Episode 71 — Coupling
Episode 71 — Coupling
Fifteenth Day in the Month of Sakura (April 15) in the Year of the Griffon
Front Line — Floor 59
Bladescape pushed open the doors to their Headquarters, leading the others in. She was about to turn around to head to the nearest farming area, but she wasn't planning on going alone.
"Kiefer, Soryuto, don't get comfortable," Bladescape said. "I want you two with me. We are restarting the overnight training runs. We leave in thirty minutes, and Konpeito, can you make us some overnight bags?"
"Me!" Kiefer exclaimed. "And Soryuto?"
"Yeah?" Soryuto asked, confused but intrigued.
"Don't worry Soryuto, you won't be the tank," Bladescape clarified. "I fight beside Kiefer a lot, he fights beside you a lot, and I rarely fight beside you. So the three of us, together."
"But," Kiefer stuttered. "But we just got back from a long day clearing the catacombs. Just because Fuurinkazan was with us, it didn't make it any easier."
"You two should go," Knightstar said. "I mean, you two will go. Bladescape isn't going to do anything stupid. We discussed the fact that we need to be running more overnight training sessions, even after we have heavy clearing days. We have to stay on top statistically. It matters. The three of you will be fine."
“We need to pick that back up,” Natora added. “Sucks, but so does a lot in life.”
Konpeito came skipping out of the kitchen with three food sacks. She tossed one to each of them with a lot of pep for someone who had been fighting all day long in one of the toughest places currently accessible in Aincrad. They could almost always count on Konpeito to have a bounce in her step.
"Where are we heading?" Kiefer asked as they left.
"Floor 54," Bladescape replied. "There's a long lake in the west. All along, buried in the sandy shore, are giant sand crabs. They come out and attack you. High defense, high XP, high attack, but slow movement and attack speed. It's really easy to avoid their claws. Their carapaces are giant domes, so they have limited vision and attack capabilities. You rack up the XP quickly with decent Col earnings, at least for a farming spot. I was killing them in droves the other night with no trouble, and it isn't a hot training ground yet."
They teleported to the closest teleport plaza and began to move to the location. It was busier than when Bladescape had been there two nights ago, but there was no wait time. Six spawn points along the beach were not being used. Several parties had a rotation going within their group so they could rest overnight. Those "off duty" were further back from the water, outside the targeting range of the crabs, either lounging or sleeping.
"Watch me," Bladescape said. "I'll show you their attack patterns and how to avoid their claws."
Bladescape advanced forward to where a crab's shell was barely sticking out of the sand. She just had to look for the sand colored "rock". It popped out with quite a bit of speed and advanced, clapping its pincers. Bladescape let it come in close and then skipped to the side. It took a long time for it to turn. It was skilled at forward and backwards movement, but not side movement, unlike most crabs.
When it was finally facing Bladescape, she drove Battering Ram into its face. It was a critical hit location and very easy to strike when planned right. The crab was reduced to polygons. The shell protected it everywhere but the face and that always dealt critical damage.
The next one came out of the sand and Bladescape demonstrated how to block its claws with her weapon defense. She used an advanced technique, performing a two-handed spin with her sword making it a giant round shield to absorb or deflect the attack. For the claws, the defense could take three attacks. Either the crab went in three times with the same pincer, or twice with an alternation. Either way, it was forced into a cooldown period and Bladescape retaliated with a perfect thrust from Harmonic Salvation. Again, it was to the face and the crab was finished.
A third crab came at Bladescape. She skipped out of its reach to the side. "I doubt either of your weapons are heavy enough for this," Bladescape advised. She skipped around to the rear as the crab tried to face her. With a heavy downward slash her weapon's weight broke the shell and decimated the crab, but it left her with a longer delay.
Kiefer switched with Bladescape as the fourth crab came at her. He used the distraction Bladescape was inadvertently providing and slashed it in the face with a Katana Sword Skill. The slash carved off a huge chunk of its health. He parried the retaliatory claw attack and then stabbed the crab in the face. That destroyed it. He tried the shell break with the next crab. After getting to its back, his Katana, Mist's Fury, glowed a dark red and he unleashed a downward slash. It shattered the shell and crab, but it did leave him with a long delay. The crabs were slow enough that he was safe, but the heavier attacks were better left to last ditch efforts.
