The Magic Knights

    Hammers fall on iron that is worked, people mill about their day, and it eventually comes to evening. There's a realistic manner in which the whole of the world comes to day and night. Along the paths that overlook the world beneath, there's a place that people gather for drinking and lodging.
    Merek is settled about in the place, having found a nice quiet area, with food which will be hand prepared, for a little extra cost. The man wears the night time gear which he often does, black tunic along the trousers which he wears, a cape pulled about it. He uses a nice small kiseru for smoking, then places that up while he waits for folk. There's a drink of the cream milk which he bought.

    Navigating the bridges and alleyways of the floating city is more an art than a science, even for an adventurer. For an explorer of Miyako's not-so-renowned repute, it's somewhat simpler than most, but even she gets lost on occasion.

    Fortunately, this isn't one of those times, as she managed to get directions from a local to the place she was headed and forwarded them on to Blackrose via IM. Somewhere just over this bridge, there ought to be.... aha.

    "Evening," she greets the hostess. "Waiting on a friend, if you don't mind, she's probably not far behind me."

She's running a little behind schedule, don't ask her why.

A few minutes later, BlackRose dashes in, sans sword but wearing her usual armor, and leans on the wall gasping for air. "Well, it seems I made it. A little later than expected, but at least I made it." She looks to Miyako and smiles. "Looks like you win the race this time."

    Merek looks to the two, with a little wave. There's a smile offered for BlackRose, as well as to Miyako. "I'm Merek," he offers, a formal introduction.

    "You'll win next time," Miyako promises the Imp. "Do I want to know why you were sprinting?" Probably not.

    She returns Merek's wave, nodding pleasantly. "Miyako Blacklily. Pleased to meet you. Any recommendations on what's good here?"

"Let's just leave it a mystery at that," BlackRose replies with a sly smirk. "And I'm BlackRose. I know I've seen you around, but I never really got your name."

She takes a seat while leaving an adjacent spot open for Miyako. "This looks like a nice place but if you've got any suggestions Merek, let me know."

    "Anything, really. I don't know, I don't think about food a lot except when cooking," Merek mentions, taking a moment to look at the place in full. Then back to the two, "Pleasure." He then leans back while he smoothes the cape away, then pulls on a shemagh, "I'm just looking to take on contracts with the Hunter Guild. It's been difficult finding work."

    Miyako slides into the seat next to Blackrose, patting the girl on the shoulder, and nods. "Well, I guess we'll see what the staff recommends, then." She smiles lightly and gives her attention to Merek. "Hunter's guild, hm? What's been hard about finding work?"

BlackRose gives a smirk to Miyako before looking at Merek a little with an intrigued look on her face. "The Hunter's Guild? I haven't heard much about that. Then again, maybe I'm a bit too wrapped up in things sometimes?" She shrugs, then lets out a soft chuckle. "I suppose we can focus on food for now, and I'm sure the staff will have some recommendations."

    Merek nods a bit to the two, and looks to BlackRose. The man scratches at thick stubble while he seems to try and look to elseplace, nodding, "Well, it's mostly because I want to find missions worth a lot more than the usual. I'm trying to learn more about the world, which is difficult."

    "A bit more than the same old same old, hm?" Miyako nods. "I can understand that. It's why I got into the game in the first place, to see new places, do new things."

    She leans back in her seat and stretches, hands high above her head. "Maybe we could work together for a bit."

"I have my own reasons for getting into the game..." BlackRose trails off, not wanting to talk too much about her personal reason for being in Elder Tale Online. Apparently it's a bit stressful for her, so she tries to change the subject. When Miyako brings up working together, BlackRose looks to her and says, "That could be fun if you ask me."

    "I like MMORPGs, though I was brought to Japan on a work VISA, I work as a Beta Tester for CC," Merek would mention with a nod along to the two in thought. "I welcome people to assist. I am trying to find a way to assist the people."

    "Hmmm... I don't think I've run into anyone else willing to admit to working for CC, much less being a beta-tester. Don't suppose you got any peeks at the new expansion material before it went online?" She has to pause then to converse with the hostess, and work out what she's going to order.

BlackRose simply listens to what Merek and Miyako have to say. She waits her turn to talk to the hostess, while at the same time looking at the menu to see if there's anything else that looks interesting and she could ask the hostess about. All the while, BlackRose is thinking about how variety is the spice of life.

    Merek looks to the two and nods, "Well, I know little, I was asked to test it, that's all. I was given really no special powers besides a way to put tickets for bugs, the game though was really unexploitable, to the point you might wonder what kind of person might code it," he says.

    Miyako finishes her order, turning the hostess over to Blackrose for hers, and settles her attention back on Merek. "So you didn't get any of the new content, just mechanics?" She shrugs. "Darn. Ah, well, a girl can but hope."

Ordering what she chooses, BlackRose turns to look at Merek again. She doesn't say anything for the time being to Merek, but then looks to Miyako. "Yeah, it's all we can do I suppose." She clasps her hands in front of her and leans on them while placing her elbows on the table.

    Merek looks to the food upon the table, and inhales thoughtfully. "Anyway, I apologize. I wish I could be of more assistance. All I have is a lot of lore that I've kept on file that we've learned from being in the New World Alliance."

    "So nothing new compared to the rest of us, then. Ah, well. Was worth asking." She shrugs and leans back in her seat again, tilting it back a little for a few moments. "So what've you been up to the past few days, Rosie?"

"Just the usual same-old, same-old," BlackRose says as she looks to Miyako. "Been trying to find new things to try, but it's not easy. It's mostly exploring the place and seeing what I can come up with." She doesn't seem to want to talk more about her true motives.

    Merek nods along to the two, "I apologize, I don't mean to be a bother in any way, I'm trying to find a way to be useful."

    Miyako waves her hand dismissively. "No, no, it's okay. Just being a gamer, grasping for every cheatsheet I can find, you know how it goes." She smiles warmly and straightens her seat. "Been taking a poke at the Chaos Gates, myself. It'd be nice to have teleport up and running."

"Don't worry about it," BlackRose adds with a slight smile. "You did nothing wrong." She then looks to Miyako and says, "Yeah, teleporters in more areas would be a bit more convenient if you ask me."

    Merek nods a bit in thought while he offers a look to the two, "Well, the Gates are useful," he states, "I am wondering what we all will do in the meantime. I at least should get my own place to settle in and research."

    "Yeah, much the same for me. So far I've just been doing the 'wandering do-gooder' bit, but I want to really accomplish something bigger, you know?" Miyako smiles as her food arrives and grins as she digs in.

BlackRose doesn't say anything, just smiles as she begins enjoying her food. "Well, this is a good place after all," She says after a few bites, washing it down with a drink. "I'm glad we found this place."

    Merek nods a bit, "Well, this is where we call home now, this world. We'll need to adapt in any case," he mentions, while he takes a drink of the cream milk, and looks then to BlackRose, "You managing alright?" He then looks to Miyako, "I've not seen Balmung and Kite in a while, though they seem to know a lot."

    "Fraid I haven't met them," Miyako mentions. "Friends of yours, Rosie?"

"Kite?" BlackRose's eyes go wide for a moment. "I know Kite, but I haven't seen him for a while." She frowns a little. "But I'm sure he's around! I'm sure we can find him and talk to him!"