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Florian does indeed receive the message, sitting at home in his small Verdanturf abode and letting out an embarrassing noise that draws the attention of the Sylveon dozing at the end of his bed.[break][break]

Logging into the game, he quickly adjusts to the jarring sensation of his shrunken height and wakes in his player residence in the Fontaine kingdom. There had been a promise of a fairy-type kingdom coming at some point, but until then, the water-and-grass themed kingdom was best suited to his aesthetic and personality.[break][break]

The fiery mountains of Ignis were less pleasing to the eye, but Florian's full of bottled-up excitement as his character skips his way to the hot springs where Alexei had requested they meet. He's not dense — a meeting in the hot springs carried with it certain implications. However, did Alexei intend for those implications to come across?[break][break]

Leafae's normally armoured robes have been traded for cosmetic options. His character looks rather feminine with the flowing robes and long hair, but he doesn't mind.[break][break]

"Allo, darling," he greets Alexei, and Leafae twirls and blows a kiss. The healer sheds his armor like a snake shedding skin, setting it to the side and dipping dainty toes into the water. It's almost like he can feel its comforting warmth, the steam rising from the baths. "Is this a date?"[break][break]

Leafae's grin is cheeky, and Florian's tone is teasing to match.

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Playing alone wasn't very fun compared to spending time with friends. It was late, Florian having just returned home from a long day out in the field, and none of his regular friends were online. A few people he knew less well were online, but he felt bad asking them to simply come out and grind mobs in what he'd heard some arrogant player-killers refer to as the 'kiddie kingdoms'.[break][break]

So he finds himself alone in Pugilis, the PvP arena looming on the horizon as Florian searches for a fight.

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"You got it!"[break][break]

Leafae slams his staff into the quaking earth, activating life dew. The droplets settle on their characters but in spite of their resemblance to rain, they don't soak through the clothes and only serve to soothe their wounds.[break][break]

His life dew might not have been as effective as a strong single-target heal, but it restored a good quarter of each party member's health and Florian felt that was the best strategy to employ with a party. Perhaps once he'd earned enough currency to unlock additional moves, he'd see about picking up a more focused move, but for now this was the best he could do.

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"I am always top pick!" Florian gloats, and Leafae twirls, but the humour in his tone betrays that his arrogance is mostly for show. "I do not know what the loot here is like, but we should have no trouble surviving to find out!"[break][break]

Especially not when he sees what their first opponents will be: a pair of Dratini. Florian coos softly.[break][break]

"Oh, they're so cute! I almost don't want to—"[break][break]

He breaks off as one of them tries to trap him in a twister. It doesn't work. Nor does the thunder wave it follows up with. Thanks to his dragon immunity and misty terrain, they were utterly ineffective against him. Leafae blinks impassively at the little dragons, and Florian laughs. "I love this game."[break][break]

Giggling, he dispatches the closest one with a single draining kiss.

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Leafae beams as Zimavich blushes; is it wrong that Florian delights in flustering his boyfriend as much as possible?[break][break]

The tiny elfin avatar spins to face their new arrival as Ultimeite makes her very fitting entrance, and Leafae emotes with a grin as Florian speaks over the comm: "Allo Annie!"[break][break]

It seems she's heard of the mission they're going to be attempting, and had also been informed of the numerous failed attempts of others. Ever the optimist, he waves at Ruby when he sees her character spawn in and says to Ultimeite, "Oui, that is the one! We will not get pushed off any bridges."[break][break]

Especially not with an accomplished telekinetic mage in their party: Florian had to admit that was super useful![break][break]

"You know each other?" he realises, when Alexei addresses Ruby. Small world! "I will keep us all in tip-top shape with my healing spells! No player-killers will take us down with me to protect us."[break][break]

His avatar bows dramatically; he's having fun.

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He doesn't intend to linger in Valora for long, forever uneasy in the PK-enabled kingdoms when he's not partied up with others, so a quick stop in at the churchyard for another go at the sword is the only thing on his agenda.[break][break]

He's momentarily distracted by one of the most adorable avatars he's ever seen: a pink blob with tiny little arms that really shouldn't be physically able to get any sword out of anywhere, but damned if the little guy doesn't do his best.[break][break]

Enamored, Florian's disappointed when he doesn't make it, and shortly thereafter steps up to try again himself.[break][break]

r95Y8xh2

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

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

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So maybe a healer didn't have any use for a sword, but after two failed attempts to remove the Honedge from the stone... it was personal.[break][break]

He wanted to prove that he could.[break][break]

It must look ridiculous, the tiny elfin healer skipping up to the stone that was nearly as tall as he. A faint pink aura pulses around him, the lingering effects of a Misty Terrain he'd cast before teleporting to Valora.[break][break]

Shame it couldn't protect against soul-sucking swords.[break][break]

vSN4dJD0

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The message Alexei receives in return is a simple: 'I'll see what I can do!'[break][break]

Though he's only had the game for a couple days, his friends list has grown to near-unmanageable proportions. An 'invite all' button tempts him from the top of the list, but he doesn't want to risk accidentally inviting someone with foul intentions. He'd heard tell of people ditching their party last second to kill them and steal all the loot, and he didn't want to let Alexei down by letting that happen.[break][break]

Instead, he hand-picks from a list of players he'd friended after observing their kind conduct in or out of battle, and sends about a dozen or so invites to those he sees are online.[break][break]

His username pops into Alexei's party list a moment before the elf with his different-coloured eyes shimmers into existence.[break][break]

His avatar blows a kiss, a new favourite emoji of Florian's after having discovered it.[break][break]

"I asked some people, hopefully we get a response soon!"

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Though lacking the defensive bulk of a warrior or the brute force of a brawler, Leafae still boldly leads the charge into the Dragnor wilds with Zimavich in tow. His health-draining moves and fairy-typing made him a surprisingly good health tank for this sort of area.[break][break]

As they venture into an area populated with wild spawns, the elfin healer twirls his staff. A thick haze of pink fog begins to coat the area in a misty terrain, spelling danger for their draconian foes.[break][break]

"Ooh, I hope we get some good loot!" Florian chirps to Alexei over comm. "Then we can start getting ready for dungeon runs! I've heard they're super tough!"

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Florian's flurry of leaves take out a couple of the rats, but he doesn't notice as one of them slips away from the pack. The would-be ankle-biter is quickly dispatched by Alexei, however, and Florian laughs in surprise.[break][break]

Fiddling with the emotes until he finds a cute one, he clicks it. Leafae offers Alexei's in-game avatar a dramatic bow of thanks, blowing a kiss at the end.[break][break]

"I can multitask," he retorts cheekily, canines flashing. "I'll thank you now and continue kicking ass."
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His Draining Kiss stops another rat in its tracks, and the counter for the quest step completion ticks down. "I think those are the last ones!"[break][break]

He gestures to a pair of rats, perfectly lined up for Alexei's attack.

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