[OP-F4] Pre-Raid Relaxation

[Mack 0]

"Shirosu is the only female that's here, so far," Mack said in reply to Zelrius' question, a moment before Shirosu made her own presence known by announcing herself to the blonde armored man as she carried a veritable mountain of food over. While all that was going on Chewie remained steadfast in his pursuit of Gin across the hot springs, even as the smaller fox pulled further and further away from the bear which was clearly not mean for this kind of swimming race. "Anyway, though, what's up with all the blue Shirosu?"

Before the silver-headed woman could begin to give an answer to the posed query, however, the trio was joined by Piera who looked just as resplendent in her bikini this time as she had on the previous occasion when the red-head had seen her in the garment. Clearly, however, she was a good bit warmer. "Glad you're enjoying yourself," Mack responded, rolling his head a bit so he could take in the lovely sight. "Why not pull up a spot here and join us," he continued, holding out a hand for the alchemist to take or not as she would. As she was making up her mind Kalesh wandered over for a quick hello and Mack tossed the other man a quick wave to return the greeting.

[Mythic 0]

Mythic continued his watch from a safe distance. Another woman had joined the festivities, which did not help ease his nerves. The bitter cold, however, made the party so much more inviting. Each breath crystallized in front of Mythic, which reminded him of his arctic training to eat snow. It was to stop the effect of breathing in the cold and help keep yourself from being detected. Would that even work in this world? Mythic pushed the thought away and decided it was a good time to get involved with the party. 

It was difficult to move from his spot of relative safety, but it had to be done. Mythic walked toward the congregation of players and absolutely hoped for someone to initiate the first conversation. He was uneasy enough as is. 

[Jomei 0]

As the man settled into the water, his arms still on the land behind him to keep him afloat. He heard the voices of various other players approaching. One of them addressed Jomei, so he would have felt it rude to not return the favor. Tilting his head back to see who it was who had arrived, he saw it was Xion. "Hey there Xion."  He looked forward again, speaking to the three other players who were here at the time with a chuckle, "Starting to look like I crashed a Crimson party, huh." Just then, he heard another familiar voice, this time not a member of the Crimson Blades. Looking over his shoulder to the figure approaching Mack, he recognized the tuxedo wearer as Zelrius. He seemed to have business with Mack, so he made no move to greet the man just yet. Other players continued to arrive and take their places in various pools, but the warmth of the water was getting to Jomei.. making him lazy.. so he decided to greet the others later. Even Piera had ended up showing up and walking right past him, not even noticing the man in the water at her feet. "Good to see you too Piera!" he called after her sarcastically with a laugh. It was then he decided he might as well help himself to some of the food. As he leaned forward off of the wall, realizing he was till mostly above the water because of his height, he waded through the springs to the floating table. Quite a good idea, he thought, this way the players in attendance would not have to get out of the warm water and into the cold winter air just to fill their stomachs. Looking over the contents of the table, Jomei placed a couple of meat skewers on a plate, as well as a small assortment of other foods. Feeling lonely without anyone to talk to, Jomei floated over closer to Shirosu, who was being questioned for her apparent obsession with the color blue. 

[Lee 0]

Lee would slowly bring his other foot down as to let it sink down into the water beneath him as his acquaintance spoke of the social intricacies of people. This was aimed at Piera and more over, the majority at large that had shown themselves at the party. Lee would nod in agreement "True, true. I'm all for making friendships and the like but I'm more of a one v one or small group. Too many people means too many conversations and options and its always a lot tot take in every time." Lee would slowly let himself sink hip deep into the water as his hungry friend spoke of the envy as well as the dangers of having a loved one in game with them and by the time he had eased his lower chest into the hot water, he would nod lightly once more

"Nah, you right. Believe me, I've thought about it long and hard when this all went down but I've gotten over it. It's just like real life, just with monsters and more attacking animals. Time can be up at any point, why care if it's in a game?" When the man offered his name as Toothpick, Lee would do in kind "Lee in game, Lee in real life." Lee would finally have the water up to his neck now with a pleased look on his face. The cool air on his body made getting into the hot water all the sweeter. "This is the virtual life Toothpick."

[Shirosu 0]

Shirosu sighed and said,"it's a really, really stupid reason" she was gonna have to explain or he would probably keep bugging her," The doctors and my parents were are convinced I was going to be a boy, they even painted my room blue, then surprise! Your little boys actually a little girl! And my parents really didn't want to change the color of everything they bought, so I've just always had a lot of blue, if anything it's a comforting color, now, explain your red obsession." She picked at her plate with relish and as Gin sawm by she fed him a small peice of meat as he led to bear around with major success,"crafty little bugger" she mused watching the white creature paddle away. When Jomei wandered over she offered him a friendly smile as said,"evening Jomei, you seem to be a little lost looking, anything I can do to help?" 

