Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele started just a bit when a rather loud, authoritative voice rose over the general clamor of the hall. The whole Retreat fell silent in a matter of moments, and all eyes went to a man that some clearly recognized, and others—like herself—had to take cues from the rest to identify.
…sc…ared…
Ah, she thought. That must be Aaginim. He seems charming.

Seele stood from the table and listened intently as their raid leader explained the guidelines for their event. Some of the information seemed a bit…obvious, to her, but the fact that he had to emphasize that no one should be stealing loot was inarguably concerning. She was aware that some of her potential teammates had reputations for bad behavior, but surely they’d all be willing to behave themselves for something like this. Aaginim was right, after all, if there weren’t going to be any quest items dropping inside, then there was no reason to claw over loot they could all just farm from later runs.

After the rules were established, Aaginim moved on to the part she and undoubtedly most of the wayfarers had been waiting for: grouping. Two of them, A and B. Seele smiled and listened and when he was done listing off the names, she blinked, and looked around.

Oh, right. She didn’t know any of these people. The larger of the two endearingly jovial women had called the other one "Leafy," but that was the extent of her knowledge.

A few moments passed and as the people she assumed to be group A started gravitating towards Aaginim, she waited for someone to announce themselves as group B. …don’t…

Nothing yet. Seele clicked her tongue. Oh well, fair enough. She’d been waiting on introductions until the grouping had been done, so she supposed now was as good a time as any to start being proactive.

Keeping her smile warm and welcoming, she raised a hand up into the air and gave a little wave around the room.
…go…
“Benkei?” she called out to the others. “Is Benkei here? Group B support, looking for my fearless leader!”

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“Guess I’m not leading a team today. Oh well.” Priscilica commented with a disappointing sigh before grabbing her staff again.

As neither the men before her had given their names she had no idea who they were. She had heard Aaginim talk about a ‘Benkei’ before, but admittedly she didn’t know what he looked like. Though she had a hunch it was the more talkative of the two next to her. The shorter, younger one talked tactically and pointed out Siegfried at the table with Enos earlier in their conversation. So if she had to take a guess between the dark-haired archer next to Enos, the broody person in the corner, or the kid next to her as Benkei she’d probably hedge her bets on who was who.

She wasn’t surprised he was Aaginim’s pick to bring into the guild to replace Zain. He seemed to think well, smart. On the plus side, he didn’t talk down to her when she engaged in conversation which was a plus in her book. Was she disappointed she wasn’t leading “Team B”? Sure. She liked leading. Making decisions. But if Aaginim wanted one of his weird tests in a blind dungeon run then that’s what it was. He was the leader of the guild and this was his raid. But she swore to herself that the next time something like this happened it was up to her to call the shots. Rotation. Those were the rules. Everyone got to run things how they wanted.

She smiled widely before slapping the man she presumed to be Benkei on the back before walking off to join up with Enos to tell him to get ready.

“Well, good luck. You’re gonna need it. Don’t fuck it up.”

As she walked away from the man she could hear one of the group members call out for Benkei and she giggled a little to herself.

Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Benkei will lead Team B. Those words echoed in Benkei’s head louder than his heartbeat now. There was a sense of pride, and of respect that one of the top tanks in Pariah trusted you enough to lead a team into a blind dungeon. At the same time, he looked at who he had to work with.

Kazuki. Backline, of course. As long as he could heal the group, they would be fine.

Rael. Her attitude was terrible, but her skills as a tank were excellent. She would work best taking point for the group.

Graves. The solo player was a wild card for the group, but the fact that he was a solo player spoke for his capabilities as a DPS. He just had to make sure Rael and Graves were separate enough.

Alex. An unknown factor, but he saw his weapon at least. With that bow, he was obviously going to be on the backline. The fact that he could stand alongside the support and healer made Benkei slightly less worried, since if enemies found their way around the archer would be able to deal with them.

Seele. He didn’t know her at all, but she looked like the standard support player. He’d need to talk to her about what skills she used to best fit her into his plans.

Alja. A switch player, capable of playing DPS or Tank. That variation meant she would best fit anywhere in the raid and could fall back to tanking if they were surrounded.

