"A Tour of Asheron's Dream."
By Nidonemo
You approach the Asheron's Dream Linkshell House. There are flowers planted on either side of the door, giving the house a happy and well-kept appearance. You walk up to the big white door and knock. A Mithra answers.
"Oh hi, um I'm Reiswind! You must be the new member! Come on in!"
The smiling Mithra shows you inside and closes the door behind you. She looks a little tired and out of breath.
"I'm really sorry, I'm in the middle of ...something, and I won't be able to show you around uh hang on, CHICHI!? WE HAVE A NEW MEMBER! COULD YOU GIVE THEM THE GUIDED TOUR PLEASE!? I'M SORRY BUT I'M IN A HURRY!"
Reiswind brushes the hair out of her eyes and starts toward the Eastern hallway.
"She'll be right with you, I'm terribly sorry about this, she's very nice she'll be with you in a moment, again I'm very sorry!"
Reiswind gives a final wave and disappears behind the corner. After a moment another Mithra approaches and bows politely.
"Hi hi! It's a pleasure to meet you! You must be the newest member! Welcome to the Asheron's Dream Linkshell house! I'm Chihiru but everyone calls me Chichi!"
She smiles warmly and bows again.
"Sorry about that, Reiswind has her paws full right now and hasn't had time for anything, heh such is the life of a Linkshell Leader! Um let's start with the kitchen."
You follow her down the West hallway and enter a door leading into a very large kitchen."This is the kitchen, as you can see there's everything here, sink, pantry, refrigerator, trash is under the sink. Um one rule we have about the kitchen is you bring your own food and you clean up your own mess. Oh that's two rules! Oops! Heh! Um moving on we have the bedrooms!"
She leads you down another hallway and into a bigger corridor, on either side are doors leading into bedroom after bedroom. She stops at the first door which is painted white.
"This is Reiswind's and Samanosuke's room. Samanosuke is Reiswind's husband. They love each other very much and never fight."
Suddenly the door swings open and Samanosuke falls flat on his rear end in the hall.
"GET OUT! GET OUT! GET OUT!"
"Dear it was just a joke I swear!"
"GET OUT!"
Samanosuke scrambles to his feet and runs out of the hall as the door slams shut. Chihiru is silent for a moment.
"Um...they do have their little spats though. Like every couple does! Hey fights are healthy for a relationship! Moving on, we have Nido's room!"
You stop in front of a blue door, there is an old sheet of parchment pinned on it that has the Royal Seal of San d'Oria on the bottom, it looks like a health hazard warning as well as a notice of public endangerment, but before you can read it, Chihiru rips it down laughing nervously.
"Oh! Uh how did that get there? Hahahaha uh this is Nido's room, he's the son of Reiswind and Samanosuke. Let's see if he's in! Nido?"
She slowly opens the door. Inside there is a blue haired Tarutaru sitting in the middle of a pile of dead Mandragoras, some of them have been mutilated beyond recognition, he holds up a live Mandragora and snarls, the Mandragora struggles to get out of his grip. The Tarutaru slams a hand on the Mandragora's head and it begins squealing in fear, with a single movement the Tarutaru rips the head off with a sickening crunch of bone and the tearing of sinew. Blood begins to gush from the bloody stump where the Mandragora's head was once attached. Chihiru slams the door.
".......that was Nido!"
She says in a cheery voice smiling nervously.
"Yes that was Nido...he's uh...special...yes...uh...very special. He's actually very nice when you get to meet him. Um just...don't make him...mad."
Chihiru's seems suddenly saddened.
"There was this...member...who did make Nido angry, this was when the Linkshell was still starting out. Um, he made Nido very angry and...uh...I don't like talking about it but uh let's just say that compound fractures can HAVE compound fractures...Nido blacklisted him after that. He can't hear his screams anymore...but the rest of Vana'diel can. Nido also had the doctors of this land discover that even they can't...heal....certain...things. No it wasn't a very...happy...day."
Chihiru seems very disturbed and is wringing her paws. Suddenly she turns to you and smiles.
"Nido is very, uh how should I put this...uh...energetic! He loves the Linkshell and all the members in it. He's very nice. Um, he tries to help whenever he can but he's somewhat limited because of his level. We've actually given him his own title too, The Feral Tarutaru of Windurst! Perhaps you've heard of it! We did it as a joke but he seems to take it quite...seriously for some reason. Um moving on is Darcia's room!"
You stop in front of a red door; on it are posters of beautiful Mithra, some in bathing suits, some dressed in leather armor.
"This is Darcia's room! Um Darcia is, okay bear with me on this, the younger older brother of Nido. Yeah I know it's confusing, it'll take you about 2 weeks to fully understand. Anyway, as you can see Darcia is...quite fond of the...Kitty Bar...now this drives Reiswind crazy. She tries her best to keep him from going but what are ya gonna do? Boys are boys and that's all they are, heh. Don't get me wrong, Darcia's a great guy; he's sweet, well mannered, kind...um...yeah. He's a lot of fun to be around."
