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He's early today, in comparison to the last.[break][break]

He's seen players try all kinds of ridiculous methods. Harassing the sword, begging to it, attempting like he had to befriend it... nothing worked.
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If this was a test of good old fashioned muscles, the tiny healer was screwed. They wouldn't make it that unfair, right? Besides, he's seen burly warriors fail just as much as fellow healers and equally squishy mages.[break][break]

So he tries again, determined.[break][break]

iRZX7LyO

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Hitmonlee comes out swinging — or, more accurately, kicking, slamming into the unaware healer with its blazing kick. His avatar is sent sprawling and Florian presses buttons in a frantic attempt to stand up before more harm could be done.[break][break]

Its mach punch hurts a little less, and Florian retaliates with a draining kiss that robs a chunk of health from the mob.[break][break]

When it launches toward him again, he activates grass pledge and vines burst from the ground, wrapping around the Hitmonlee and pinning it in place. Another draining kiss does the job, and Florian takes a breather. That had been unexpected, to say the least.

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Here's the thing about Florian: he's naive, and wants to believe the best in people. The message had confused him, 'stay out of it, don't heal after the boss', but he'd assumed that there was something about the game that he didn't know. Some sort of secret![break][break]

So when the blond ranger last-hits the boss, he's not immediately suspicious. It's not until the other ranger levels his pistol at their tank and suddenly drops out of the party that Florian clues in to what it had all meant, and to the fact that this was about to go very, very wrong. There's a soft noise of surprise from his mic before he mutes it, struggling with how to handle the sudden turn of events.[break][break]

It's Valerio's command that snaps him back into it. He unmutes.[break][break]

"Y-Yeah, OK! What the heck is wrong with you two?"[break][break]

The 'tip' had apparently been more of a bribe. He hadn't dropped from the party himself, and still doesn't, stepping back to Valerio's side in a show of silent support. These were skilled players and it might mean his death and the forfeit of all the hard-won loot they'd gained, but it wasn't about the money or the drops for Florian. It was the principle of the damn thing![break][break]

He slams his staff against the ground with more force than usual, life dew restoring a quarter of the warrior's total health. It wasn't much, but he hoped the man's tanky build would hold out.[break][break]

A glittering pink aura flashes around the elfin figure as his Healer ability activates, attempting to rid the party of status effects.
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EvvGlmSn HEALER [30 or less]

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He'd almost forgotten to log in that day![break][break]

Busy with real-life obligations and messaging his boyfriend pictures of cute birds, it's only when he glances at the time on his phone that he realises he's almost missed the deadline for trying to pull out the sword![break][break]

Flustered, he logs in and Leafae immediately travels from his Fontaine home into the Valoran churchyard where the Honedge rested. Maybe this would be his lucky day![break][break]

wxKaAlaN

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[attr="class","ttshipreplytop"]report / honor form[attr="class","ion-plus"]

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A brief conflict between Annie and the mage whom he only knew in-game has Florian worried for but a moment before they apparently sort it all out. It seems that everyone here knows at least someone from the party out-of-game, and that makes him smile.[break][break]

"He's nearly the same height as me!"[break][break]

Leafae bounces up to Zimavich's side as if to demonstrate to Ruby the accuracy of the statement. The healer reaches over to ruffle his boyfriend's white hair, then dances away before Alexei can think to retaliate. He sticks out his tongue, very juvenile.[break][break]

They proceed to the bridge with Ultimeite in the lead, and Florian giggles as Alexei wonders at the height of the skyborne kingdom.[break][break]

"You are a flying-type expert, Alexei," he insists, amused. "Don't tell me you're afraid of heights!"
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Florian has many fears, most of which he hates to admit to, but heights is thankfully not one of them. Leafae takes the secondary position on the narrow and rickety bridge, hears it creak under the weight of the players. There's no one around to shove them off and that leads him to feeling fairly complacent, unfortunately not noticing a particularly devious rogue player crouched at one end of the bridge with their dagger primed to sever the bridge and send them plunging to their deaths.[break][break]

He spots them almost too late, and yelps, "R-Ruby, telekinesis! They're going to cut the bridge!"