Kalie. The assassin was what worried him. They’d need to create enough diversions for her to strike mobs from the shadows.

”Well, good luck. You’re gonna need it. Don’t fuck it up."

Benkei grinned and nodded to Pris. “Thanks. I’ll do my best not to disappoint.” It didn’t take long for the first member of the group to come looking for him. Of course, people wouldn’t know who he was, and those that did...well he knew his reputation might precede him. Nothing about that now. He had already set the chessboard in his mind at how to arrange all the pieces. He just needed to see what they could do.

”Is Benkei here? Group B support, looking for my fearless leader!” Well, the girl definitely had a good attitude about it. Then again, he’d played with many players who were all “positivity and kindness” at the start of a dungeon, only to end up worthless and crying by the end. Hopefully, she’d be useful. Benkei raised his hand, motioning her over to him.

”I’m Benkei. Nice to meet you,” he started, even if it was just a formality. ”What kind of support do you specialize in?”

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Leaves was already too much of a chatterbox for Graves's taste. She was one of those people who you could just nod and give a one word answer to and they'd keep on holding a conversation all by their lonesome. That was a lot for someone who spent most of their days alone. Then came the sight of a mammoth stampeding toward them, shouting at the top of her lungs. "Oh God," he groaned. A hand moved up preemptively to massage a headache he was sure would come. It was weird: he could spend two hours knee-deep in combat without stressing at all, but those two just talking made his head spin. If there was anywhere better to sit he would've gotten up and left.

They'd spent far too long sitting 'round, jerking each other off. He was anxious to be off. There was a whole new dungeon waiting out there to be conquered, and he'd get to be one of the first to plant the flag. He had to admit it was a romantic ideal. That-- and the loot-- were the only reason he had skin in the game. Nobody here mattered to him in the least.

Aaginim finally spoke for the first time. All eyes were drawn to him. This was it. Despite himself, Graves felt an excitable grin creep up along his face. The last details of the plan would be drawn up, groups would be divided, and they'd be on their way.

He gave a smug glance over toward Rael when Aaginim reiterated a rule that was for her and only her. It was almost impressive how many people she'd gotten to hate her. He had to wonder how, despite that rep, she kept ending up in raids; was she really that good? Or did everyone just keep buying into her bullshit hype?

Benkei wasn't a name Graves knew. That wasn't surprising- he only knew people who mattered, and there were staggeringly few of them. Hopefully he wasn't completely ass. Callouts, leadership, those weren't skills Graves would ever have. All he could hope for was someone that was decently competent and would stay out of his way. Graves was an artist: he needed room to paint his masterpiece.

Things broke down when Aaginim started listing out the groups.

'No. No, no. No god damn way.'

“Group B will be Benkei, Rael...Graves,...”

Graves threw his hands in the air. "You bastard!" He didn't bother lowering his voice. Aaginim knew exactly what he was doing, and he knew exactly how Graves would feel about it, yet he went along with it anyway. Was he trying to get a dig in at Graves, or something? Did the two of them have beef that he didn't know about? He wasn't supposed to be an asshat. Aaginim was good. He was supposedly one of the better raid leaders in Pariah. Even when his guild, Prophecy, had gone tits up, people like Einhart were always talking him up-- and Einhart didn't compliment you unless you deserved it.

So there's no way he fucked up. This was purposeful.

He leaned his back up against the wall, staring. Watching. Mulling over whether it was worth it to even continue.

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Enos laughed as Graves shouted out at Aaginim as the blonde-haired tank left with Luci to the other side of the hall. Neither reacted, though Enos was sure Luci was tempted to.

“Well, friends. It appears the groups are set.”

Enos wasn’t surprised by the results, but honestly he never thought about it much. He’d heal whatever group he was recommended to pair with, whether it had pretty ladies to gawk over or not. He may have been a bit of a deviant, but he liked healing and belonging with a group.

He moved his gaze to Sif and Siegfried, whom Aaginim had decided would be best with their group. They were randoms but as siblings they probably wanted to stick together, so it was good to have them along together instead of split off in a group apiece. He wondered how they would gel with the rest of the members and the other random they picked up, Atlan, or whatever his name was. Truth be told, the names kind of flashed over his head as Kalie had turned to face Aaginim when he made the announcement, which gave Enos the option to get a look at the backdoor as well as the front. He didn’t mind.

