Disclaimers: All the characters in this fic is copyright of Karash, if there are any similarities between my characters and actual characters, it is purely coincidental. NPC characters and the Game Ragnarok Online belong to the Creators of Ragnarok.


Chapter Three

            Daren coughed, signaling everything was ready and all Cid had to do was begin talking. The green haired knight frowned, tapping his chin in deep thought. After a long pause, he began,
            "Okay, Addy…"


TG Cid

            Okay, Addy… Addy… Addy… well, everyone tells me that the way she acted could be divided into two timelines: Before Warse and After Warse. But since you asked me, I really couldn't tell the difference. Addy was just… Addy.
            And by that, it means she's always talking. Addy loves to talk, and I do mean love. She can go on and on and on and on! Gods, sometimes I'm just about ready to strangle her just to get some peace and quiet!
            I'm not the type who likes silence, but Addy's chatter was just too… what's that word… redundant! It's like she thinks she can't exhaust her subject even though it already was exhausted! More than exhausted… heck beyond exhausted. Well that's just me; everyone else seems to find it amusing. Why, I'll never understand.
            There was this one time Addy dragged me along one of her travels. No way in hell was I about to suffer her noise alone! So I managed to get Arwyn and Futari to come along. Unfortunately Futari, being Futari, had gotten lost so Arwyn went to look for him. Meaning I got stuck with Addy.
            Arwyn had suggested we stay put so it would be easier for her to find us and it would prevent Addy from getting lost as well. So what were we supposed to do in the meantime? Addy decided we should have a meaningful conversation… which became a meaningful monologue. Addy's meaningful monologue. I thought I was going to lose my mind at that point.
            Maybe I would have, if she had kept at it. I wanted to thank my lucky stars when I heard a squeaking noise, meaning poison spores were nearby. More than one actually as five of those walking mushrooms came out and mobbed us. I had to take out four of them, while Addy barely managed to kill the fifth.
            By the time she finally managed to kill it, I was pretty hurt. It wouldn't have been so bad if she had just given me some red potions. But of course she had to feel all guilty and try to help me out. How? By talking!!!
            "It helps distract you from the pain." She explained to me. Yes, it diverted my attention from my wounds, only because of the headache that came as a result. As if that wasn't enough, she just had to come up with that god-awful nickname.
            "You're The Thunder God, so that's TG for short. Teeg! I think I'll call you that! Teeg!! Teeg!! Teeg!!" she giggled like this deranged idiot that escaped an asylum.
            Her chatter wasn't the only thing that was irritating. Have you ever heard a shriek from Addy? Let me put it this way, get five mukas together in one room and have them all cry at the same time. Multiply the sound you hear five more times and that's Addy's shriek.
            I probably sound so mean at this point, but that's just how things were between me and Addy. We hardly knew anything about each other, even though we were guildmates. Probably the only thing I can say I know about her is that she's a scaredy cat. She does have a habit of shrieking at minor things, but that's not what I meant.
            It's like this one time, Addy had been traveling with me, Ollie, and Lucita. We were all supposed to check out the pyramids, just see if there was anything worthwhile. Of course we stopped over in Morroc and as usual Addy got lost. Rather she got separated from us, I don't know how she managed to exactly, she just did.
            When we realized she was missing (which was when we noticed things became so quiet), we went to look for her. We found her in one of the alleys, her eyes were puffy, her face was pale and she was clearly frightened.
            At first we thought something horrible had happened to her, hell even I was worried. Then she blurted out how scared she was because she thought we had abandoned her. Like we would really do something like that. Although it was tempting when she began to ramble.
            When that Warse showed up, I didn't get to see Addy much. Not that I'm complaining, I was relieved I saw less of her. Hell, it's no secret that I tolerate her at best, even she knows it. And yet, for some unexplainable reason, she never once stopped trying to hug me.
            As for Warse, well… let's just say I preferred Addy over him. Although I couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He must have been either mentally insane or a glutton for punishment to stay with Addy. All I can say is: better him than me.


            "Is that how you view Miss Addy? How very unfortunate, from the stories she has told me, she thinks very highly of you." Darin observed.
            "Huh? She must loonier than I thought she was." Cid laughed.
            A warp portal suddenly opened and out came a very harassed priest. His white hair was in complete disarray and his chocolate colored eyes were seemingly glazed with fatigue.
            "Hacky, what happened?" Lucita gasped, quickly catching the priest before he fell to the floor.
            "Give him some air." Tommas ordered, fanning Hacky with the holy man's own biretta.
            "Hacky… Hacky… is this man Father Haecceitas?" Darin asked.
            "Whoa, I didn't know Hacky was famous." Futari blinked.
            "Oh, that, Miss Addy mentioned him a few times. He's 'The most adorable, lovable, darling priest to ever grace Rune Midgard with his uber cute self.' At least, according to Miss Addy." he chuckled. "In fact, he's the only priest that she mentions, other than Warse."
            "Did she mention that Hacky here's 'The Traumatized?'" Cid motioned.
            "No, she didn't, would you be kind enough to elaborate on that Mr. Cid?"
            "I think it would be best to have Hacky tell the story." The knight replied. "When he's feeling better that is."
            "I can wait." The Scribe nodded, adjusting his parchments and inkwells.
            "He's coming to." Lucita announced, helping the dazed priest onto a chair.
            "Hacky, how many fingers am I holding up?" Tommas asked, raising his pinky.
            "Oh Tommas, I'm fine. And I can perfectly see you're holding up one finger. Give me a second to heal myself." A bright green glow surrounded the priest and whatever wounds he had received instantly healed.
            "What happened to you Hacky?" Ollie queried as he cleaned his monocle.
            "Was exploring the caves in Payon with Moneo and Regame. Munaks started mobbing us, and the next thing we knew Bonguns joined in the fray. We each warped away I just don't know where Reg and Moneo warped to."
            "Father Haecceitas, would it be alright if I asked you for a story?" Darin spoke up.
            "I beg your pardon? Who are you?"
            "Oh, forgive me father, I'm Darin Carsen, a traveling scribe. If it will be alright with you, could you tell me a tale about Miss Addy?"
            "Um… what about Addy?" Haecceitas asked.
            "Relax, she's not here Hacky. Just talk about your traumatic moments with her." Cid snickered.
            "Isn't that putting things a bit too harshly, Cid?" the priest frowned.
            "Hey, I call it like I see it." the knight snorted.
            "Well, if Mister Cid is being too harsh, would you like to give your tale?"
            The white haired man gave a small smile in consent.
            "Outside of the guild…"


