[PP-F01] Take Off <<TFFLAF>> w/ Arabelle

[Roulette 0]

Roulette calmly left the shop, although he was pretty sure he was going to lose that damn facade once he actually starts gathering. Seriously, what had he been doing for the last two years? Everything seemed quite a bit fuzzy to him and he couldn't explain why. Although, he was sure that the NerveGear was messing up his head... in more ways than one. Never had he ever felt so stooped in his life. There were frontliners with two years worth of progress under their belt and where was he? Doing the damned beginning fetch quest on the first floor when there are already more than twenty discovered. He didn't doubt himself, surely. He was most certain that he would join their ranks eventually. He was lacking time, though. Much of it. If he was going to be on top, he's going to have to finish things twice as fast.

He pushed up his glasses and pressed his lips into a thin line. Did he really need glasses right now? They were useless now that his vision was as clear as day.

He shooed the thought away and looked at the sun in the sky. It was smack dab in the sky. Noon. That should be enough time to gather a few materials and make a stupid potion. He didn't waste much time staying in that spot for long since he was already nearing the town exit. Roulette ran a hand through his tousled orange hair and sighed. There was a gut feeling he had and it made him feel uneasy. It's going to be a long ass day.

@Arabelle

Edited June 16, 2019 by Roulette

[Arabelle 0]

The boredom got to her sometimes.

Seated atop a random NPC settlement's roof (and much to the dismay of the AI occupants who had took to the balcony to shoo her off like an annoying stray cat only to be overridden by their coded routines and leave after a few minutes), Arabelle whistled to the tune of an old pop song and swung her legs in a rather childish fashion. She watched players come and go. The main road leading to the west town exit saw the most activity at noon. Players waited for their party members or just formed them right on the spot. Her keen ears caught bits of conversations. Quests, dungeons, changes in the floor structure, occurrences, rumors.

Information exchanges.

A few passed curious glances at the small purple-haired girl seated atop a settlement, dressed in a full set of light armor with a scythe larger than her person at her lap. Then her ashen gaze met theirs and they shook their heads to themselves and continued on their business.

Kids these days, they must have thought. But she wasn't a kid.

Arabelle smiled to herself and propped her chin on her palm. People watching.

[Roulette 0]

Roulette narrowed his eyes as several murmurs and whispers echoed around him. What was so interesting that they had to stop in the middle of the effing street? His eyes followed theirs up the scale of a house and he raised an eyebrow at the sight. What an odd sight it was. A girl that can't be much taller than a middle schooler was sitting almost peacefully on a villager's roof. The brunette's eyes narrowed at her. He didn't like the way she looked at people. She looked almost too at peace and it bugged the hell out of him. The player scoffed to himself. This floor certainly held people from all kinds here, freaks and all. She certainly looked... odd. The scythe in front of her didn't make her look any less normal, too. A weird weapon for a weird girl, he guessed. 

He stared at the peculiar girl with bored eyes for a few more moments before walking off like everybody else. He didn't need to spend time looking at a toddler when he could be finishing this quest. 

[Arabelle 0]

Her gaze lingered on a player with vibrant orange hair. It was really his unusual hair color that drew her attention to him, but when she found him looking up at her, she found herself returning his bored stare with an equally disinterested one of her own.

A staring contest.

Then, he looked away. So did Arabelle. She whistled to a newer pop song this time as she watched the other players passing by. He was certainly an odd person - not just because of his hair. Unusual hair colors were a normal thing at this point. Arabelle had purple hair, Claude had pink, and she was sure even Leah's pretty, pretty red hair wasn't natural. No - it was his glasses. Glasses were unnecessary and inconvenient with how quickly they fogged up, and she didn't know why players still chose to wear them as a design choice.

The NPCs were there again, and they were louder and much more persistent this time.

"Alright, fiiiine." 

Arabelle rose from her seat and dusted off her short skirt. She dematerialized her scythe and leaped off the NPC settlement's roof... and onto the next. But she didn't stop there. She kept running, clearing a wider jump with a running start and barely pausing to recover as she landed. A small purple-haired girl's laughter could be heard by the players passing by the streets underneath as she roof-hopped her way to the edge of the Town of Beginnings. She was now approaching the town wall at record speed.

But she didn't stop. Arabelle skipped into a half-crouch position and launched herself high up into the air.

She flipped over midair and landed atop the town wall, extending her arms to regain her balance. The small purple-haired girl turned back to look at the town beneath her, the red ribbon in her hair threatening to come undone in the strong wind, and she smirked. Arabelle dropped down to the ground at the other side of the wall - outside the safe zone, where a certain player with orange hair might be - and resummoned her scythe.

That was fun.

[Roulette 0]

Ji-hu had just left the safe zone and was immediately met with the same girl from town. He huffed and dipped his hands into his pants as he titled his head questionably at her. "You travel fast," he remarked. "To who do I do my great pleasure to?" He said sarcastically, rolling his eyes. He had no interest in this girl, but some things about her did spark some curiosity in him. Example; that giant ass scythe in her hand. It was a strange weapon of choice but he didn't bother asking her out loud. Time was ticking by, and so was his patience.