“Follow me and I’ll introduce you and your sister to Leaves and the gang.” He said as he stood up and brushed off his clerical cloak. “Alex. Kalie. Hopefully this Benkei guy isn’t too hard on you.”

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Seele beamed as Benkei waved her over, and a pink-haired girl wandered off, likely to join the other group. She bowed politely, and took stock of her leader as she assumed he quickly did the same with her. Young, quite young actually, compared to most of the other wayfarers she’d seen so far. She couldn’t pin-point his age of course, due to the altered nature of Pariah’s avatars, and she supposed it didn’t matter much, either. Missy had never been the type to equate age directly with capability; so many things went into experience, and everyone was unique. If Aaginim had decided Benkei was fit to lead a group through new content, then she’d follow right along.
...sy...
“It’s nice to meet you too!” she said, clasping her hands together. “Ah, a bit of the unconventional sort. Shields, buffs and debuffs exclusively. Thankfully it looks like—”

She paused as the friendly giant approached, and thankfully this time with much less urgency than before. Seele waited patiently while she discussed her role with their group leader, and offered her a smile and assuaging gesture when she apologized.

“Not at all! I’m Seele—or Missy, whichever you prefer. It’s nice to meet you! I was only going to say that I hope we have at least one more traditional healer, for the sake of making things smoother, but—and pardon me if I’m gear-profiling—you already seem to have that covered, it seems?”
... ...
Seele craned her neck around Benkei to the young man accompanying him—taking note of the undeniable resemblance between them—and gave him a slight wave. Running content with newer players, Seele had developed an eye for the quiet types. Normally she didn’t like to push her way into people’s comfort zones, but with the group forming up, it seemed like a fine time to make an exception.

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Another player in his position would've been shaking in his boots, but Alex could only feel excitement. He didn't care about the competition or the violence in games, it was the cooperation that got to him. Everyone working together to synergyze and get things done. It was a level of satisfaction he knew a proper desk job was never going to give him. He approached his new team alongside Kalie with a notable energy to his steps.

"Hey, I'm Alex. You guys can probably already tell what I do," he turned around and jutted a thumb at the bow strapped to his back, "Ranged DPS!" That he was one of if not the least skilled player didn't faze him, as his role was solitary by the looks of things. If no one else could specialize in ranged DPS, then it created a niche for him, a sort of importance that ensured he was useful. It was... a source of confidence he kept to himself.

He doubted they were going to care much about micromanagement. Alja, through their brief interaction, had come across as an agreeable person, and the other woman had offered people free sandwiches. You couldn't just give people free sandwiches and wind up being evil or something. The healer too, seemed like a laid-back guy. With teammmates like this, the leader just had to be as cheery as their current party was shaping up to be.

Right?

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Benkei will lead Team B.

Group B will be Rael, Kalie, Alja, Graves...

Rael’s mind was screaming and her blood was boiling, but most of all she was shocked. Not that she was shocked she got stuck in Group B, but the fact someone who was ranked 92nd was the designated leader and not someone like her who had fought to earn her place in the top twenty. Aaginim wasn’t the type to punish her. Setting lines in the sand was normal for him, but to actively try to put her in her place? That wasn’t something that bastard would do. He didn’t have the balls. As Graves shouted out she nearly wanted to march over to Aaginim and yell at him point blank about how she should be the leader and who the fuck he thought he was to put someone like Benkei in front of her.

She didn’t care that she was forced to work with Kalie, Alja, and Graves. She could deal with that. People disliking her never stopped her dungeoneering gameplay to drop. In fact, people who disliked her relying on her was something of an ego boost for her. If anything it heightened her gameplay.

She scowled, rolling her eyes before downing the last bit of ale in her tankard before scanning the room.

A group was gathering around a kid who wasn’t much taller than she was. Her brows narrowed as she pressed her fingers against her eyes. Wait. Why was everything a little blurry? She dismissed the thought as she unknowingly didn’t think about how the in-game alcohol was actually affecting her like a few too many shots of Saki would in the real world. She maintained her footing despite this as she moved forward. God damn it, Alja was loud. Louder than usual. But was she?

