as good as my teachers." The heat beneath his hand threatened to make it catch fire, and between it a bit of her hair begins to flutter. The contact saw some energy coursing from one party to another and back. "I don't know if I ever want this to end."

[Eruda 0]

Her breathing was uneven as she felt a hand on the back of her head. She could feel her hair start to flail around a bit, this was so overwhelming right now. Nothing like this has ever happened like this before and this feeling was unlike any before. Hearing his words makes her chest tighten, like a grip on her heart that just held until something was done to release in. A small chuckle with that teacher comment, pulling her head slowly from the cloth as she glances up at him. Their eyes lock and Eruda just melts. Between the heat and the static going back and forth, Any normal person, this could very well sent someone into a shock state. This was not normal, though, nothing about this was normal, they were not normal. Staring into those amber eyes, she could only imagine what her face would look like. Her hand rose to touch his cheek, almost instinctual as the other latched back to his waist. "I don't want this to ever end either," her voice was cracky and nervous and it would show. What ever came next was going to be new and unfamiliar to the both of them. Their eyes were locked, and her eyes were almost pleading...

Edited January 18, 2022 by Eruda

[Raidou 1]

His hand slides to the back of her head and down her spine, as the other finds its way to hers pressed against the side of his face. A stir in the girl's eyes catches him off guard, as his fingers wrap around hers. "I don't know if I am ready to drag you into what I have to do. But that doesn't mean I don't want to, I really don't enjoy keeping secrets from you. It's difficult." His head leans forward and presses his forehead against hers, looking up and matching her gaze with his own. Glimmering on the floor, a pair of glasses casting a small circular reflection. "I just want to change everything, wish everything was different when I am with you. I have never been a coward, but yet the thought of what you make me want to do scares the hell out of me." A soft smile catches the sides of his lips.

"You make me want to uproot everything I've ever done, and I believe that only you could do that, Eruda." a soft chuckle stems from him, one that no one has heard for quite some time. One of a child.

[Eruda 0]

So close... They were so close, this was everything that she ever wanted... To be this close and NOT have the sudden urge to run and hide. That chuckle from his lips, it was new, soft, nice. That warmth, so much heat. She couldn't take her eyes off his. "Then uproot them, deal with them upfront and lay those demons to rest." Twisting that hand in hers, pulling it under the robe, under her shirt, to the bare skin of her waist. Now tracing her finger on the bare of his arm, never looking away from his gaze. "I want you more than anything I've ever wanted in my entire life Raidou. I will help you shut whatever is going on down, so that this," she pulls his hand up her side, "Can be your reality, something that you can come back to everyday after your travels. I want to be your home..." Her words were sincere and soft, she really didn't want this to end. It felt nice, and somewhere, somehow, she was afraid that Raidou wouldn't give her this of what she wanted until the problem was solved... 

[Raidou 1]

Intensity shared between them as his hand is moved, to bare skin and would surely smear some dirt on his hands on her belly. Catching deep and drinking deep the gaze between them. "I can't as much as I wish I could. It's what I have to do, it will help everyone get out of this." Cradling her with the pieces attached, his mind wrapped up in them. Unable to completely understand Eruda's 'drift' his first instinct is to take it literal. "I am not going anywhere any time soon. That much, I can promise you. You've always been the thing I can count on, and it virtually destroyed me when I lost you." Pure raw emotion made honesty easy to allow to flow. The softest orange glow began to claim the surrounding atmosphere. There was a noteworthy static still bouncing between the both of them, in this embrace they'd naturally found themselves roped in.

[Eruda 0]

"You don't know how much that means to me." Regardless of what was going on, right in this moment... She understood that Rai couldn't drop everything. Maybe he could just drop in for now though... Raidou seemed completely oblivious to Eruda's actions, maybe because something like this had never been done or said... Eruda takes a nervous cracky deep breath as she removes the robe from her shoulders settling it in a slight fold on the table next to them still in his grasp. It was a bit nerve wracking, but she was ready to take another step forward, the question was... was Raidou ready... If he were to pull away, then she would know that he was not... Eruda was redder that his robe now, but she glances down at his arm as she moves it to her upper back, between her should blades. Slowly glancing up meeting his gaze again, placing her hand back on Rai's cheek. Right then she would close her eyes and press her lips against his and she rises to her tippy toes slightly to reach...

(the shirt is still on...)