[Zelrius 0]

"Ah, so you are Shirosu. Very nice to meet you lady, I need not introduce myself, I presume." The boy's muffled voice spoke from under the Hydra Skull and the Azure cloak's hood laying over it. Don't remind me His thoughts spoke to to himself as the Lady mentioned that the event was held by the Crimson Blades. The blonde boy used to be incredibly socially active, and as of late, he has drawn away begun to trust less and less. His right hand moved under the cloak that hung down the right side of his body, gripping the golden sheath tightly. The other hand moved under the same cloak and gripped the Twinfire sword's leath hilt and grazed over the similarly golden pommel. It wasn't that he didn't trust the Crimson Blades, It is simply that Zelrius knew that people were envious and greedy. And even some of those people knew all they had to do was sneak up and kill him and the his various Unique items would be their's. This is the reason he had kept the items on during this time and at his own birthday party, Zelrius at this point took no chances. "Though I appreciate your offer, Lady Shirosu, I think I will just keep to myself. There are other guests who may need more waitressing than I." Despite his demeanor and thought process, Zelrius always spoke with an ever so egotistical voice and an Aristocrat style of speech.

As Piera had made her way over and began speaking to Zelrius, her comments only made his thoughts get a bit annoyed. Couldn't make enough Teleport Crystals, How useless Low Levels always prove themselves to be. Even thinking this, Zelrius stopped himself. The boy wasn't mean, no. If anything he acted a lot meaner then his soft heart actually was. "It is okay, I suppose. I cannot expect a pair of Alchemists to supply the frontlines all by themselves, how foolish of me. Though, please. Be more prepared next time." Even saying this the boy's blue eyes peered at her own eyes from under the sockets of the Hydra Skull. That was too mean, even for an act. The little voice of thoughts rang in his head as he spoke the words.

[Piera 0]

Piera turned when she heard a familiar voice call out to her and smiled when she spotted Jomei before processing his words and rolling her eyes before pointedly sticking out her tongue teasingly and turning her back on him. She'd say hi after she got finished with the usual pleasantries. The brunette nodded at Shirosu as she approached, smiling slightly at her story and thinking of her own but keeping it to herself. "Doesn't hurt that you look good in blue as well." Then the white haired girl became distracted by the Irishman, going over to speak with him as Mack held out a hand to her and offered her a seat. Smiling slightly, she shook her head, "I just wanted to greet the host and talk to my customer for a moment before mingling. I'll be back though."

Her attention turned to the blonde, or the form of the boy she knew to be blonde. The thing covering his head was as disconcerting as always, but she tried to focus on his eyes as he spoke, noticing a slight tightening around them. At his chastisement, the bespectacled young woman's ears burned red from the ever so slightest annoyance of being talked down to by someone younger than her but mostly out of sincere shame that she hadn't done better. She couldn't hold his azure gaze, glancing down at his chest as she replied, "I apologize. I hadn't been an alchemist long before you came to me with your order. I'll make sure to have more items already prepared by the time you all go against the twelfth floor's boss."

Still....something itched at the back of her mind and she hesitated before glancing back up and meeting Zelrius' stare with one of her own behind her glasses. "However, I didn't think that the frontlines would need to rely on only a pair of alchemists to supply them. I was under the impression that the most powerful Alchemist in Aincrad fought on the frontlines herself and would surely help supply you as well."

[Kalesh 0]

Kalesh sighed happily as he soaked in the water so contentedly, but he came to these things in part for the food, so he swam over and stared piling up a plate. He was glad Mack had the foresight not to include food that would get soggy and gross in a few minutes. Soon he stood up and out of the watery pool, smiling as he walked to mingle while the hot water literally misted off muscles as he carried his plate around, popping some grilled fish into his mouth as he decided to try and find someone to converse with. He saw several faces he knew so he moved towards Mack and Shirosu since they were the only group of people he really knew all parties of. He idly saw Zelrius out of the corner of his eye but didn't actually know anything about him and so he didn't approach. Well, nothing about him personally anyways since he was armed. It didn't take a genius to figure out someone who wore weapons to multiple 'no weapon' parties was scared of something. One of them was in a safe-zone! He didn't comment though, keeping an ear open as Piera and him spoke while he took a seat near Mack. He idly glanced over now and then, just to make sure Zelrius' sword stayed out of his hands while Kalesh had friends around.

Having returned to where Mack was he said with an apologetic tone "Sorry, it's been foreeever since I felt actual hot water. I couldn't resist basking a bit." He smiled in the hopes he was forgiven for his great hurry to experience that familiar relaxing of his nerves and muscles once again. "I genuinely meant what I said, this was a great idea. Not that everybody here likely has told you the exact same thing." He chuckled softly as he sets his plate down on his own legs once seated. He idly munched on the various foods on his plate, ever the glutton. "Mm... Your guild have any fisherman? If not, I could probably get Grave some fish now and then." It also didn't take a genius to figure out something called the Crimson Diner belonged to Mack's guild!

[Zelrius 0]

1 SP to all, if you want Col, do it yourself