"I have places to be. Sorry, not sorry," he announced, although whispering the last part of the sentence under his breath as he started to walk away from the peculiar girl. Time was money! That was how the saying went, right? Though he didn't check if the girl had followed him or not, one half of him wanted her to leave him the hell alone and the other one wanted to find out more about this kid looking player. 

[Arabelle 0]

Someone had approached her already. Of course they would. Arabelle had been impressed by her little feat herself! It hadn't been the first time she leaped past the town wall, but her perfect landing at the end deserved bonus points.

"Mm...?" The small purple-haired girl turned her head to the source of the voice. Standing in front of her was the orange-haired guy with glasses from earlier. He was tall, and kind of a looker now that she had a better look. Arabelle casually sheathed her scythe at her back and smiled. "Oh, so you were looking at me earlier," she hummed with a light teasing tone to her voice. As much of a tease it was, it implied she had been watching him, too. She noted his rather unfriendly demeanor, but there had to be some reason he approached her. People don't start conversations for absolutely no reason. It was a common rule! "Arabelle. I find that going through the rooftops is much easier than shouldering your way through a crowd. Not everyone can do it though... you'd have to be light and you have to jump pretty high!"

Then, he started to walk away. In the middle of a conversation. Ruuude. But now that he had caught her interest, she decided to tag along and kept a small distance between them. 

Arabelle would take anything to relieve herself from the monotony of this day.

"Well, same here. I'm heading out to grab some materials from the lower-leveled area nearby. What about you?"

[Roulette 0]

He gave a sideways glance before looking away again with a sigh. What an odd girl, indeed. "I suppose I was. It's not everyday you see a toddler on a rooftop with a giant scythe," he said bluntly, "but you were looking at me too, I assume?" Roulette asked, feeling a cold shiver go down his spine as he thought about it. He didn't like people watching him, especially if he was unaware of it. The auburn haired player turned his head towards Arabelle and quirked a brow. "That's... interesting, but I guess someone with your height would be perfectly built for that," he commented, his eyes doing a once-over on the girl again. 

Roulette internally sighed as he heard footsteps following after him.

Great.

Realizing that he had a social butterfly on his hands, he gave up and answered her with a blank face. "Just some gathering for a certain quest," he muttered a reply as he blew a stray strand out of his face again. "It's very exciting."

@Arabelle

Edited June 28, 2019 by Roulette

[Arabelle 0]

A toddler.

Arabelle's impression of 'a slightly rude guy' immediately went to 'big, cocky, dumb-dumb who doesn't know when to keep his mouth shut.' But he only just met her, and she was feeling nice enough to let it pass. "Ara, ara? Were you feeling conscious? I was. Don't feel special though, it wasn't just you." The small purple-haired girl fell into pace with him, but she had a rather childish skip to her step. "It's not every day you see a guy in glasses. Those things really aren't a trend now that everyone has 20/20 vision, you know?"

He mentioned gathering. Arabelle knew at least two quests that required gathering in Floor 1, and indeed, both were very exciting. She took the beginner quest with some cute boy with confidence and relationship issues, and the quest to unlock her crafting skill with some cute boy with confidence and relationship issues.

They were two different people, promise.

"Mhm. The one with the old NPC who wouldn't stop quoting dead people, right?" She was never gonna live that one down. Walking beside him, she considered her options. Arabelle had gone out to gather materials for her shop. She could do it without company, or she could do it with some unfriendly but might prove to be quite interesting company. Plus, maybe he was just as much of a tsundere as Huginn. It wasn't much of a debate. "Then, follow me. I know the best place to gather materials. Doesn't have mobs either. Whether or not you fail thrice in a row would be completely up to you though."

Arabelle was feeling a bit helpful today.

"Ever been to the <<Garden>>? The one with the <<Nature's Treasure>> buff. The area I'm talking about is right beside it. The lesson quest doesn't count materials gathered in the <<Garden>>, but the area right outside it though... Well, either due to the over-abundance of materials or just some pre-set parameters, materials tend to spawn more in the area directly outside it as compared to--"

Who was she kidding. She was not a Claude.

"Something like that. I'll lead the way." Having cut her exposition dump in half, Arabelle tucked her hands behind her back and smiled innocently. "What's your name?"

[Roulette 0]

He placed a hand over his heart in faux drama but kept his face neutral. "Wow, I feel utterly heartbroken," he said, sarcasm lacing in his tone. He gave her a sideways glance before rolling his eyes, turning his attention back to the endless expanse of the floor. Roulette rose an eyebrow and gave her another look before shrugging his shoulders. "I suppose I never really see anyone wear them," he sighed, pushing his glasses up. "It's a force of habit," he said, referring to the way he pushed his glasses up. "I would look like an idiot if I pushed up my nonexistent glasses in public. It's not like they fall off easily, either. So as long as they don't bother me, I don't particularly care if I have them on or not," the auburn-haired player shrugged his shoulders again as his explanation came to a close. 

