Rin Tachibana

"Mhmm!" Rin was trying her best to support him, and so far it looked like she was doing an okay job... hopefully. "Excuses arent needed, no matter what situation youre in you should always face your fears and overcome your opponent no matter what it is!" Even though she was saying all of this in an enthusiastic tone and she might be convincing Sousuke, she certainly wasnt believing herself. Her words may be inspirational to others but to herself they were lies. They made her seem stronger than what she actually was. They made people think she was okay.

"Well done," She smiled brightly at Sousuke as her threw the cigarette packet into a nearby bin, "Thats the first step of your recovery!"

"Yes that is exactly what he would want! Now you need to make sure you try your best to save everyone here, dont do anything stupid either. Like smoking. I dont care if it doesnt affect your body here, it is a bad habit to pick up." She nodded to herself, agreeing with the things she had just said to Sousuke. She hoped he would manage to get over his troubles somehow and she would try her best to help him.

The mention of Sousuke's brother hit Rin with a pang. The memories of him had been pushed to the back of Rins mind by force, because every time she thought of him she was reminded of how much she hated being trapped inside of Sword Art Online and the reality of how anyone of them could die at any moment. Rin sighed and wiped Sousukes eyes, "Stop crying baka, tears arent going to help you get stronger now are they?"

"Hey I was about to dri- Sousuke!" Rin was about to scold him when she noticed that he was in very bad condition, the alcohol was getting to his head and affecting his speech and actions. She jumped up and grabbed him by the shoulders for he looked like he was about to topple over any minute now. "I knew you shouldnt have drank all of that baka!"

"Well if it doesnt taste nice why would I want to drink it!" She complained loudly even though she was smiling, evidently in a better mood that earlier. Rin had never been drunk before but she had certainly seen her fair share of people being drunk. Back in the real world her mums boyfriend got drunk all the time and became very aggressive. On the other hand her mum became extremely depressed when she drank and constantly cried. Rin poked the shot glass, deciding whether to drink it or not.

XD please do! And I might have a small figurine of Tristan fall out of her pocket casually in the middle of a thread sometime XD

Tristan x Rin FTW. No point denying it. I bet none of the other couples have especially written fan-fictions and shrines to the other lover. XD

Rin felt the corners of her mouth lifting into a small smile and immediately frowned causing the smile to disappear. She took the vodka shot from Sousuke and observed it curiously having never some across it before. Lifting the shot glass to her lips she took a tiny sip. As the clear liquid slipped down her throat her eyes widened dramatically and she make a choking noise. "EWW!" Exclaimed Rin in surprise, "This tastes horrible!" Her throat burned as she spoke.

Rin stared at Sousuke, remaining silent, as he spoke and fixed his posture after almost toppling over. She pulled her legs up on to her chair and hugged them whilst resting her chin on her knees and listening to what he had to say. He was wrong. He shouldn't have come after her. She needed to stop replying on people saving her and learn to deal with life and its hardships by herself. Her eyes bore into Sousuke as he grinned, her face still blank. Sighing she gave in, "Fine."

"Thank you," Smiled Rin as she accepted the trade and moved the iced tea to her inventory with one swift movement then set off after Jun into the killer heat of the desert.

~*~

Rin noticed the sand lizard a moment too late, her eyes not yet adjusted to the light of the desert and therefore unable to notice it lurking nearby. She watched helplessly as Jun was attacked by the quick-moving sand lizard. Luckily Jun managed to push the monster off of him before it did any damage, meaning that Rin could now attack without there being a chance of hitting Jun by accident.

Sliding her dagger out of its sheath she drove it into the lizards back and watched as it flinched under her attack. However Rin hadnt been focused enough for the hit to deal as much damage as it could have. "You okay?" She called over her shoulder to Jun as she resumed a defensive stance.

• Rolled a 5 on the d10 (battle) dice= hit + 3 weapon and skill
• Sand lizard health= 7/10

"Mmmmm," Rin mumbled in response whilst sipping on her mead once again. Of course she had expected this, it was her own fault. She had just stopped all communication with Sousuke without giving any explanation to him. Her explanation was rather pathetic- she was awkward in relationships and panicked as soon as she left the tavern that day with Sousuke. Rin hated messing things up so she hid from them when she felt that she wasn't strong enough to take them on.

Rins face was expressionless and her eyes were completely blank, not knowing anymore how to function. "Sorry."

Rin felt extremely awkward now and stared at her feet with her hands clutched in each other on her lap. She ringed her hands out nervously for she knew she would have probably angered Sasayakaze and waited for his reaction.

He had a blank expression on his face as he cleaned himself up which made it a lot worse for Rin. She would have preferred it if he was mad and shouted at her- for she could have shouted back hurtful comments If he was sad be would have vulnerable and easy to make it up to... But disappointed... She had no idea how to make that any better.

She could feel herself breaking under his gaze. His cold, blank gaze. It was like he was slowly getting to her, picking away all of her facades to finally reveal her true self. She continued to sit there with an empty expression and stared back at him.

Rin simply stared into midair with a dead look in her eyes for a few moments, her lips slightly parted in a dumb found expression. The mead was certainly having an effect on her and was something she now couldn't control. She didnt know why his answer had this effect on her though, she knew his reply would be something similar to this because of course who wouldnt fall for Sousuke. Rin frowned slightly to herself, maybe this was her fault, maybe she couldnt have been a bit better to him. Her yellow eyes were now wide with an almost ghostly sheen to them as reality sunk in, she couldnt have Sousuke. Something she had wanted for a while but had been too stupid to do anything about it. Rin slowly lifted the bottle up to her lips again.