Haecceitas

            Outside of the guild, I'm known as "Deep at Heart," in Schattenjägers I'm "The Traumatized." Not that I'm literally traumatized, it's a silly inside joke we made ever since Addy became a member of our guild. I'm pretty confident that in the stories other people would have about Addy, there is a mention of her insatiable urge to 'huggle.'
            I'm correct, aren't I?
            Well, in Schattenjägers, Addy likes to huggle one particular person more than the rest. And that unlucky person happens to be me. Coming from a rather conservative family, where physical interaction between members is limited to the respectful kissing, I was certainly not used to having someone hug me. Much less all the time. I never could get used to her hugs, no matter how many times she would latch her arms around me.
            I unconsciously cringe whenever I hear Addy's voice, thus my guildmates began calling me "The Traumatized." I'm sure Addy meant well with the affections she was showing me, but it did feel awkward, not to mention appear very, very wrong. I am a man of the cloth, so people expect me to have a higher level of morality.
            Addy didn't seem to care though. I'm not saying what other people thought didn't bother her. It's just that, as long as she was hugging me, she acted as if nothing else mattered. But the moment she lets go, and someone comments about it, she becomes so flustered and embarrassed. And when she gets embarrassed she starts talking, I think it's because she believes it diverts the attention from her hugs to her words.
            She's really very self-conscious, come to think about it. Could hardly manage to go any place alone, although she keeps attributing this to her 'being so weak.' She always felt that people would have problems because of her weakness, and Cid had a habit of rubbing it in her face.  While Addy usually feigns indignation in response to Cid's comments, she sometimes did get genuinely hurt.
            It's a very disturbing experience to see Addy feeling sad. She wouldn't smile, wouldn't eat, wouldn't talk, wouldn't even hug me! I don't know how she fared before she joined the guild, but she would just sit in a corner and stare at nothing. If we asked her to join us on something, even if it was just to look for a new headquarter (our original base used to be one of Zjic's spare houses), she always declined. Yet seeing her angry was a different matter.
            I remember this one time Cid had just remarked how 'pathetic' Addy's fighting skills were (that man can be so mean). Because of this, she became determined to kill a savage. I was willing to heal her if she needed help, but she refused.
            "I want to be able to tell Teeg I had managed to slay a savage all on my own. Maybe then he'll give me some respect."
            So I accompanied her to the fields where the savages grazed. [Cid: Actually she begged him to go with her. Lucita: Cid, shut up and let Hacky tell the story!] *ahem* Once we arrived, she attacked the first savage she spotted. Just when it seemed she was nearing victory, a blue haired hunter arrived and Double Straffed the pig.
            The energy pierced straight into the savage's heart, killing it instantly. Normally, Addy wouldn't be bothered that someone else made the killing blow, but this time it was different. She had downed red potion after red potion just to be able to hold her ground against the savage, and I think Cid's remark finally got to her.
            "What was that for Irlan?!?!" Addy demanded hotly.
            "You were taking too long." He shrugged. "I thought I'd do you and the savage a favor by finishing things quickly."
            Now, it's obvious that Addy's a very happy person, always smiling and teasing people with her silly nicknames. Her energy appeared inexhaustible, so it was only natural that her anger would be just as potent. Actually, Lucita had described Addy's pit of anger as a "bottled Lord of Vermillion."
            True enough, her anger was something to be reckoned with, as she began to verbally assault the hunter.
            "How inconsiderate of you!! There are dozens of savages available for you to kill, why couldn't you have just left this one to me?!? It's not as if I was blocking your way. Are you so weak that if you attacked a savage all by yourself, you'd need a priest to resurrect your sorry posterior?!?"
            These aren't what she said exactly, I'm just paraphrasing because she had used… cruder words that I may not repeat. As it turns out, Addy had encountered Irlan (the hunter) before. They weren't what you could call 'childhood friends,' nor were they 'friendly rivals.' I'm not sure what the relationship between them was.
            The two started bickering, with Irlan using even fouler words and curses. Addy, in her rage, would not back down and touched on a very sensitive subject that left the hunter speechless.
            "I think the reason why no woman would even consider liking you other than the fact you're a self-centered son of a matyr, is because your arrows probably have more virility than you do!"
            I didn't want to see how that would end, so I decided to warp both myself and the still enraged Addy back to Zjic's house.


            The members of Schattenjägers were howling in laughter as the white haired priest finished his tale.
            "I remember when Addy told me about that. I wished I could have been there to watch!" Futari hooted.
            "She does know how to hit below the belt, at least verbally." Lucita giggled.
            "That Irlan deserved it." Kharnoz nodded with a grin. "I mean, whenever we encounter him, he's always picking a fight with us."
            "Well he's an idiot, the fact he joined Jaded Crimson proves it!" Ollie scoffed condescendingly.
            "Could you explain that further Mister Ollie?" Daren requested, the mention of the Jaded Crimson guild caught The Scribe's interest.
            The monocle-wearing hunter scratched his head. "I'll think about it…"