When she arrived at the crowd of players that were designated as her partners for this dungeon she looked closely at Benkei.

“自分が何様だと思ってるの?” She managed, without sounding too inebriated. However, before he could respond she waved her hand, as if telling him to don’t bother in responding, “忘れろ.”

“Tell me where to be and I’ll keep you losers from getting killed.” She finally said in the naturalistic language of Aetheria.

Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Kalie felt Enos’ eyes on her while listening to the announcement, but the announcement was even more annoying. She glared back at Enos with a pretty evil glare of stop it pervert. Honestly, who would want to team up with Graves and the smug bitch at the same time. She couldn’t help but sigh annoyingly while walking with Alex to their team leader, Benkei. Relatively unknown to her, I saw his name on the leader boards at #92 of Tanks. Her gut feeling wanted to leave, but that would heavily counterproductive because she doesn’t trust anyone with the split edge of her Scythe. ’ God damn it, I really hate Aaginim’s teammate Enos. Annoying Bastard, He’s a perverted bastard. Also, can he stop undressing me with his eyes...’ Kalie thought to herself. She was heavily frustrated with this whole thing being teamed up with the other two problem people.

It didn’t take much for Kalie to be completely flabbergasted and lose her train of thought completely. She was utterly shocked that Rael spoke in Japanese; she had no idea what she had said because she had never wanted to learn the language. However, she was still annoyed that Rael was in this group. ” Wait… What in the hell? Rael… what the hell did you say? Did you speak in Japanese...” Kalie spoke to Rael slightly out of character. Her usual character is to be a snobbish noble bitch, but that was too much for her to understand. It made her had to reboot herself slightly before getting back on track with what’s going on.

Kalie had to recover slightly from the entire thing and look directly at Benkei and the rest of the group's people. ” Hello, my name is Kalie Augustine. I am a Scythe Assassin, and I love the darkness of the shadows.” Kalie said with a sinister smile to Benkei. She had a pretty good switch to turn back on the roleplaying, thankfully. However, she sighed slightly with all this was too much for her to bear. ” Trial runs for guilds are fun. If you knew about the trial runs the Gloro Inquisitors had, you would probably try to stop their recruitment drives.” Kalie said with a bit interesting to her old guild. She wasn’t telling every little detail, but it's to put the fish on the hook so to speak. It was a bit of bait to see if anyone was going to bite. However, if they didn’t, it was no spilled milk so to speak.

It didn’t take too long, but she realized how close she was to the others and moved back somewhat. She was definitely standoffish and wanted to keep her distance, and it is not like she was going to get anyone in her web or something. ’ Ugh, why did I never experiment when I was younger? Oh yeah, I was only focusing on my studies and nothing else… no love, only romantic feelings… Probably why I watched all those romance shows...’ Kalie thought while looking down at the floor without any other eye contact. She didn’t like eye contact when she’s trying to remember why she never found love before. It didn’t take her long to look back at everyone and went to her usual demeanor of a neutral look on her face while staring at everyone. Trying to figure out what makes them tick to make it easier for her, mostly.

Location: Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Great. He didn’t recognize her from the past-he’d played almost completely public games and why should he remember people he attacked for not keeping their DPS up? But now here he was; given a chance. A test which meant that he couldn’t simply bully other players to quit and gather a new party. No, he had to make do with the group he had right here.

He turned to Seele.

"Alright Seele, you're a support. What are your support abilities, and what is your DPS when you're not supporting the party?” He needed to gauge exactly what she could offer to the party; and whether she’d invested enough in magic that she could provide some small DPS bumps when they didn’t need her support magic up. If she had healing capabilities, she could support Kazuki and take the pressure off his brother.

"Well, I've got quite a few spells up my sleeves! Plenty of defensive and offensive buffs, a fair number of stat and ability debuffs, and a healthy amount of crowd-control--oh! and shields. No damage, I'm afraid, or convention heals, but we've got Kazuki for the real stuff!”

