Private ✪ Finweald A Pile of Tables

[Zelrius]

He blinked down, the table broken in half, and was immediately met with the scorn of the red-headed woman to one side, and Fiora on the other. Both clearly pushed into being agitated by the sudden collapse of the surface, and having their own words to say. "Yea, well I-" He was cut off by the bustle of activity surrounding the incident. Haru grazing by to crouch down and help pick up some of the mess, Fiora moving aside, as did Sol. The sudden appearance of a familar Elven shelf placing some strange, high tech counter in its place, saving the day with a table of her own.

Comments in the distance resonated in the space between his ears, flushing his face, his eyes averting all the others in the room - yet scanning between those looking at the scene. A simple mistake of over enthusiasm, crushed into torrid embarrassment. He couldn't help the natural instinct to pull at his collar, and clothing, trying to find someway to escape the uncomfortable, itching heat of shame that ran down his body. Crouching down to help where he could if for no other reason than to escape the half dozen gazes and silent judgements. Or, in Fiora and Sol's case, not so silent.

A sharp breath followed the tapping of his shoulder, turning to see what the source was. Not accidental; A woman of ashen complexion was speaking to him quietly, offering that the two go elsewhere. Zelrius would be hesitant by usual, though sighed in relief having been given an out. He swallowed and nodded, turning to shuffle his from the mass of bodies in the kitchen with his fellow adventurer. Passing from underneath the looming shadow of the Undertorch, surveillance replaced walking. The madness of this event permeated the dissident, unpredictable air. As did the sounds of hundreds of voices. Perhaps thousands. Maybe it was time to rest; to stop trying so hard. This was just a game, afterall.

There was a silence between them that now could be broken, being away from the clustered groups of workers and various faction members, one that table-shatterer decided to break first, fending off growing awkwardness. "So.. Were you around before the whole Disappearance?" Figuring her for a player, it was as good a starting question as any.

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

Can't blame the man, the place is so filled to the brim with adventurers she could mistake it with a local k-pop concert, accidents are bound to happen. Out of pity, she walked with the man away from the commotion that is in the kitchen. They've helped enough, for now. A little rest wouldn't hurt anyone.

"Disappearance?" She raised her left eyebrow, not familiar with the term. Did anyone seriously play this game for the plot? "Ah, I'm not caught up with the lore thingies yet. Just started playing, like, a week, two weeks ago?" She recounted. Putting two and two together, she figured that he might be referring to the four-year period where VRSA successfully blocked access to Terrasphere.

"So, you're an old player, I suppose." She had heard that the so-called veterans had to deal with the then-unknown risk of permanent death, but the girl doesn't want to bring up that topic yet, especially after they just evaded a gloomy situation.

She noticed the awkward tension growing. Moonsong glanced at his gold-ranked adventurer tag, then motioned to it with her eyes. "Funny, us both being in the guild yet we haven't formally introduced ourselves yet." She said while grabbing two mugs that were on the racks behind her and begin to fill them with whatever was in the barrel beside it. Presumably, ale.

"Moonsong." The girl introduced herself to the blond-haired adventurer, handing one mug to him. "They say people get along while drinking."

@Zelrius

 

[Zelrius]

He was a moment away from explaining, or perhaps even just dismissing the subject with an 'Ah,' before the woman had connected the dots and asked about his part in the game before it's shutdown. "Yea, something like that." Not really sure how to describe what category he fit into. Not new, but definitely not as entrenched into the world as some of the others. "That's what the Landers - NPCs, call it." He thought for a moment, having never really explored that. This country of Astorea essentially relied on the game mechanics of the Players. What happened to the area after they lost access to the messaging system? Another gloomy topic for another time.

He looked down at his pin at the mention, and eyes swinging to scan for her own. A matching Gold Pin. A rare sight, though less and less so each and every day. Other than Ilya, Zelrius hadn't met anyone who was at this half-way point within the guild. "Right. I am Zelrius, it's nice to meet you, Moonsong." Trying out pronouncing her name for himself. Taking on of the mugs from her out of politeness, and taking a sip of the fluid. Followed by a twist of his lips to stifle the oncoming grimace. The fruity taste wasn't the problem, so much as the alcohol content. Something this adventurer had never really gotten accustomed to, despite his years of occasional consumption. His focus shifted almost entirely onto the Ashen-woman before him.

"People get along better usually when they share interests." Taking her lead and following up the comment. "So, why the adventurer's guild? Didn't feel like becoming a Knightess, or carrying a whistle around all day?"

@Moonsong

 

[Lune]

She took a sip of the drink, which immediately resulted in another eyebrow lift from her. It's... okay and disgusting at the same time? Zelrius seem to be able to handle it well. "Well, nice to meet you too, Zelrius."

