Zool

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

I thought I would have time to post this morning and have MacKensie scream into the temple that Second Chance has company, but I will be busy with Mother's Day duties for me and my fella xD

I will post tonight, but if you need to go before then, assume MacKensie is alerted to the danger and has time to announce that it's party time! Or have your character sound the alarm. Anyway to help us all get realistically to fighting words xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

It was true; being a hero had an incredibly fulfilling aspect to it. Her parents had always taught her, "The key to happiness is purpose. The key to purpose is duty. The key to duty is discipline." Her mother had even once told her that even the beauty of marriage was almost as much about duty as it was about love. It had sounded so strange to her at the time. It still did. But when it came to this Gold Contract, the discipline and duty they had shown had brought them success. And a heroic purpose certainly did feel like happiness, even the with injuries and fatigue. In this moment, she felt an extra pride to be a Trydant. She missed her family so much, but she knew she would be making them proud, if they knew what she was going through.

"To be honest, MacKensie - and this is gonna sound pretty mad - but I'm over the whole 'getting hit by a bus' thing. Truly. I'm a pretty simple guy. Adaptable. And I'm here now, dealing with it. And I can live with that."

How!? A question she found herself asking over and over when it came to this man. Underneath all that bravado, it would seem that he really was as tough as he portrayed. Physically and mentally.

"...Especially with you around."

And always knew how to make her go red as a beetroot. Thank goodness it was dark and they were out of eachothers sight. After a silence that was very awkward for her, he continued, and she would agree quite emphatically. "Yes, I do not intend to go anywhere else in Valhiem until we find out what is in that Source Comm. I must know who or what is behind all of this." She was so deadly serious, but couldn't help but chuckle at the previous phrase that had been rolling around in her mind since he'd said it. He'd turned her special attack into a McDonalds icecream product. "A 'MacFlurry.' When do you have time to come up with this nonsense?" Her smile was for the dark, but indicative in her tone.

"Thanks too," he admitted. In her surprise, she looked in his direction, although from this position, she was simply looking at a view of stone. "For blowing up at me on the temple roof, this afternoon. With great power comes great responsibility. Sounds pretty damn cringe, but it's true."

"It is not cringey, I do not think," she answered sharply, straightening up with an air of haughtiness. "It is noble and dignified. We are heroes now and we must act accordingly."

"Being a hero ain't half bad. I'll try and take a little bit more seriously." And of course, he couldn't help himself and added, "A teeeeeny little bit."

She shook her head. "I suppose every journey starts with a small step in the right direction."

"How about you doll? You doing alright?"

She sighed. "I will be fine, I think. I am not so adaptable as you. Many things weigh on me. And I miss my family so much. My friends. My life. I am not sure if it is fortune or misfortune that; I do not have much time to dwell on these things. My problems in this world are as much as I can handle. But I can and will handle them. I will do my part for the success of our team. For the friendship and bonds we have."

"You manage to stop overthinking that problem of yours?"

"Oh, ummm..." And she thought of a way to lie without lying. "Actually, yes. And I have you to thank in many ways for it. Whenever I had time to think, my balance would fail me. My reflexes. My agility. The deaths of Clive and Arthur had made me so fearful of my life. I became so precoccupied with failure to execute my Ranger abilities. The more I was careful... the more I concentrated... the worse this problem became. I was certain I would never be able to be zooming and flipping around like I was in our previous battles. But I realised that in last battle just now: When thinking about every aim, every foot-placement, every precise angle of my grapplehook... it is impossible." Her mind went to when James called out to her to go get the phylactery. How she responded. "But when all of these thoughts simply cannot be organised - or even thought of, in the first place, for there is simply no time - that is when I can be MacKensie Trydant, the Ranger." She knew that he would understand, in spite of her long-winded and possibly confusing explanation. "I must sometimes trust 'not to think,' when it comes to my ability."

And now she was the one who could not help herself, and added, "I must be a mindless gorilla like you." She covered her mouth to hold back any noise of her laugh until she could control herself. "Now go and get some sleep, Zell Brooks. I hear it in your voice - you are dying in pain just to stand there. Go."

Whether he left or not, for her she would stand for a while longer at Temple Hill steps. Eventually she would grab her bedroll and make a semi-comfortable seat at the foot of the pillar, wrapping her cloak tight about her and maybe managing a few hours of sleep.

One thing was for certain: She would not be caught dead sleeping in that Temple. It creeped her out, to no end.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

MacKensie went to go and eat after leaving the shrine room. In the kitchen, she sat and processed Barracker's words, his emotions and his demeanour. What that led to was rather unexpected. She thought that sympathy would dominate her conclusion, but while that was most certainly present, it was not what grabbed her. What grabbed her was a momumental admiration for Barracker Kassel. How could a man whose life had taken such a bad turn manage to maintain such composure and level-headedness... such honour and unshakeable principles? It could have been so easy to throw away everything in the face of such persecution and prejudice. But he hadn't. He was a rock of righteousness. Of course, it could not escape her that he'd lost his true love in this process. Perhaps one day, when she knew him better, she might suggest - convince - that he should reconnect with Evelyne. In truth, it was none of her business, but she felt a duty to her sense of romance that she bring up that conversation one day in the future.

With everyone settling down to sleep, she decided to go outside to be alone. It felt like a victory in itself to just walk out of the temple entrance, after going in and facing what they did. There was pride too. Pride to be in such amazing company. Everyone in their group was such an unbelievable person of strength and character. She would die (again) for her new friends. They all meant so much to her and she would strive to meet their standards - to be worthy of them.