[Raidou 1]

Reticent a bit, unsure if he could make this dive. He wasn't sure how to act, but know of the act. It was a strange mismatch of knowledge and ignorance. As Eruda removes the robe she'd made him and moves in for the kill, he was still stuck trying to dismiss his thoughts and concerns. His worry about attachment, mixed as one side of him wanted one thing and the other the opposite. Leaning into it as his heart and mind fought against one another. That hesitation was still getting the better of him, and springing from his back like a blackened guide. A single strand of black moves around Eruda's waist like a rope. Tugging her in deeper, the familiar knew what it was he needed more than he did. Pressed together a bit roughly, it was almost carnal and primal in its sudden sticky heat. Clutching onto the girl tightly, his grip becomes almost determined and forceful. But not to the sense of pain, more as if he was afraid she'd disappear or shatter if he didn't hold on so tightly.

[Eruda 0]

-Morals, what about morals...- her head starts to race with comments as that heating voltage continues to grow. -Rules, we had rules...-, -I have followed all the rules in the book my whole life.- Eruda was fighting with herself in her head as she could feel them get even closer by a force that was unknown, she wasn't paying much attention to anything besides this. This moment, her lips never left his. -What about waiting till marriage, morals... You vowed this...- Eruda breath gets harder... This was something that she wanted for a very time from him, only him, there was no one else. That urge stuck hard as everything started to rush through her head all at once. -God damn it...- Everything she was feeling was telling her to go for it, but her head was telling her to wait... 

Eruda right then pulls away, but grabs Raidou's hand without words to her room. The walls were a deep purple and the floor was a soft gray color. Nothing on the walls just an in table sitting next to the bed frame. She was unsure what Raidou was thinking right now, but Eruda starts to make a decision, but still undecided. She knew that her thoughts were right. She wanted this so bad, but something had to be kept, a resemblance of this moment. No matter how wonderful this feeling felt, no matter how much she wanted this, she knew that some things were worth savoring, just knowing that Rai felt the same that Eruda did, it was enough for now.

After letting what just transpired sink in for a moment, she turns to Rai. Her face felt flushed as hell. Gazing into those soft eyes, those of one that looked undetermined... She already knew that Rai had not a clue what he was doing and honestly, neither did she, but it seemed that Eruda had more of an idea than he did. The one main thing that would make the final decision on this all was if Raidou wanted the same thing she did. She didn't want to make him feel like he had to do something, she didn't want to force anything on him. On this same note, she didn't want anything that they did to feel rushed. 

Moving him to the bed, sitting on the edge of it, turning her body toward his as she locks gazes with him once more. Placing a hand on the side of his neck as her fingers rustled his hair a bit, and the other softly intertwining her fingers in his. "What do you want..." his answer would say it all. Right here, right now, would determine what they would do, she would accept anything that would be said, simply because she loved him. 

Her breathing was still heavy as that heat and static extended through just their touch to one another. Her chest was beating a million miles per second, waiting for Raidou to answer the one question that would certainly change something for the both of them, one way or another in a good way.   

Edited January 19, 2022 by Eruda

[Raidou 1]

Lost at the moment, Juiblex virtually helping him choose through the divide he was having with himself. Whisked away, a troubled and stressed breath that does little for allowing his mind to feel its way through. A sudden change of scenery, he drinks it in. Lilac walls, hardwood floors of a deep slate. Simple, elegant in a very standard way. Clean as expected, he knew Eruda well enough. Raidou would never be in here of his own volition, it threatened everything. His glasses absent, his robe the same. All that he was, matched the room he now found himself in. But where it held color, Raidou did not. There was magnificence in it, that simplicity.

To Eruda's question, Raidou's heart begins to swell. Lifting a hand out in front of him, as he leans into his legs just above the knee. Bleeding out from beneath his clothes, a black writhing mass forms on his palm. It looks almost like ink dripping before it finds its way back up, flowing both ways. "That is the question, isn't it. Honestly, I don't really know anymore. I want this, to share this with you." He appeared confused, however, peering into his hand as that molasses dripped down into a never ending puddle. "Does it matter what I want? Long ago I had forgotten what that was, I want to give you the world I imagine. Not just you, but you especially. It is why I do what I must, even if it makes me the enemy, even if it kills me in the process. It is our best chance of success."

There was the oddest mix of happiness and sadness as he stared for miles through his own skin, a familiar resting like syrup in his palm. 

[Eruda 0]

Eruda puts a hand on his shoulder and in a soft voice, "It does matter what you want. I know that I can give you comfort if you just let me." Thinking about those other words that were said, "I trust that you are doing the right thing Raidou, I do not doubt you for a second." Eruda moves her hand to his as that ooze drips from his palm. "Do you know what I want..." she pauses for a moment bends her head down to get his attention, "I want you to be happy." Another slight pause before she climbs onto the bed. Sitting on her knees behind him and wrapping her arms around his neck loosely. Resting her head on his left shoulder while she whispers in his ear, "Let go for if only a moment and I will show you happiness." She stays latched to him softly so if he were to move, she would not fall straight to her face. He said that he wanted to share this with her, that could mean so many different things on the spectrum scale. She was hoping though that he meant at this moment... She didn't want to look like a fool for trying even though she probably already did... "Let me steal that pain for just one night." Her face was still flushed... 