Soryuto switched in. Her shield, obviously, was very effective at blocking the claws. Her sword, Last Rites, made very easy work of the Crabs in a counter attack. Its attack range was impressive, and its slim profile favored stabbing, which was exactly what she needed to destroy the crabs in a single thrust.
They continued switching out at a rate of ten crabs. After eighty-nine crabs had been killed, the spawn point needed to recharge. Unfortunately, the spawn points on either side of them had become occupied. They were a decent enough distance away. The three of them backed out of the targeting zone and sat down. The recharge time was approximately fourteen minutes, but it was longer if you were in the targeting range.
"This is pretty good," Kiefer said as he scrolled through his stats. "I keep getting crab meat and shells from them. I wonder what the shells are good for."
"Probably armor or shield enhancements," Bladescape yawned as she was sprawled out on the beach. "But I think the advantage of this place is that it is slower XP than some of the other popular spots. But since those fill up, we have a faster rotation, balancing it out in our favor.
"This would dry up quickly if all the Wondercolts came," Soryuto commented. "We could blow through eighty-nine crabs with incredible speed. We would spend five-times as long waiting rather than fighting. It would really lower our XP yield."
"It would," Bladescape agreed. "And that means it will attract less attention from the bigger guilds. If they want to train in full parties, they won't be able to, which will mean less players come here to train, and that's alright with me."
"You are going to be here, a lot," Soryuto said. There was some regret and pity to the comment.
"I will be," Bladescape nodded. "But I will grind away for eternity until we are all free. On Floor Two, we were Level Eleven. We got to Floor Thirty-Six while in the Fifties. Now we are at Floor Fifty-Nine and the guild is basically only fifteen levels above it. The point is, that with each floor, we lose distance. The closer to the Ruby Palace we get, the closer the Floor Number gets compared to our levels. We used to be double, triple, even ten times the Floor number; now we are maintaining only a small margin above it. So we have to be dedicated, and I have to be dedicated to make sure I am the strongest leader the guild can have. The stronger I am, the stronger the guild is. So I will grind away as much as I can, no matter how boring it may get."
"Crab spawned," Kiefer said, jumping up and charging in.
The allotment of crabs were dispatched with ease. With three of them rotating, it barely took them 15 minutes to cut them all down. They were back to lounging almost annoyingly quick.
"Look," Bladescape said after drinking some water. "We all have to train and we are starting a new rotation. Natora can do a lot of the day leading, but it’s still a lot of pressure on her, me, and even Knightstar. I want you, Kiefer, to be able to lead a small party to do this as well. But there is another reason I wanted both of you to come with me. Quite a few of us are on to your two's romance, or sort of romance, and we support it."
Soryuto was blushing a deep red and Kiefer tried to dry his now sweating palms on his metal splint armor.
"I’m not sure who all knows or suspects," Bladescape clarified. "Almost certainly Konpeito. But she probably doesn't realize the others may not be aware."
"You support it?" Kiefer asked, shocked. "But if it fails, then we still have to be guild mates."
"So?" Bladescape pushed. She looked at both of them and saw that it was Kiefer who was hesitant. She had thought it was Soryuto who was holding back. "That is life. Failure. Sometimes you don't connect with people like you think you will. But if that is why you are not going for it, that is a dumb reason. That’s failing before you even try. Life is more than that. Especially in this world as we try to get back to our true home."
"Well?" Soryuto asked Kiefer. "You have been the one greeting me in the morning and making sure you were the first and last person I see each day. I have been waiting on you. What's holding you back?"
Kiefer sighed and flopped down so he was laying down all the way on the sandy shore. "It's..."
Kiefer stalled out, clearly struggling over what was holding him back. Bladescape and Soryuto didn't push him for several rotations. He was trapped and they were giving him as much space as possible.
"Newsflash!" Bladescape exclaimed as they sat down to wait once again. It was just past One AM and it was time to push Kiefer to get an answer "We only get one life, and virtual or not, every day in here is a day in your life. We are not losing a day. We are trading off. So, make it count."
"And if this falls apart after?" Soryuto asked. She had been considering that option for a while now.
"Friends, true friends, don't come and go," Bladescape said with a smile. "Boyfriends and girlfriends sometimes do. But there is one thing that Kiefer will always have that you will struggle to find in any other guy: He lived through this death game and he will have done it besides you.