Rin hiccuped again and reached out for another bottle of mead. She was curiously drawn to the alcohol, it tasted like nothing she had ever tried before, for it contained a mixture of sweet flavors and sharp sour ones. Sousuke seemed to be drinking as much as her so she guessed her behavior was okay and didnt stop drinking little amounts. 

The half empty bottle hit the table with a slam as Rin put it down, "I guess," She sighed. There was a moment of silence whilst she tried to focus her vision on Sousuke for it had been impaired by the alcohol, "Do you still like me?" 

Rin snatched another bottle, and began downing its contents once again. She felt a strange urge to drink as much as she could, almost as if she could drown her fears, worries and problems. As the mead slipped down her throat her body felt warm inside and her cheeks flushed a subtle shade of red. "Do you think..." She hiccuped again, her body still getting used to the alcohol consumption, "We will ever escape?"

Rin felt incredibly awkward, the player was clearly upset and holding back his emotions. He was covering up every negative emotion he had with a mask of smiles and kind words which brushed the attention away from his true feelings. She found it rather annoying, why was he hiding his feelings from himself? He was only making matters worse for himself and others for they were worrying about him.

Out of a random act of frustration Rins arm jerked and her drink hurtled into Sasayakaze's chest, its contents spilling down his front. Rin didnt apologise. She wasnt really sorry about what had happened, it was a way of her expressing her disapproval towards what he was doing.

"Erm..." Rin stared at the wet patch on his top that the drink had caused "...Are you going to clean that up?" 

"I dont like mead, baka," She said whilst poking the bottle in front of her out of boredom. She was probably just saying this to get on Sousukes nerves. Shrugging, she decided that she didnt really mind and reached out a hand towards the bottle. 

Within moments she had down half of its contents, her head now light. She slammed the bottle back onto the table and hiccuped loudly. Rin had never really drank alcohol before, so her body was not used to it. "Ne, Sousuke..."

"Oh," Said Rin rather stupidly, feeling bad for the player, "I am sorry to hear that. I didn't realize sorry, I should have been more sensitive." Rin had never really had to provide for anyone, not even herself. Her mother had always taken care of her when she needed it and insisted on helping her out in every way possible, almost as if she was trying to make up for the things her boyfriend had done.

She could see that he was trying to keep smiling and felt bad once again. Deciding to confront him about his positive attitude she said, "Look, you dont have to lie to yourself or me. If you arent happy with something, dont pretend like you are. It'll make it worse. Just get it all out, I dont mind, dont hold back." Rin gave a small smile, trying to be as kind as she possibly could.

She was a little surprised by his next question and didnt know how to respond at first, she just stared. "Wait what....You mean you have never been to school?"

"No one changes just like that. It's impossible, trust me I know," She muttered not specifically to herself or to Sousuke as she dodged him and went inside the tavern. The inside interior was like that of any other standard tavern across the world of Sword Art Online, the bar being at the center of the room and various seats and tables arranged around it. Rin sighed and slipped into one of the chairs nearby, "Get me whatever, I dont care."

Rin sighed, "Fine, lets make it quick though because I have only just had a drink." She tried to brush him off as if she didnt care, knowing that this wasnt true though. She knew that there was no way he could change instantly so she would have to keep on working on it, this meant not pretending like everything was okay. "Come on then baka," She called over her shoulder as she walked off, her hair still dripping.

"Oh... Yeah..." Rin had forgotten she was standing in the middle of a fountain for a moment, her stupidity caused her to laugh a little. She stepped out of the fountain and waited for Sousuke to follow her, not wanting to help him out in case he screamed at her again for some reason. Rin decided to ignore his comment about missing her smile as well, she was still unsure of him being sane for the time being.

Rin was taken by surprise when Sousuke apologized, that was the last thing she was expecting at this moment in time. However now that she thought about this situation from an outsiders point of view, it must look pretty humorous- two players who had just been arguing and then had suddenly fallen into a fountain. A small smile sneaked onto Rins lips, "Its fine. I am just worried, dont go do anything stupid." 

"Wha-" Rin turned around only to see that Sousuke had lost his footing and about to fall into the water fountain. With quick reflexes she managed to grab hold of Sousukes wrist just before he broke the surface of the water. However she was not strong enough to pull him back and ended falling into the water with him. She flailed about in surprise for a moment of two before lifting herself out of the water, drenched through from head to toe and her long hair partially covering her face. Glaring at Sousuke who was below her she folded her arms.

Rin was not phased by his screaming, she knew that he could not harm her whilst they were inside a safe zone- which all towns on floor one were. However she was very annoyed at him, she was only trying to be kind to him for she was truly concerned about his well-being at the moment. "Hmph!" She glared at him for a few minutes, not saying a single thing whilst feeling rather hurt on the inside. "Well if you are going to be like this, I might not bother next time I see you!" She turned her back to him, her hands in shaking fists by her side as rage trembled through her body. She just wanted him to be okay.

Rin glared at Sousuke and snatched the next cigarette just as she had done to the first one, "Stop it! It is bad for you!" She frowned at him sternly, "Yeah sure you can smoke if you want to but I am not going to let you!" She meant it, if he took any more cigarettes out of his pocket she would steal them without hesitation and dispose of them. "Whats wrong with you?!" Rin sighed, not really knowing how to go about the situation and what to say.

"What happened?" She knew something serious must have for him to change like this.