Jomei

Jomei took in one last deep breath to steady his breathing before walking over to where Koga lay flat on the ground. Extending a hand out towards him, he offered to help him up to his feet. Koga holding back to delay the minotaur for a few extra seconds was crazy, even for Jomei. Shoulders shuddered as a small laugh rolled out, "That was pretty ballsy, lad. You alright?" Once Koga was on his feet, the ginger takes a small step back. His arm fold about his chest, head turning to look at the wall that likely saved them from a much bigger problem. "I was a bit unsure of your level and capab

Back to full health, thanks to another round of healing from Hirru. Made Jomei feel a whole lot better about this fight, aside from the fact that both of the creatures that stood before him barely held onto their lives. If it weren't for Hirru having his back with healing, Jomei most likely would not have made it out of this forest... He wasn't sure what it was, but trying to survive in Aincrad seemed a hell of a lot harder lately. There were not many times he saw his health get that low, low enough to where another hit or two would have wiped him out. He'd need to be much more careful going f

It seemed some newfound courage found its way into the other two players as they joined along with Jomei and Koga without hesitation. Koga had asked about the other player's level, and it seemed she was a bit in over her own head here.. especially if she was wandering on their own. What the hell were they thinking? he thought to himself as he picked up the pace slightly. With the first of the spiral markings in their sights, the group knew they were at least on the right track. Turning to the right, they continued on in search of the missing girl. "I think there should be.. maybe on

The Irishman enjoyed the spectacle of catching Lessa off guard. A single, visible brow rose high over an olive eye as she greeted him with a full mouth and frantically looked for something to wash it down with. He was thankful he didn't randomly place his drink down, or Lessa would be the one with a belly full of sake punch and Jomei would be making another trip to Oji's corner for a refill. With a small shrug of his shoulders, he spoke "I actually never met Koga until tonight.. saw he sent out a mass invite and figured I would come by. It was that, or spend the holiday alone at home" he

It was a good thing Koga was just on board as Jomei was. Even if the other player wasn't willing to delve deeper into the dark labyrinth, Jomei still probably would have gone towards the scream as well. His money was the scream came from a player, rather than an NPC. Sure, the game could have started throwing NPC's into the maze to add a level of depth, give heroic players a reason to dive deeper. Or, worst case scenario, it was a monster created to mimic the screams of humans, to lure players to their demise. Jomei swallowed hard, hoping it wasn't the latter. However, last time he was here, h

Placing a palm on his forehead, Jomei let out a small laugh. "Right.. I realize that sounded a bit ridiculous." With a small shift in his step, Jomei moved diagonally towards one of the walls as they came up to the first intersection. Tap tap, he would knock near the corner with his knuckle, looking back to Koga. "A drawing, like a marker. Who chose a penguin and why? I have no idea.. But, it was unique. Definitely would not have mixed it up with any of the markings other players were using. So as we came across the chalk drawing of the penguin, we knew we were going the right way, and able to

The ginger nodded his head at the mention of his name, "Yeah, that's me." Jomei pondered for the moment on the idea of company. Originally, he was planning on getting lost as a way to just think.. a weird place to do so, he had to admit. Maybe, now that he was here, some company to just chat and explore with did not sound like a bad choice. Hell, he needed to learn to start trusting some new faces anyway, since all of the faces he could rely on faded away without warning. Smiling back to Koga, he responded, "Sure, didn't really have any certain plans. Probably was just going to exp

Its a shame that fitness wasn't really a thing in Aincrad. With the amount of times Jomei would just go out on walks, traveling aimlessly, just to clear his head or to just try and make sense of his thoughts, he would be in much better shape than he already was. Even in the real world, Jomei would find himself walking along the quiet, country roads of his home town, or through the more bustling city streets of Dublin or Yokohama as a way to just get out. Looking around and seeing what the world had to offer would either distract him from what plagued his mind or even helped jumpstart his mind

Jomei let out a small, relieved sigh as Hirru quickly healed him for some of the damage he took. It didn't put him at max, but it was enough to get him far away from half health. "Thanks, Battle Healing and Holy Blessing should do the trick to give me an extra boost." Looking at the two creatures, he let out a slow exhale through puckered lips, bouncing on the balls of his feet. "Probably should have saved my Charge for the stronger Sword Art... might've been out of this mess by now. I'll keep a bit more cautious in dodging their strikes though, but I'll still have to get in close."

"Right... Right, do you think it has to do something with the forest?" Jomei hadn't traveled through the Forest of Memories before, but he had heard about it. Supposedly the location of some area that shows you images of memories from the real world.. At least, that's what he overheard. He would bet his last Col that the name of the Forest didn't simply come from a single location. Another batch of energy replaced a hefty amount of the energy Jomei had already expended. Hirru was keeping him plenty filled, so he was not too concerned about running out any time soon. Even while dish

Jomei huffed as he took a look at his current health and energy levels. Health was at max, Energy should keep him going for a bit longer. Hirru suggested his thoughts for the interesting layout of the dungeon. The ginger scanned the still lingering fog, as the mist that made up the four entities fell from the dissipated forms of the warriors and rejoined the mass of fog that seemed to retreat like water on the shore before a large wave. Jomei nods in agreement, "Would seem like it.." he simply said, keeping his eyes peeled for whatever else the mysterious fog would spawn for the two to handle.