"And the same goes for you Kiefer. Those dark nights where you lay awake and think back on all the tough things you did or the horrible things you experienced, do you want a woman who tries her best but can't really understand, or do you want a friend who does? Friends can be more.
"And that level of comfort you can provide each other by understanding what it means to be stuck in here and having to face the trials we have, well it doesn't get more powerful than that. Even if it doesn't work out, the reality is that you can't live your life on the possibility of failure. Sure, it’s a real possibility, but going into something like a relationship, you have to believe that it will last. Which is why break-ups are hard.
"But the end reward is amazing if you stick it out. You guys already know each other and you have gotten to get to know each other even better since coming to Aincrad. Your relationship has already been put through so much strain, yet it’s pushing you together, not putting you at odds with each other.
"But that is just my advice." Bladescape shrugged. "You two have to make that choice, and dedication, for yourselves."
"My greatest fear is not protecting you because I am focusing on combat," Kiefer admitted.
Soryuto replied honestly. "If you don't put your full focus there, you will die. That is something that we cannot let happen. Not after we already lost Lessa and Joltron. If you die because you are focusing on protecting me instead of the game, that is even worse. Alnair can’t fight for his freedom, although he is now at a place where he could be doing more, if he wasn’t caring for Gauvaine. Gauvaine, she is still paralyzed by fear. You are one of our best fighters and your focus, for us all, needs to be fighting for us all."
Soryuto slid over to Kiefer and hugged him tightly. "Besides. I’m on the front line and doing fine. It's not like you have anything to be worried about. I’m strong. I won't go down. Especially with our friends. They will make sure none of us Wondercolts die. And you know how close we have gotten at times."
"Alright," Kiefer said, trying to cradle her helmeted head as she hugged him. "Then let's do this. Soryuto will you date me? Will you join my side permanently so we can support each other?"
"Yes," Soryuto said, sighing contentedly into his chest.
"Times up," Bladescape announced as the next sand crabs began to burrow out from the sand. “I’ve got them.”
Bladescape started the next round of crab fighting. When they switched, Bladescape saw Soryuto had a new edge to her fight and Kiefer didn't lose his. He was at the peak of his game, and seeing him not being distracted in a fight was exactly why he would survive. Why they would both make it through SAO.
After they cleared out the crabs and were forced to wait for the respawn, Bladescape told them her plan. "Like I said earlier, I'm not sure who knows. At least, it's not been openly discussed by the other members. So you guys will need to make an announcement to ensure there's no confusion. That’s probably best done at breakfast."
"We can do that," Kiefer said. "I would be glad to tell the guild in a few hours."
"Same," Soryuto smiled. She was a whole lot happier. Clearly she had gotten what she wanted for a few months now. Bladescape missed the early stages of love. She had missed out on that with Flash Sentry because of her own view of the relationship.
When they got back to their Headquarters it wasn't quiet. It was too loud for it being so early.
Bladescape was unprepared for what they had walked into. The whole place felt like a bomb had gone off. She was unsure what was happening, but everyone was in the meeting room. Knightstar and Natora were at their seats behind the dais. Knightstar was on her feet and leaning on the table, seething, yet almost everyone was in their sleepwear. Doombunny and Thunderborne were the two not, but Thunderborne was in a tracksuit, while Doombunny was in her field gear.
"What's going on?" Bladescape demanded.
Knightstar immediately shot back an answer in her rage. "Fluttershy has been sneaking out for who knows how long! She won't tell us an exact time. She has been intentionally breaking the guild rules, without regard for her friends, as she risks hunting alone and being captured by Laughing Coffin! But no, she is more important than the safety measures we put in place to protect her. She isn't even sorry!"
They had walked in on a conversation that had clearly been going on for a decently long time. Long enough that they had traded most of their arsenal. Now it was just hurt feelings and Bladescape had to play catch up.
"You all see me as Fluttershy!" Doombunny declared, standing up. She was more controlled, but quite angry. "Your sweet, innocent friend who is kind, quiet, shy, and owns a soft, fluffy bunny. Your friend who needs to be protected and cared for, and it's okay that she gets left behind and is forced to stay home because there are evil people doing evil things. Except that evil people exist in both realities.
"But I'm not her! I'm Doombunny. I've done things I never would do in the other world. Killed animals I would normally have cared for. I shed plenty of tears over them. Aincrad doesn't know Fluttershy, it only knows Doombunny. This is our current reality and we all share it. Fluttershy is a figment of your imagination! A shared figment.”