Her silent Ranger footsteps, in the night, made her nigh undetectable. This was probably how she managed to get to the steps of Temple Hill without alerting the other man out here. And perhaps it was her preoccupied mind that was the reason her Ranger perception did not sense him.

When Zell sighed loudly, "Eek!" MacKensie jumped out of her skin. "Zell."

Of all the people to run into, he was one of two she'd rather have avoided. Hard to run away now. "What are you doing out here? You should be resting your injuries." She shuffled a bit of dirt about with her feet, until finally deciding to walk around to the other side of big pillar he was leaning against, then mirrored him and leaned against the stone, lightly grinding her thumbnails against eachother and looking out into the night as they conversed.

"How are you feeling?"

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Clive's return is literally about to get a bunch of trialled and publicly executed. Also; First person to return from dead... twice.

All feats worthy of Clive the Legend xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

u've done a good job with him. He's the party do-gooder type. James is kinda that too, but with some extra layers and a crazy side. But Adam is strictly, reliably, consistently, plainly Mr Morality. Every party needs one of those.

@Saiyan

Ahem! MacKensie is of high moral character too, thank you very much! ;P

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Hi everyone, that was great writing from everyone. I loved reading the posts. I am so glad to be here and to be part of this group.

@ZoolI will write the idea we discussed ages ago, seems like a good time to get it out in the story.

@Jay009

As it is the end of the week and I wasn't sure if the story is getting pushed forward, I kinda rushed out a lot of conversational dialogue. But I've left lots and lots of gaps for you to insert whatever actions and dialogue you want into it all. And there's a lot of 'ifs' too, in case there's stuff you don't want to use. Please use my post however you want, control my character if needed.

If I messed up in any way, let me know and I'll edit xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

She felt that she'd not got across her point properly. The fact that; without Barracker here, this would not have been possible without another death in the group. Perhaps; victory would have been possible at all. And so when he disappeared through a door, she went after him. He was out of sight pretty quickly and she lost him, so it took her some time to catch up to the room he was in. And what she saw...

"Oh my gosh," she gasped.

She'd only ever seen him properly in full armour. And here he was with so much skin showing, such pale skin with such darkened veins bulging like leeches about to burst. He was shaking uncontrollably. And when he heard her involuntary gasp, she saw the eyes of a monster. A demon.

“MacKensie.”

That voice. That voice brought her from her mental hysterics. He was no monster. He was no demon. He was Barracker, their new comrade and friend. And when the Paladin turned away in shame, she felt shame herself, for even thinking all those bad things about him. And still.... even though her mind changed, her stomach did not. She was sad to admit that she was repulsed by him in this moment, and perhaps that made her overcompensate, because she marched straight up to where he was sat, leaned on his back and wrapped her arms around him.

"It's okay," she whispered frantically. "It's okay." She was terrified, repulsed, ashamed, determined, queezy... so many things, all at once. But she held on tight to him, fighting one set of sensibilities with another set of sensibilities. "It's okay, my friend." She was reassuring herself as much as him. "You are not alone. We are Second Chance. You need not turn away. It's okay."

She wasn't sure how long they spent in this position, but she was glad that he could not see her face, because she'd been white as a ghost for the better part of the pose. Her face would have betrayed her visceral reaction to him. But she calmed down the longer she held him. Any self-demeaning comments from Barracker would be wholly rejected by the Ranger. "You are not a monster. You are a righteous. You are a defender." Anything he said that denoted shame would be answered with equal gusto. "It is not your fault that you carry this affliction. You are no less a Paladin. The gods allow you. A hero who protects the innocent."

Once there was silence - once Barracker had accepted that MacKensie would not abandon him - she finally let him go and sat down beside him. She remained silent for some time, so anything he had to say, she gave him the floor to speak. If he said nothing, then she would sit in silence with him. If he spoke, she would listen intently.

If he had not answered these questions already, then she would pluck up the courage to tentatively ask:

"How did it all begin?"
"Is there a cure?"
"How has it affected your life?"

And finally, at the end of their conversation, she would let him know; "We are from another world. I died in my world. Second Chance really is my second chance at life. At companionship. Please, Barracker... let it be your second chance too."

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@SaiyanGet well soon, madlad xD

It seems to me we're in the same boat. I cannot, for the life of me, think of suitable ways to add to MacKensie's abilities that don't involve magic.

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

@Jay009 Also...

"James Sirius has brought down the power of Mother Iris from the heavens and I, Barracker Kassel, come with The Reaper, Hades, from the depths to meet her," - "And you shall be caught in the middle!"

“For someone so new to battle, you have shown your quality, my lady...”

“...Until then, if I may be excused, captain?”

It is so awesome having the most Paladin-y of all Paladins on the squad lol. Barracker is such a great addition to Second Chance xD

THE WAR FOR MYTHERIA - Isekai Adventure

Zool: I'll write a short post
Also Zool: writes an engaging, interesting lengthy post exploring MacKensie's feelings towards the other characters

Well done!

@Zapdos

Lol aw shucks, thanks Zapdos. She's just so easy to write, at this point, it just comes out as soon as I paste the nameplate xD

It helps when everyone gives such good material to work with!

Hi everyone, that was great writing from everyone. I loved reading the posts. I am so glad to be here and to be part of this group.

@ZoolI will write the idea we discussed ages ago, seems like a good time to get it out in the story.

@Jay009

Alrighty Jay, I'll try not to disappoint. I'll wait for another player to get a post in, then I'll go. I can already see her reaction. If I get the tone wrong or get carried away, just let me know and I'll come at it from a different angle xD