Moonsong leaned her back against a pillar behind her, occasionally sipping between the sentences. Zelrius had a good point. Why not Lion's Arm or the Explorer's League?

"I'm trying not to be rude to them." She looked at the NPCs moving crates around before continuing. "What I'm saying is, this might be real life for them, and for the ones trapped. But for me?" The girl exhales. "It's a game. An escape. Of course I would want adventures, riches, power and fame for myself. The things I couldn't have in the other world."

She took a longer gulp this time, maybe downing a quarter of the mug after that last sentence. "I know the risk, so I don't plan to get too attached here. Being in any other factions might change that. Adventurers? Professional, just the way I like it." The dark-haired girl said plainly.

Shit, was she talking too much? Drinking might not be the best option after all, but if it means slacking off the expedition preparation for longer. She chuckled a little. "I think I exposed myself too much. What about you?" Moonsong shot back at Zelrius the question, but before the man can respond, she quickly followed up.

"Especially being a player of old, coming back into the dangerous world seem a little bit too adventurous, isn't it? She then stood upright, gaze focused on Zelrius' eyes, trying to gauge his reaction. "After all things that happened? Knowing the risks?"

The commotion from the landers and adventurers seemed to fade away a little bit, as if to give them a room to talk.

@Zelrius

Spoiler: OOC

Yeah that quickly became so gloomy huh? No worries it'll turn back to chill after this! Just wanted to extract some motivations from Zel and get it away real quick.

 

[Zelrius]

He couldn't help but let out a small huff of amusement, equally surprised by her rather dry honesty of personal views and goals, as well as in amusement. Of course, it made sense. That's what fantasy worlds like this were for. Escapism. His mind fought that immediately. It wasn't escapism for him; 'No. Just a way to pass the days. Gotta do something, right?' "You believe in that? This 'UI-Locked' business?" He asked her with a glance up from under his brows. Sol on one hand had insisted that was made up, and just a publicity stunt. There were plenty of others who shared that, that Trinity was just a mascot, and anyone who claimed to be Locked was simply generated by the game as a character designed to fit that role. And the other, there were several who swore by. Even some of the people Zelrius used to know claimed to be UI-Locked. There just wasn't a way to adequately prove it either way.

Professional certainly wasn't a word he'd used to describe the adventurers, thoug he wouldn't muster those words to her. Just a small laugh and nod in agreement. One that quickly faded away once his own intentions were inquired about. He looked down into his cup. Sipping from it to hide the way his lips pursed nervously, and pretend that his heart wasn't thumping in his own chest. "Oh you know. Same as you." He let out quickly, face unmoving as his eyes tried to gauge the woman's reaction. "Doing something fun, something new while the days tick by." That wasn't true. But, what even was anymore? "Life can sedentary, yknow?" The melancholy was peaking through, though he tried to wave it away with a forced grin in her direction, as though to rewrite the tone he had said that in.

A sigh and look around. He didn't wait for an answer, or for any following silence that might spark his own mind to kill him with embarrassment. "So, what else have you done for the adventurers? Goblins, Escorts, Courier work? Anything interesting?"

 

[Lune]

A question about the UI-lock suddenly came into play. She chuckled in response.

"I don't know. I never graduated high school, so any of these scientific and technological mumbo-jumbos are beyond me. But.." The girls paused, recalling the people she met, and the talks they had. The grief, the rage, the will to avenge, and the rant about losing the same people, Ivan and Corvella. "... Those eyes, they cannot lie. What they had was real, and what they lost was also real."

She quickly steered back the tone a little bit lighter. "There's no hurt in just playing safe. Real or not, dying is never fun in games, isn't it? Unless you're into that." She sheepishly laughed.

The man stared back at her eyes, face perfectly still while answering her query. There's a reflection of her own eyes there; loneliness. But this is not a therapy session and she's not one to judge people. Decided not to dig into it any further, she replied accordingly as Zelrius seemed to not be able to maintain that grin anymore. "Yeah, totally. Glad to see someone that thinks alike."

The ale is almost touching the base of the mug, but the taste of it made her think twice before refilling it. "Oh, a lot of it. Criminals mainly. Bandits, raiders, player-killers. Pays a lot." She pointed at her tag, resting between her collarbones.

"Nothing interesting, all felt the same. How about you? You're also a gold-ranker." Moonsong pointed at @Zelrius gold tag, which means they're both accomplished enough. "Maybe we can take on something much more ambitious together after this expedition is over. You look like you actually pack a punch. I mean, look at the table back there." She joked. Gold rankers are more than enough to wipe an entire camp of bandits, but if they were to move up in this world, they gonna tackle something bigger than that.

Sipping the last bit of the ale, she quietly put back the mug where she originally took it. "What do you think about the expedition? They said there has been never something up to this scale, so there's probably something?"