No damage. He felt the words rise up in his chest. A snide remark, a venomous barb, anything to tell this little no-nothing plebian that if she couldn’t add to the party comp in a meaningful way, she could fuck back off to the welcome center and relearn the GODDAMN GAME.

Those words didn’t come out. He felt the glances of Aaginim’s party on him. He knew he was being judged. This was his judgment, his grand trial from the gods themselves for all he’d done. And then Rael came up, spitting venom, and she had the gall to smart off to him-in their own mother tongue! He stared her down, but not out of anger; he was frozen. His heartbeat pounded, and the only thing he could hear was the staccato rhythm of his elevated heart levels. He breathed in deeper through his nose, doing everything to keep his composure. He wanted to smart back; he’d had so many insults from school where the bigger boys would push him around on the way home from school, he’d make snide remarks that would end with him getting a blackened eye or pushed down the hill towards the river. But then…she relented. And he realized he had to make this party work, even if he was dealing with at least one useless player.

“Alja, I’m going to need you to run as a DPS for this encounter,” he said almost robotically, doing everything he could to remain at some semblance of calm. He reached into his knapsack and produced a piece of parchment, and quickly began drawing symbols onto it. The symbols represented each of the players: a spear for Rael, a sword for Graves, a bow for Alex, and so on. “This will be our lineup. Rael will the main tank, tanking the front of the party. Her agility makes her suited for reacting to threats first, without putting the rest of the party in harm’s way. At the same time,” he muttered, drawing a long arc away from the party, “I believe Graves’ skills as a solo DPS player would better fit giving him an entire flank to himself.” He pointed to a central location, where both his symbol and Seele’s symbol were. “I will be off-tanking and adding support along with Seele,” he noted. “Shields first, for Rael and Graves, then offensive boosts for everyone engaging with mobs,” he noted to her. “This other flank will be Alja’s, but she’ll be closer to the party. And here-” he noted a symbol of a scythe that was further away from the party, “is Kalie. With the majority of the party grouped up here, mobs will attack the aggro that I and Alja build up. That will give Kalie opportunities to use her assassin skills and increase our DPS.”

Finally there was the backline, which made up Kazuki and Alex. “Alex will act as ranged DPS, but also will cover our backline. You’ll need to keep awareness around you, especially of mobs that try and sneak around to flank the group. Kazuki, I need you to stay aware of this too.” he looked at his brother, nodding. “We are the equivalent of a public party, and we have expert level players, and newbie level players. I know some of you will play high level automatically...and I have to accept some of you won’t. So the majority of the group will remain central, supporting our heavy hitter teammates and keeping them alive until we can scout out whatever bosses are waiting for us.”

He looked among the group; since-apart from Graves-the rest had practically gathered around. “Are there any objections to this plan?”

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

“You should talk to Graves.”

“He’ll cool off. No way he’ll ditch when there’s a blind dungeon involved.”

She shrugged, “Alright. What did you want to talk about?”

The blonde-haired tank smiled as he put his satchel on his belt and tightened his gear. “There’s something I wanted to run past you. We can’t leave without it.”

Luci raised a brow, “Like what? Leaves and I already looked at the dungeon. Told you how weird it looks. No mobs outside. No defenses like the Wicked Tower of Blainosagar. Just waiting for us.” She turned around pointing over to Leaves, “I can get Leaves to explain in more deta—”

“Anna.”

She paused. He never called her by her real name unless it was important, like when his mother died and he had to take a break from the game. She turned, and took a step back at what she saw, “Dorian?”

The man before he fell to one knee as he reached to unbutton his satchel.

“There’s been a feeling deep inside me since before we started dating. Before the stuff with Zain happened. I’ve felt it since I first saw you standing over a fallen ogre, smiling as you do when you’re in rhythm. The most spectacular woman I’ve ever seen. A warrior princess if I ever saw one. I’m… not good enough for you, but still you took me over Zain. I am absolutely… helpless when I am around you. I stand in awe. You’re beautiful, kind, and professional. The fact you want anything to do with me makes me feel powerful. I love you and want to be at your side until I’ve moved on to the next world.”

Oh. Oh no. This was NOT happening! Not right now!