[Raidou 1]

"Give this time. I get the sense that this may be too sudden." Raidou remarks, leaning into her a bit, before taking a stand from the bed. It was late for him and early for her, and despite any lingering emotions, this was not a decision to be made hastily. "I don't know when, and I won't know how. But I will try and find a way to change this in a way that I won't have to hurt you. What you want for me, I don't know if I am capable of being. Right now this is all I have, all that I am." The thickened mass sucks itself up around his wrist and begins to seek out the space between his clothes. "Wait just a little longer, and as much as we wished that, we would not think. I think that we need to be full agreement before we take any steps further." There was a mix of confusion on how to put it, and a wisdom knowing that this is not something to do on a whim. Feelings were easy to be swept up in, Raidou knew it first hand. "I am sorry, but do not take this as a rejection. Let's approach this the right way."

What he really meant, was when he could get his mind to agree, which at this moment was in a state of panic.

[Eruda 0]

Releasing him as he stands, and as every time before this, he was wise. To be honest Eruda was a bit relieved. She let her emotion take control, while her head kept saying wait. She was swept in the moment and maybe went a little too far for her liking. Hands placed on her knees, "No, I am sorry. I shouldn't have never put you in that position." Grabbing a pair of sweats from the very edge of the bed, as she scoots herself off. Putting them on her face was till a bit flustered, she takes a deep breath to try calming her emotions. "I think," she moves to Raidou's side now, placing a hand on his shoulder with a smile, "I think this person, the one in the kitchen ready to learn, to take a chance. This person is your best yet." A small chuckle, remembering everything that just transpired in this last few minutes, dancing and all... Her head turns toward the door, realizing that her eggs were still sitting on the counter. 

Meeting Raidou's eyes one more, "I will wait forever if I have to, you are worth it Raidou." A small exhale of breath as she gives him a kiss on the cheek. 

Walking toward the doorway of her room now, biting her bottom lip in embarrassment, "I am really sorry if I made you feel... Uncomfortable... I refuse to regret it though." Leaning her head against the doorframe for a moment, " When the time is right, we will both know. Thank you for snapping me out of it. Oh, and by the way you are a great dancer, I can continue to teach you if you want..." A smile given before she rushes out to tend to her eggs that were on the floor now being consumed by Raserei. "Ahh, really..." A huff before she started to make more eggs, double just in case Rai changed his mind. 

Eruda was really glad that Raidou stopped it right there, her morals were still intact. Even though he may have his own reasons, she was happy. When the right time came, it would be special. Eruda was happy right where she was. She would not take this as a rejection, just something to look forward to.

Taking the tray of eggs out of the fridge now as she grabs the cheese as well, for some reason she wanted some... Turning on the burner now, cracking eggs on the edge of the counter and pouring the yoke in the heating up pan. A yawn as she realized that she had brewed some coffee. She grabs a cup as the eggs cook on low temp, pouring herself some coffee. Today she would have it black, she liked that every now and again. Grabbing a knife as she opens the cheese bag and creates a few slices. Setting a good portion on a plate that she grabs from the cupboard. Putting the cheese away, as she takes a slice in her hand.

Her eyes catch a glimmer of light on the floor. Walking toward it as she holds the piece of cheese in her mouth, it was his glasses. Leaning down, picking them up, folding them back, setting them on the table. Glancing at the robe, she smiles and puts his robe back on. In a way, it was comfortable. Walking back into the kitchen, leaning against her elbows on the counter and she munches of the cheese waiting for the eggs. 

[Raidou 1]

Eruda was so human, so real, that she was hard to quantify. She had a way of making the swordsman want to be the same, not some manifestation that was necessary. "Don't be." Raidou mutters, knowing full well that the potential for a possible mistake was reciprocated. The time for dancing was through, and the writhing bit of ink wormed beneath his attire. Raising from the bed frame, it croaks as the weight is removed. Taking another scan of the room, he'd never enter without a good reason, before seeking the door.

The blonde tank was already fast at work, studious in her attempts toward an early morning. Wearing the robe she had made him all that time ago, he wore it still. His heart on his sleeve, it was it. Finding a pair of glasses and unfolding them, Raidou places them back where they belong. Offering him almost an immediate feeling of security, of roots. His head starts to clear up.