She pointed at Knightstar, “Just like you are not Twilight Sparkle.” Then her finger moved to Natora, “you are not Natsuki.” Doombunny pointed each of them out, “you are not Rarity, you are not Pinkie Pie, you are not Applejack, you are not Rainbow Dash, you are not Takumi, you are not Niko, you are not Isamu, and you are not Sunset Shimmer! What you all were in that world is gone. All that matters is what you are now. That is stats and skills; not farmer, or athlete, or fashionista, or baker, or anything you once were!"
That stung to hear. Bladescape hadn't been a part of the conversation, but she was now a target, being fully drawn in. She did remember that Doombunny had ignored the policy and came to help her get materials for her armor, which technically broke the rules for a short bit. There were more important things happening when she did and she stayed inside safe zones, making it easy to forget about. Now that Bladescape thought about it, it was too well executed to be the first time Doombunny had snuck off.
Doombunny wasn't done. "When we were told we were now residents of Aincrad until we beat the game, I wanted to hide. Instead, I stayed with the group, trusting you all, and you all got me to not just be along for the ride, but to fight! You are overbearingly concerned about me, yet you ignore other things. Blade still doesn't have a fun skill to relax. How long till she cracks under the pressure? Konpeito is schizophrenic or bipolar, literally switching from baking to battle in a split second and then back out once it's done. Malus won't talk to anyone about most things. Diemond stress sews out of compulsion, that's all that needs to be said about that.
“Yet you are worried solely about me? You don't know Doombunny and I'm rarely invited to go out training on the off hours, even though I need it. So long as I meet the bare minimum that Knightstar calculates, that is all that matters. None of you actually know my level, do you? All of you are just blindly following Knightstar’s calculations!"
Bladescape was able to see it, but she had learned to ignore her friend's levels, out of privacy for them. She was able to tune out most people's levels. It was typically useless background noise in her vision that she screened out. For a moment though, her curiosity got the better of her and the circlet highlighted Doombunny’s level. Bladescape was shocked. Doombunny was level 78, eight whole levels above what Knightstar had her last recorded as.
“I'm done being just along for the ride because it doesn't make me safer!" Doombunny declared. "It weakens me. All I can logically conclude is that you all like a weak Doombunny. That you need me to be weak so you can feel better about yourselves. and I won’t stand for it! I’m not your pet or a princess that needs rescuing. If you can’t see that then we will have to part ways, because I refuse to be treated as such!”
That was a very serious accusation. Bladescape had to take a moment to come up with a good response. She didn't want to lose her friend. It was a delicate situation that needed the right touch.
“Darling,” Diemond sniffed, wiping her wet cheeks. “You can’t seriously believe that is our belief? We don’t-”
“All I have is the evidence,” Doombunny coldly interrupted. “I get left out of the training unless Knightstar says I need to level up. Either it’s malicious intent or incompetence. Neither help me survive, let alone thrive. Neither are good for me, and all this guild is concerned with is their image and the ones who fight the floor bosses. The vote for putting restrictions on my movement either came down to the image of not being connected with Laughing Coffin or not believing in me.”
"You're right about being left out of the training," Knightstar agreed. "We're going to be restarting the overnight training sessions, getting everyone in rotation-"
“I don’t need your rotation!” Doombunny spat.
"Screw the rotation," Bladescape snapped. "You are all well rested. We will hit the Labyrinth today and then we will do an overnight training session. Kiefer, Soryuto, and Doom will sleep because they did it tonight, but the rest of us will hit it hard. We will get into an aggressive 36-12 routine."
"What about you," Knightstar rebuked. "You just did an overnight trip yourself and need to sleep as much as they do, and it still doesn't give a response to the ruling of the guild being disregarded for weeks, if not months, by Doombunny!"
"I DON'T CARE!" Bladescape shouted, before her tone became bitter. "I don't care. Finally someone else in this guild took their own combat leveling initiative. We abandoned her so I’m happy she took the initiative."
“I ain’t able to deal with this right now,” Malus spat. “I’m goin fishin.” She walked out, in her pajamas, without any hesitation or even a glance back. No one even attempted to protest. No one even knew exactly where she fished, just what floor.