As he reached into his inventory she bit her lip, she knew what was coming. It was… so clichéd! His words still hit her like a wrench in the face.

“I thought I’d wait after the dungeon… but I feel like I need to ask this now, Annalise Ridley-Jones, will you marry me? In and out of game?”

Thunk. Thunk. Thunk.

Is this what it felt like? She could feel herself gasp for air, but nothing happened. The world around her had begun to feel heavy since Aaginim had dropped to one knee and Luci was really embarrassed beyond belief. The fact he’d do this in the game, in clear view of the rest of everyone else was ridiculous. This would throw everyone off! But, the question made her feel dizzy and she had felt utterly infatuated with Aaginim since they met on their very first raid. He was her everything and he had been her rock when everything in-game and out-of-game seemed to get worse.

“Oh my god.” She started, shivering as he took her hand in his. “Oh my god.”

“Is that a no?”

Her expression of shock straightened out, forming into a smile. The rarest thing people would see on her face. She found it so hard to gather joy. Of course it wasn’t a no! She was just… it was so sudden and the timing and place was inappropriate! He didn’t take her to dinner! Was he as inept as she felt she was?

“No, of course you stupid idiot! Of course, I’ll marry you!”

As he put the ring on her finger she screamed, out of character, with tears falling down her cheeks. She hated being seen as weak, but this was an exception. She just hoped it wouldn’t distract anyone when they got to the dungeon. Once she logged off at the end of tonight's session she was going to fly to the United States and never look back. She could take a sick day at work. She finally had found happiness. She could hear the rest of her group coming up to their corner of the Wayfarer’s Hall. She turned, smiled with her hand forward.

Perhaps it was Leaves’ response that made her giggle the most.

“Heck yeah! This is gonna be the best raid ever!”

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

'Why's everything gotta be a pain?' Graves bitched and moaned to himself one last time before getting off his ass and approaching his party. Though he'd kept his distance before he'd been listening all the while: Benkei was getting to know everyone's strengths and weaknesses. Then he went on to formulate a battle strategy based on that. The foresight he showed was appreciated- he picked out their weakest players and paired them up with someone capable of pulling that extra weight. Even gave up main tanking-- something most were loathed to do-- because he fit in better elsewhere.

'Guess you're not entirely shit, kid. Well done.'

Not that he'd praise him so openly. No, Graves just walked up-- avoiding Rael as best he could-- and offered him an approving nod. "I've seen worse. Gimme a wide berth n' I'll get us through no problem." He glanced over to Seele, who'd be his backup. She might not be the typical healing support, but that was fine. Graves could handle that himself. In fact, her build was almost perfectly suited to compliment his. Taking a couple steps in her direction he held up a fist toward her. "Ready to kick some as-...?"

His arm fell limp as his gaze shifted alongside everyone else's in the room. They might've been off in the corner but Aaginim was far from subtle about it. He had dropped down onto a knee, pulled a ring from his pocket and proposed to Luci. Right there. In-game. In front of everyone.

Graves shifted between his feet, terribly uncomfortable even just watching from way over here. It was the kind of thing you'd see somebody do at the park, or the plaza, or in one of those fancy restaurants he could never afford to eat at. But Aaginim chose this grungy little tavern made of code instead of brick. Was that cheesy and awful? Or maybe it was weirdly romantic?

There was that pang in his chest again. It was some mixture of embarrassment at their display of public affection, an anxiousness to move on from it, and a dash of jealousy. They'd managed to find happiness, real happiness. That was a rare, terribly precious thing, in Andrew's mind. They had better hold onto it, and to each other, for as long as they could. The world needed a little more color in it.

"Aww, ain't that the cutest thing?" He grinned wistfully, arms crossed over his chest. A few moments passed before he looked around at the rest of the group, realizing how stupid he must've looked. "What!? I have a soul too."

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

It's nice to meet you, Rael-chan.

The condescending remark in her native tongue was probably self-earned, but Rael didn’t feel as sharp as she usually did nor as spiteful.