As you move on to the next door Darcia exits his room and slips something under Nido's door, after a moment Nido bursts out of his room and chases Darcia down the hall and around the corner. Chihiru looks at you and smiles.
"Sibling rivalry, can't live with it, can't live without it!"
You move on to the next door. It is painted light pink and is slightly open.
"This is my room! Come on in!"
As you enter Chihiru sits upon her bed, the sheets are also light pink and the pillow is shaped like a heart. The walls are neatly lined with posters of various genres; one poster hangs above the bed. It is of a very handsome Elvaan. He is looking into the distance and has a very mysterious air about him. Chihiru notices you looking at it and looks at it as well.
"That's Sir Koni. He's really cute! I love his plays and theater work. Um...yeah! Haha."
Chihiru blushes and looks around the room frantically. She picks up a small plush doll shaped like a Tonberry.
"Uh look it's Mr. Stabby! Hi Mr. Stabby!"
She holds it up and makes it dance in the air. She then tosses it behind her and gets up.
"Uh yeah, let's continue the tour shall we!?"
As you exit her room she seems relieved a little, she is still blushing. Before you can enter the hallway, a blue Rooster races by. Nido chases after him laughing, as Chihiru shuts her door she looks at them racing down the hall and around another corner.
"That's Nido's pet Rooster, Mr. Sprinkles. Believe it or not, if it wasn't for Nido, that Rooster would have long been dead. He found him in a cage in the Orc camp in Ghelsba Outpost. He killed every last Orc there to save him. He loves that Rooster to death, they're inseparable. Isn't that just adorable!?"
Chihiru stops before you can reach the next door.
"Oh yes. Don't make fun of Nido having a Rooster as a pet, or make Rooster jokes either. Darcia once commented on how Mr. Sprinkles might look good with a side of baked Popoto and roasted Millioncorn and Nido almost burned the house down, he was so mad."
Chihiru seems nervous again but she shrugs it off and continues to the next door, which is painted dark green. Before Chihiru can tell you who it belongs to, an Elvaan exits, he carries a small crossbow armed with a tiny dart.
"Hi Jaded! How are you?"
Chihiru smiles and bows to the Elvaan, and the Elvaan smiles and nods.
"Hello Chichi. Who's this?"
Jaded motions to you.
"This is the newest member. I'm giving the guided tour. Uh what are you doing with that crossbow?"
"Oh this, Nido is really hyper and I'm trying to get some work done so I thought I'd do us all a favor and give him his 'happy pills' before he gets into any trouble. Nice to meet you, newcomer. Have fun."
Jaded nods and races down the hall and around the corner, Chihiru waves and turns to you.
"Jaded's really nice, he's a great guy. Um a little tough on the outside but he's a big softy one you get to know him, but don't tell him I said that. He'll be very angry at me."
She giggles and leads you to the next door. This one is painted with a Ranger insignia.
"This room belongs to Omegaboost. He's the Ranger of the Linkshell and he's very good with a bow. Darcia and Nido tease him all the time about how Elvaans don't make good Rangers but I beg to differ."
Chihiru leads you to another door, this one is covered in scratch marks and there are deep gashes in the door.
"This is Seeco's room. He LOVES to Train monsters. When he's not leveling up or making money, he's Training Rarabs or whatever he can find. Nido, Darcia and the others love to Train as well. Training is when you aggravate one monster and run past others making them give chase as well and you build it up from there. Seeco is very good at it. He loves Training in Valkurm Dunes because it's so open and the Rabbits are plentiful there. Nido holds the Record in Palborough Mines! He's always trying to break it though; his current record is 25 dead when the train crashes. Nido made up his own terminology and rules for it too! Isn't that cool?"
Suddenly the floor starts to shake and she grabs your hand and pulls you back toward the wall.
"Here we go!"
Darcia bursts in from around the corner being chased by Nido and Mr. Sprinkles, who are in turn being chased by Jaded, who is followed by Seeco who is in turn being chased by 40 very angry Yagudo, who are followed by Samanosuke who is being pounded on by Reiswind who is apparently very, VERY angry. They all rush past in a huge cloud of dust and disappear behind the opposite corner down the hall. A single angry Savanna Rarab appears from the starting corner and passes and disappears after them. You look at Chihiru and she smiles.
"That is what we call the 'afternoon traffic' it usually starts with either Darcia or Nido and it escalates from there. It actually almost seems like a form of art when you see it from the start, really!"
Chihiru slaps her forehead and gasps.
"Oh no! I forgot I needed to be somewhere this afternoon! Oh I'm terribly sorry but I have to leave. I um hope you have fun in the Linkshell and uh I hope you make a lot of friends and uh oh no um ask Nido if you need anything! I'm very sorry! It was very nice meeting you! Bye!"
Chihiru bows repeatedly and frantically races to her room and grabs her coat as she races out the door. You stand there, and the house is silent.
END