He sighed and massaged the bridge of his nose with his forefinger and thumb, "Sure, whatever you want to think." He had no idea what the hell she was talking about, but he went along with it. This was probably another Sairies situation and he definitely did not want a repeat of what happened with her. Arabelle was far more childish than Sairies, though it seemed. He wasn't sure if it was more annoying or not, really. "Sounds fun, lead the way." As much as he didn't want her around, he had to take advantage of this situation.

He raised another eyebrow as she began to ramble about game mechanics, but didn't really much question it. Weird people do weird things, he guessed? "Sounds like you know the game pretty well," he mused as he let out another inaudible sigh. "Username wise?" He mumbled, his eyes shifting forward again, "Roulette."

@Arabelle

[Arabelle 0]

"Mhm. I know a few people who just got used to it though," Arabelle related with a slight shrug of her shoulders. She still didn't entirely prefer the way he talked - he sounded like a meaner version of her best friend - but he was better than nothing, and she was partways glad this conversation wasn't utterly one-sided. "But, it's really just preference. You do you. 

"But, but, hey. You know that fighting move they use in movies? A character aims for their opponent's glasses and... jab!" The small purple-haired girl imitated that same gesture. Not at him though. Heck, no. She wasn't about to be seen as a trigger-happy lunatic. She turned her head in his direction and smiled innocently, tucking her hands behind her back once again. "Kidding. Like I said, you do you. If you eliminate everything that you think would get in your way, you might actually be left with nothing."

It didn't take them long to get to the area she indicated though midway, Arabelle felt a bit impatient. She chanced a quick search for materials, her ashen eyes turning a bright red as she assessed the area around her with <<Detection>>. Blank. Disappointed, she deactivated her <<Detection>>.

He told her his name: Roulette. 

"Does it have something to do with gambling?" Was the first thing that came to her mind. It was a bit of an unusual name. It didn't sound like anything one would normally address a person by. When he commented on her knowledge on the game though, she waved her hand dismissively with a small smirk. "Well... you can only remain ignorant on some of the more important stuff for so long, you know? This thing's been going on for three years. Get with the system, sugar~."

Spoiler

ID: 118139 | LD: 7

Edited June 30, 2019 by Arabelle

[Roulette 0]

He gave the girl a look. As much as he wanted to question what was going through her head, he thought better of it. It honestly freaked him out just a tad bit, but who was he to judge? "I never knew that impaired vision could lead to glass to the face," he said out loud, blinking lazily along the grass floor as he continued looking for materials. Innocent was the last thing he thought about as he looked at her. For all he knew, this woman could be a person who escaped out of a mental institution, but was he so wrong to think that? "How poetic of you," he remarked, rolling his eyes slowly.

"I suppose you can say that. I mean, it's basically a gamble being out of town. For all I know, a player-killer could be stalking us as we know it," Roulette said eerily before laughing lightly to himself. "But I don't really care what I go by in here," he shrugged nonchalantly. "Real name or not, people don't tend to ask me for my name enough for me to actually care." He tilted his head as her face twisted into a smirk, his brow quirking up once again. "Yeah, but I doubt that the majority of the hormonal teenagers the game was going for would really care about game mechanics and parameters."

ID: 118328

LD: 1, huzzah

Total Mats: 0

@Arabelle

[Arabelle 0]

"It wasn't supposed to be." 

Skipping alongside him, the small purple-haired girl hummed in agreement at Roulette's explanation of his odd name. It was really just some justification he thought of on the fly and it still sounded like the sort of username a twelve-year-old would pick because it sounded cool, but... made sense! "That's always a possibility. But - " and to show off, Arabelle tapped the scythe on her back - "We've got my scythe and Teleport Crystals are a thing." She made another quick, unsuccessful search for materials as they progressed through a grassy field before continuing, "Besides, this is much better than sitting around in the safe zone and doing nothing. People who rely on others to face all the dangers for them are the worst kind of cowards."

She almost laughed at his remark. "So are you saying you're one of those hormonal teenagers? You're kind of wrong though~. SAO's main appeal was its entire full-dive thing, but mechanics and parameters are still a part of it. It's still a game. As long as you're here, playing it, you'd need to learn how things work. Kind of like how it is in the real world, but replace all that practical knowledge with knowledge of how stats work and how you can best use that to your advantage."

Already, the fence separating the <<Garden>> from the rest of the zone was visible. Arabelle stopped her unfriendly quest partner and made a vague gesture at the area surrounding them. "Here we are. There's no clear borderline, but... as long as the fence is still visible, you can be sure you're in the right place. Just don't walk into the <<Garden>>. Materials there don't count." 

Spoiler

ID: 118331 | LD: 12

 

Edited July 2, 2019 by Arabelle