Bladescape was tired. A tough day before and then overnight, she was ready for another day, but Knightstar was right, she would need sleep within the next sixteen hours so she could start the cycle again. The day dulled her mind, like a sword with a false edge on the spine. The edge was sharp enough for fighting, but not sharp enough to sort this mess out. She had missed a lot of context and now Malus was gone. She didn’t even know how it was discovered.
One thing got caught on the dulled edge of Bladescape’s mind. Doombunny was right; they heavily relied upon Knightstar’s statistics. Bladescape was the exception to that, but otherwise level training was dictated by the detailed statistics Knightstar kept.
"Well that's just great," Knightstar said, sarcastically. "Now what are we supposed to do without our main tank!"
"Hey!" Reisenki exclaimed. "Are Diemond and I not good enough for you?"
"That's not what I meant. I mean, it is what I meant, but not that way," Knightstar lost all sensibility as her ramblings contradicted itself.
“I’m going back out,” Doombunny stated. “Or are any of you going to try and stop me?”
“Can we?” Natora asked. She looked at Bladescape, forcing Bladescape to respond.
“Doom is right,” Bladescape shrugged. “We have no ability to enforce such a rule on her or any other member. All we could do is kick them out of the guild. That's not an option I want to resort to. I never liked the rule put in place for Doom."
"I can't come up with anything either,” Natora shrugged. “We stick together, but, well, I’m going back to bed. Malus can fish and think, however, I need to sleep on things.” Natora got up and went back to bed. She was the second person to leave.
Doombunny met no resistance as she left with Colorra slithering behind her. Diemond left the room in the direction of her crafting room. Konpeito huffed and went to the kitchen. Kiefer rolled his eyes and took Soryuto's hand, guiding her upstairs so they could get some rest. Thunder and Reisenki did not stay either.
Bladescape and Knightstar were left staring at each other. Neither spoke a word. Knightstar might know the stats and game mechanics, but Bladescape was the real leader because of her instincts and combat experience. She had ten levels on Knightstar for a reason they both knew. Even Natora had that edge on Knightstar. There was a reason why Bladescape went to Knightstar for stats advice but debriefed with Natora. It was the same reason why Natora had asked Bladescape about enforcement, not Knightstar, despite Knightstar obviously being at the center of the issue.
Knightstar hadn't gone to a Floor Boss battle since the Fifth Floor. She was too afraid, but she wasn't about to admit it and look weak. Soryuto hadn’t either, but she was confident in her personal role. Doombunny might not want to go to boss fights, but they had gotten her into the thirty-fourth boss fight. She held that, unintentionally, over Knightstar’s and Soryuto’s heads.
As a councilor of a guild considered part of the Assault Team, Knightstar had a reputation she was trying to protect, but they both knew that Knightstar needed the Wondercolts more than they needed her. It was an implicit understanding the three councilors had come to realize a while ago but never had any reason to state. Now it seemed like that was all Knightstar was calculating. The Wondercolts got her many of the stats and numbers she used. If she wasn't running with them, she wouldn't be able to stay at the top of the game for long. They too would suffer without her, but they could likely adjust to fill the gap in their knowledge. Those calculations completely removed friendship from the equation.
Bladescape had no idea what to do. It didn't help that she had missed most of the argument. She didn’t want to think about it, at least consciously. She hated the restrictions that had been forced upon Doombunny and Bladescape had been able to stay neutral by abstaining from the voting process in order to fairly run it. Sleep wasn’t an option for Bladescape. She would just lay in her bed, awake, forced to ruminate on what little of the argument she had heard. She decided to go kill something while her mind digested it all. Bladescape broke the impasse by turning around and walking out of the meeting hall doors to go do some solo hunting.
Bladescape headed straight for the teleport plaza. She didn’t pay the waking city any heed. As she got to the teleport plaza, she realized she had caught up to Doombunny. Bladescape wasn’t going to say anything, except Doombunny stopped and turned to face her, not teleporting.
“Coming to spy on me?” Doombunny snidely asked.
“Nope,” Bladescape shrugged. “I’m off to kill something. I don’t feel like sleeping. But where do you go? I never see you in rotation at any of the usual places.”
“Floor Fifty-Two," Doombunny answered. "To the wilderness.”
“With the black dragons?” Bladescape asked, surprised. Even if the danger of the black dragons was removed, it was a poor location to hunt.
“They never bother me,” Doombunny shrugged. “I hunt the Dire Wolves that roam the ashen wastes.”