 

[Zelrius]

Zelrius listened for a moment to her answer, nodding along. It didn't really do a lot to convince him one way or another, through no fault of her own. Though it was interesting to learn someone as well-spoken as her was a highschool drop out. The ones he knew from his time in those classes were hardly the top of the class material. Moonsong's mention of the techno part of the being UI-Locked brought up an interesting, albeit scary, part of the whole thing. If it was real does your headset... kill you? He stifled the shiver up his spine, thinking about just how invasive it was for a VR Rig to be able to implant the images of Terrasphere in your mind, with your eyes closed. This was getting dark.

So naturally, he followed her lead to shift it away. Giving a small, forced laugh back and shaking his head. "I can say, I have died in this game before. It's about what you'd expect - especially with the pain limiter off." He reached out to feel his neck, fingers tracing over the spot where the Frogman's arrow had made its destination, never having been able to recreate the feeling of his airway being blocked by an arrowhead, and the stinging, desperate pain. All of that was a distant memory now, little more than a lost dream. He blinked. "Getting revived in place is a headtrip, though. From complete darkness, to alert again. Still having to fight to not wrack up another. It was kind of fun?" He had an upward inflection. As real as death was, that whole experience was one of the reasons he continued to log in day after day.

Her setting her drink aside made him swish his around, tilting his head back to finish it with a verbal "Wugh." And shake of his head. He had the title, but never could get used to the taste. "Same as you, though I took a lot of the older ones. Helping a cat out of a tree, digging stake holes for a village palisade. Rounding up loose cows, chasing beavers away from small creeks. It isn't a lot, or as hard, but," He gestured to the plate, half joking back to the woman. "Adventurer's guild still pays for it."

Her offer to go on a contract together made him blink. He couldn't help but look down at any gear she had on, tilting his head slightly to get a better view in the dim room. "Yea, I'd like that. I know there is some kind of issue with the Zalra lately? The Guild was posting boards about going there to collect different samples and take them to the Institute. Maybe you'd like something like that? Seems dangerous enough for you." The ashen skinned girl came off as a risk taker, someone who was willing to be daring.

He couldn't help but huff air out of his nose to stifle a laugh, and rub the back of his neck regarding her comment about the table, a tinge of embarrassment still there, the intensity of it alleviated by how light hearted she had been about the whole situation so far, and had rescued him from the public eye. He owed her for that, and would return the favor sometime. A new mission of his.

He shrugged. "I wasn't around during any of the other expeditions, but everyone is working pretty hard, and everything is planned. We have supplies, and a mass of healers, and people who are far more experienced than me. I think things should be okay, no one dying. Still, this must have all been expensive as hell." He answered, thinking more about it from a neutral view, not really having much in the way of personal feelings about the whole idea. "What about you? You come all the way out here just for the adventure? To be one of the many to go on their very first 'big expedition'?" Always happy to turn the conversation back to focusing on @Moonsong .

 

[Lune]

Dying with the pain limiter off? Sounds like a recipe for trauma, especially after seeing Zelrius react to what looked like a previous death blow. "Yep, no thanks. I'll keep the pain limiter on then." Moonsong laughed. "No plans for dying right now."

As @Zelrius finished his mug, she wondered how the hell get he got the Ale King title when the drink apparently tasted that bad? "Well, anything as long as we get paid. The guild has so many upsides to it." Honestly, she doesn't take him for the type that would do those kinds of chores, dressing and armed like that. The man was apparently intrigued by her offer to go do jobs together, suggesting a type of job that people never took at all. "Ah, those. I remember the Zalra requests were piling up because no one had the guts to take them, even the higher rankers. The rewards should have skyrocketed by now."

The girl noticed that the blond man inspected her equipment with a glance. Indeed, the armor itself was designed to be imposing. Making the opponent fear you is winning half of the battle. "Dangerous? Nothing is truly dangerous..." As the great detective Batman said. "... as long as you plan and prepare everything. Like the thing we are supposed to do right now." She rolled her eyes to the side while chuckling, looking at the other adventurers packing and helping to prepare the expedition while both of them are relaxing in a corner.

How does she feel about the expedition? Well, "I actually don't think this was a good idea. Especially since we have to literally dive into the unknown." Raising her left eyebrow, she quickly backtracked on the idea. "Eh, it'll be okay. Nothing's gonna go wrong, especially with how many veteran travellers we have on board."

Things will, in fact, go severely wrong. Of course she didn't have the ability to peer into the future. Maybe one day.

"I was looking for a big break. You know? Maybe I'll kill my first gigantic monster, or encounter a dragon, despite everyone telling me that they don't exist. Also, I get to know people." She pointed at him. "All kinds of people. Anyway," she paused, opening her UI. "Before I forget. There."

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