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Florian's laughter rings soft like a bell over the mic, slightly muffled as if he's covering his mouth.[break][break]

"Very smooth, darling."[break][break]

Alexei is clearly flustered, poor Zimavich blushing crimson as he struggles with the towel he'd dropped into the water. The healer is graceful in comparison, folding his towel neatly and setting it aside as he slips into the steaming bath. Long hair fans across his bare shoulders, the tips growing darker-still as they dip into the water.[break][break]

He is less shy than he might have been if this were Lavaridge, and if it were his real skin glistening with the steam.[break][break]

"You are very cute," he teases, Leafae reaching over to tap his lover playfully on the nose. "I hope I did not keep you waiting too long; I was taking a break for dinner when you messaged, and I had to turn off the stove."[break][break]

There's a distant chirp in the background of Florian's mic, and then his laughter. "Joli says hello. I woke him up."

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Seeing that Zimavich had sustained a minor amount of damage from the Dragonair, Leafae taps his staff against the ground in a familiar motion that summons life dew like rain from the skies. Perhaps it was unnecessary to keep them at full health at all times, but the nurturing personality that was Florian couldn't help it.[break][break]

Alexei complains that their training is going by too quick; Florian is about to mention how that's the point of training against simple mobs rather than bosses and dungeons when the predicted Dragonite swoops from the skies with a threatening roar.[break][break]

"You had to say it, didn't you?"[break][break]

Despite the accusing words, his tone is light and accompanied by laughter.[break][break]

He doesn't expect the dragon to go right for him, swooping down into melee range and slamming the healer with its thunder punch. The misty terrain from earlier guards him against paralysis, but it still hurts more than the attacks of previous mobs.[break][break]

He takes another hit from a hyper beam that puts his health in the orange before his draining kiss comes off cooldown and he drags the mini-bosses health down instead, his own flashing back into the high green as the super-effective attack restores much of his life.[break][break]

"Finish it off!" he invites Alexei, preparing to cast life dew as soon as the Dragonite went down.

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[attr="class","ttshipreplytop"]report / honor form[attr="class","ion-plus"]

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All right, so being nice hadn't worked.[break][break]

Perhaps the natural course of action would be to try aggression with the sword in the stone, but even in a video game it wasn't in Florian's nature. He'd feel bad, even though he logically understood that the sword was not real.[break][break]

So he strides up without a word this time, committing himself to the age-old motto: if at first you don't succeed...[break][break]

bKFvGKSD

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During a lull in which his character finishes performing the animations of the Life Dew, Florian swipes to accept the friend request and quickly reads the DM.[break][break]

His attention is almost immediately returned to the battle as Valerio manages to flinch the boss and provide the group a much-needed opening to finish it off. Perfect! Grinning, he forgoes further healing of the group in favour of raw damage while the boss is in a vulnerable position.[break][break]

Gripping the staff with both hands, fey energy channels through it and drains the life from the already-ailing boss. Leafae's health bar goes from yellow back into the green; he'd only been taking damage from the earthquakes, after all, and not super-effective damage like the rangers.

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His first opponent: a Tyrogue.[break][break]

Dancing back and forth, adopting a fighter's stance, the mob focuses its energy and a buff appears above its health bar.
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Naturally, this baits Florian into trying to dodge its next attack. However, the crafty fighting-type fakes him out and follows up with a series of bullet punches which, while not very effective against the fae healer, still manages to chunk down his health with a few crits.
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Fortunately, it's nothing a draining kiss can't fix — Leafae's staff saps all the fighting spirit from the mob, who falls, and a glittering pink aura around the healer indicates the restoration of his health.
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This wasn't so bad!

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Florian giggles softly into the mic when Alexei drags him back out of range of a would-be ineffective attack.[break][break]

"I'm fairy-type, silly! It can't hurt me, watch!"[break][break]

Dancing boldly up to a Dragonair that clearly didn't take kindly to the bullying of its pre-evolution, Florian braces himself and allows the serpentine dragon to express its outrage. The attack hits hard but seems to dissipate against the healers robes.[break][break]

Of course, as these mobs were a little higher-level and smarter, it follows up with an aqua tail that does do full damage.[break][break]

Leafae's health is quickly restored with a single draining kiss, and a flurry of magical leaves finish off his opponent.[break][break]

"See?" he chirps. "I'm fine!"

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