“Interesting,” Bladescape nodded.
“Are you headed to the sand crabs?” Doombunny asked. There was no more edge on her voice. It was a sincere question, free from the emotion displayed only a few seconds ago.
“I was sort of thinking of going to the ants,” Bladescape shrugged. “Not as good, but I don’t feel like I have the energy and the line there is short now.”
“It won’t be as safe as the ants, but do you want to join me?” Doombunny asked.
Bladescape was taken aback by the question. She had no idea how to respond. She realized her eyebrow was raised at Doombunny.
“Colorra and I are safe and efficient," Doombunny explained. "And Collora is as good as any partner, but it gets lonely. It’s not for everyone though, so if you aren’t up for running, you shouldn’t come.”
Bladescape hadn’t trained with Doombunny in a long time. It had been weeks. The last time Doombunny had officially trained was with Natora. It would be good to see how she handled the solo hunting and combat.
“The Floor Fifty-Two I recall isn’t an easy place,” Bladescape replied.
“The Dire Wolves are no joke,” Doombunny shrugged. “Farming XP from anything while using a dagger is difficult, especially since I lack a conventional defensive skill. I found that the safest and most lucrative way is to speed kill whatever I am fighting. Kill them before they can hit me. Most locations don’t offer a fast enough source of enemies and places like the Sand Crabs are dangerous for me, but the Dire Wolves roam in large enough packs with a good frequency that it is worth it. I hunt them, not farm them. It is a lot of running though.”
Bladescape shrugged back. “If I can’t keep up, I can teleport out. This is your show today Doom, lead on."
BLADESCAPE: Level 79 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Sprint — Blade Throwing — Extended Weight Carry — Acrobatics
NATORA: Level 75 — Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Armor Pierce — Sprint
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 70 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry — Armor Pierce — Search
MALUS: Level 74 — One-Handed War Hammer — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry — Battle Regeneration — Fishing — Search — Martial Arts — Rend
THUNDERBORNE: Level 74 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Armor Pierce — Martial Arts — Blade Throwing
KONPEITO: Level 74 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Music — Blade Throwing — Bard — Extended Weight Carry
DIEMOND: Level 75 — Mace — Greatshield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Light Metal Armor Forging — Heavy Metal Armor Forging — Extended Weight Carry — Jewelry Creation
DOOMBUNNY: Level 78 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Familiar Cooperation — Mixing — Search — Listen — Reveal
KIEFER: Level 72 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor — Weapon Defense — First Aid — Katana — Battle Regeneration — Slash Weapon Forging — Blade Throwing — Armor Pierce
SORYUTO: Level 70 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Fighting Spirit — Armor Pierce — Acrobatics — Extended Weight Carry
REISENKI: Level 72 — One-Handed Axe — Greatshield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair — First Aid — Battle Regeneration — Cooking — Metal Refining — One-Hand Weapon Creation
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Not surprised in the least at the fallout. Like i said before, they ALL really need to tkae some time off to destress lol
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Lol. Yes, they do l. I worked hard to create a very believable fallout and sequence of events.
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LOL Doom proves the old saying "it is the quiet ones you need to fear when they are truly pissed off" lol
And the first crack as shown itself.
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Very much so, which is consistent with other material about Fluttershy learning to be assertive.
I have a bad feeling about the Guild's future.
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true enough!
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Nah it is just a lotta mistakes made due to stress. Once they all take a few steps back, take some serious time for each of themsleves to destress, they should be able to talk things out just fine and come back stronger then ever!
Ooh, is the first dragon head about to show itself?
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Not quite, but soon.
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And Doombunny is Fluttershy going to war, lets hope not to much of the child is lost.
And it is time to start the dragon head hunt I see.
11942924
That is a great saying and certainly pertains to Doom!
Face it you two, the cat's out of the bag.
Kinda like what it does with Kirito and Asuna.
She could always have one with Sci Twi.
This may be just my opinion, but I feel like it out of all of them, Fluttershy changed the most in Aincraid. And it still creeps me a little.
That's done it...
I hope she doesn't regret not sleeping later.
That was... strange?
Looks like they'll be together for a while.
Damn that took a turn I didn't expect, well done.
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Making sure I have solid, unexpected turns can be challenging, but fun. They also have to be logical turns.
Damn Doom is only one level below Blade she has been putting in some serious work