Hard to be when some moron decided to propose in the middle of a wayfarer’s hall. Of all the times and places, Rael couldn’t quite understand it. It was cute and some part of her kind of envied that kind of thing. Everyone’s eyes were on Aaginim and Luci, but what really confused her the most about it was that Aaginim had tried to be as subtle as possible about it, dropping to one knee in a corner when everyone was huddled elsewhere going over battle-plans. Why didn’t he want everyone to notice? Why not do it right after the team composition announcement? Part of her wanted to know, but part of her just wanted to be in Luci’s position. Though Japanese proposals were a little less bombastic.

“はいはい.” Rael remarked under her breath to the lanky healer, as her eyes looked onward at Aaginim and Luci. Surprisingly Graves shared her sentiment, or at least in some part. She had turned to look at him when he said he found it cute.

She felt flushed. Wait. Why was she thinking all stupid and weak? She mentally shook herself out of it. Why did she feel a little drunk and why was it sticking with her?

“Good for them.” She managed as she gathered her bearings. “I’m so—” She caught herself, what the fuck was she saying? She was sorry? For the ale? Was her idiot brain working correctly? She coughed quickly. “—I mean everyone’s got a soul. Doesn’t make anyone special.”

It wasn’t the most ideal save, but she had to quickly show herself as the awesome tank that people either feared or hated. There was no room to show weakness. She was weak in the real world as Hanako and she needed to keep Hanako buried deep even if part of her was looking at Graves like a stupid idol in a band or movie. She was attracted to his type but not ever had she ever acted flirtatious in Pariah Online outside to gloat or mess with people; to catch them off-guard. She looked back at the bar as if on instinct. Did the ale she had been drinking actually been making her act out of it? Did the Pariah Online devs patch in actual drunkedness after a year of having the alcoholic drinks do nothing to players when they consumed it?

She crossed her arms as she considered the thought, her eyes still on the bar as she said her final comment.

“You’ve got a decent plan, Benkei. I like it.”

Location: The Wayfarer’s Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Kalie can tell the bait didn’t hook or anything, not even Rael responding to her as if she was a bit out of it. However, it was odd that what shocked her was Aaginim and Luci's announcement of getting married in the corner of the room. She couldn’t hold herself since she started to cry because it was beautiful. It was something that Kalie did during her sister’s wedding in the real world, and it was sweet and endearing. She didn’t notice anyone staring at her, which she was paying attention to the strategy meeting by Benkei. Also, she noticed Rael and Graves's reactions to the proposal, which was a bit sweet. ” Aww, that’s wonderful. It reminded me of when I went to my sister’s wedding. Shit, I got too emotional again… Also, Graves and Rael, that’s a good thing to say about those two gettings engaged.” Kalie said completely out of character. It made her realize one specific thing, and now people were starring at her after starring at Graves and Rael. She was heavily embarrassed and tried to cover her face, and her real-life self poured through with what she had said there.

Kalie took a bit to recompose herself to get focused on the strategy meeting Benkei was going through. He had such a much better focus on strategy than what she had done for the three or four times she raids lead for the Gloro Inquisitors. All she was trying to do is see if she could’ve done at least raid lead the Tomb of Arnath; it worked even though it took them a while to complete it. In terms, it made her feel a bit inadequate compared to Benkei. ’ I must say, Benkei is much more competent than he lets on. Ugh, I wish I knew how to do raiding leading perfectly, but it was a bit of a pain in the ass.’ Kalie thought with a kinder smile than normal while looking at Benkei. She had broken out of character for the second time, and it will take her much longer to reset her brain for roleplay purposes.

It took her a bit, but it hit her like a ton of bricks about every little thing that the Gloro Inquisitors were doing. They were using her to dump her off the curve because she was never allowed to join specific raids on certain guilds. ’ I thought they were friends and even my sister? Seriously? I never stole anything from the guild or invited a boy into the guild since that’s against our guild's rules. Only invite prominent female members to test their skills or some such. Ugh, that dumb bitch wanted my spot. Damn you, Diana...’ Kalie thought with a deep annoyance in her face and didn’t want to take it out on anyone here. She had to get her revenge somehow because they deserve it for all times they said they were there for her, but no, they weren’t; they were liars.

Kalie stopped being deep in thought like she had been since it would be a good time to answer Benkei. She gave a sinister-looking smile since her name was called out and her role in the group, which made her gleefully happy about it. ” Oh my, I am going to enjoy this plan. Thank you for giving me the role I enjoy the most, Benkei. I have no trouble with it, as such. It’s quite good, and you know your stuff, you know that.” Kalie said to Benkei with a slightly sinister smile again. On the one hand, she complimented him while trying to throw him for a loop in how quickly she can get back into character. It was a bit funny, but she had warm feelings in her heart about this group of people, even though they all have rough edges around them.

It took her a bit to keep it deep in her thoughts since it would be better for everyone in this group to not know that. One, it would ruin her reputation as a snobbish, standoffish bitch, which she loves so much. And two, Kalie loves staying in character, but it's a bit hard for her to stay in character when something happens. ” Uh, to get more on topic, what do the rest of you think?” Kalie questioned slightly because she was a bit curious.

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

The pipsqueak was staring at him like she had somethin' to say. He did his best to only glance her way a couple'a times, though he couldn't help the eyebrow creeping up his forehead. Brace for the worst, he figured. She'd throw out some snide remark about him being too soft; that'd get under his skin for sure. Instead, she agreed, and stumbled over something else he couldn't place. She was as red as the coat 'round her shoulders. Had Aaginim's proposal broken the shell of the infamously prickly Rael?

“—I mean everyone’s got a soul. Doesn’t make anyone special.”

"...Evidently," he agreed, holding back a smirk.

The whole moment was almost cute until Katie tossed what sounded like a barb their way. Her voice was shakier than he'd ever heard it. Even Pariah's quintessential edgelord couldn't keep it together. Graves rolled his eyes.

He turned to look back at the two at the center of attention, his eyes naturally trailing to Alja. Her expression was harder to read. Odd. The mammoth had been a fountain of energetic positivity just a little bit ago; he would'a figured she'd be through the roof at this. Then she started walking toward at the couple. Stumbling, faltering. Teetering on just falling over. Graves took a couple steps behind her just as she ran right into the edge of a table.

"Hey." Graves touched her shoulder. She didn't look too good. "Are you feelin' yourself?" As if to answer his question Alja started wobbling toward the nearest chair like her legs were about to run away from under her. He pulled it closer to her, awkwardly attempting to guide her into it without being too touchy. He didn't know her well- this was obviously not normal, though. Graves paced around to stand in front of her, leaning down to get a look at her eyes.

"If I didn't know better I'd swear you were..." He squinted, watching how her eyes followed what was in front of her. She looked drunk. Not that she could be, of course. Pariah's alcohol didn't have that affect on people. If they had changed that recently surely he would've known, right? He was always reading patch notes. Always skimming through community forums. If anyone had mentioned intoxication being added to the game he would've known it.

He shook his head. "Think you've just been playing too long, Alja. If I were you I'd grab a sandwich, some water and a shower after this run's over, alright? I've heard wearing the disk too long can do shit to your head."

Location: Wayfarer's Retreat -- The City of Thorinn, Aetheria

---

Rael’s attention shifted from the bar to Alja as the taller woman stumbled into a table, moving around with the grace of an elephant on a rickety bridge.

Graves had immediately went to check on Alja, as he rightfully should have. One of their most important members of their group was acting… Rael paused as she wiped her eyes with her hand, still feeling the effects she had been stricken with. Piecing things together was easy for her. Rael noticed things. She wasn’t a planner, but she had immersed herself in the world of Aetheria fairly well. She noticed that NPCs didn’t have conventional patterns, that quest items didn’t respawn, NPCs didn’t have stock dialogue, and other meticulous things that many other players didn’t think about. She was in school for computer programming and complex scientific theory, so it was all very second nature to her.

“You alright, ice queen?” She called out, before smirking, “Do we need to get a stretcher?”

Despite her snark, something felt weird and wrong. Rael just couldn’t put her finger on it.

She turned back toward the bar and waved at one of the denizens, the NPC staff members who worked the Hall when the Hall was needed for a raid or other kind of operation. Within a few moments, the maid-waitress girl moved to Alja and Graves, speaking with a kind albeit concerned tone.

“Is everything alright, heroes? Can I help?”