Jomei watched as liquid poured from the ladle into his cup, filling it nearly to the top once more. "Thank you." he said with a nod towards Oji before taking another sip. The punch overpowered the burn of the sake at this point, but it made for a much easier beverage to drink. After the initial sip, however, he saw Oji offering to refill the sake as well. He thought for a moment before offering the cup, "Just a wee bit." Shifting his fingers so they grabbed the glass around the rim like a claw, he gently twirled the cup to give it a good mix. The Irishman chuckled along with Oji as the m

With Lessa's affirmation that she would not vanish on him, as so many others had in the past, Jomei almost felt a warmth fill him. The smile he shone across to her was soft, genuine, and caring. "Good." he said, the gladness heard clearly in his voice, "Because, lately, there's not many people I can count on that are around anymore. Most either went off to do their own thing or.." A lump formed in his throat, cutting off his sentence and keeping that last word from slipping off of his tongue. The ginger gently gnawed on his lower lip as that beat of silence, that would have been plagued with a

The ginger let out a huff of air as he shifted his feet, twirling his rapier in a circular patterns in his hand. "Who said I was worried?" he offered with a smirk as he felt Hirru's hand clasp on his shoulder, offering him a boost of health that made the damage he had just taken a thing of the past, "I know you've got my back." Being able to hit with a larger attack like that felt good, and it made the thought of clearing through these smaller monsters that much more simple. Made him think that maybe he had made the wrong choice to go with a rapier. Taking a swift peek at his readied swo

With two short hops backwards, Jomei created some distance between himself and the foggy figured. As the blanket of a yellow glow fell over the ginger's body, he looked down at his arms. "Extra energy huh? That's definitely going to help out in the long run. Thanks." He eyed the creatures, one at a time. One was closer to death, the others not touched yet. Jomei was confident in his abilities, but still keeping cautious and not getting cocky. "An AoE move? Not my forte but..." As his title implied, as well as his weapon of choice, Jomei was better suited for one on one bouts, usually debuffing

Letting out a small laugh, Jomei shrugged his shoulders with extended arms. "And technically we're stuck in these twenty-something year old bodies for who knows how much longer. So just means more time to make those dumb decision." His tone suggested he was mostly just joking, since he figured their bodies were still aging outside of SAO... how ever long its been so far. The experiences they would face here, despite being a video game meant for teenagers and young adults, would probably age them mentally as well. So, maybe there wasn't truth behind his words after all.. probably should have ke

Jomei shook his head, "Well... we didn't think it was going to be that bad at the start, a number of players didn't show.. but we still had a large group. I believe we went in there with three.. maybe four teams. But the Leviathan had some trick up its sleeve to perma-freeze players for the fight ((inactive players)). That, along with the constant waves of mobs and struggling to wittle down its health.. At the end there was only 5 of us who took it down." He sighs, "I'm just happy to have made it out of that one alive." Following Hirru through the forest, Jomei decided not to continue co

Oh right, Jomei had nearly forgotten about that boss fight until Hirru had referred to it. In reality, he just tried to forget the whole thing happened... its what made running the meeting for the preceding Floor Boss that more difficult. Jomei switched from his kneeling position to sit more comfortably on the floor as he finished up the berry bar and began to spoon bits of the crème brulee into his mouth. "Honestly.. I had forgotten all about that." He added with a chuckle "Being one of the only ones left standing against the next boss kind of wiped the Elven Council out of my mind." A

So Hirru had a dungeon map for Floor Twenty Two, probably of of the more peaceful floors they had unlocked. Honestly, Jomei was unsure if the floor even had any hidden dungeons, given its slightly less dangerous nature. However, that might spell good fortune for the pair, since Jomei would be dealing a majority-- if not all of -- the damage during their plunge. Lastly, he mentioned bringing any buffs or enhancements along. Checking through his inventory, Jomei frowned slightly.. he was not one to carry potions or food items along very often because of his lack of grinding or gathering. He usua

"And if anyone asked I bought it off an NPC." That was the first thing he heard when he snapped back to reality and into the conversation with the man. Jomei offered a friendly chuckle as he turned his head to face him again. For a short moment, he pondered on how he spaced the first part of the conversation.. what distracted him so? Jomei took the man's hand in a firm handshake, who referred to himself as Oji. He cocked an eyebrow, "Oji, like uncle? Interesting name." he said with a nod. After releasing the handshake, Jomei took another sip of the drink, along with an extra sip. "

Jomei chuckled, "Honestly.. the whole question was just hypocritical of me. I'm searching for that same answer.. what my purpose is. And if destiny really plays a part in our lives, and what happens is meant to be, am I supposed to find my purpose here? So yes, its alright that you're still searching for what you're meant to be, or hell, just what makes you truly you." His feet carried him across the wooden floor, finding his way to the other half of the bench that Lessa lowered herself onto. Facing himself away from the piano, he rested his elbows on his thighs and let out a small sigh.

Sparks flew as Jomei's blade clashed against the attacking Giant Wasp's stinger in rapid succession. The ginger grit his teeth as he planted his foot before the third strike, putting some extra power behind his block so he could parry and redirect the wasp out of his way. Once the insect was staggered, Jomei twirled his blade in his hand so the blade was pointing forward, and delivered a similar striking pattern the wasp had used on him moment before. Each pierce with his blade struck true, causing the wings of the floating monster to slow to a halt, followed by a shattering sound as the Giant

Jomei felt his heart sink in his chest when Lessa admitted that, after she had thought Alkor had died, she felt as though that was the end of her story. Stories of players allowing themselves to expire within Aincrad were frighteningly high, as was expected from a bunch of teenagers and young adults pulled from their every day lives and forced to fight for their lives, loosing friends and loved ones left and right. Like a knife to his gut, twisting and turning, it always hurt whenever someone close to him admitted they had such thoughts. He frowned, as his eyes fell off of hers for a moment an

Jomei could not help but smile as Lessa was able to reminisce about her real world life while in this space. It was his space of solace, so it brought him joy to know someone else was able to share in the moment as well. Jomei watched Lessa as she moved about the room, the pain in the lost woman's voice and stature very apparent. He wondered, for a moment, if he had given the right advice, or if his rambling went off topic and were lost. Maybe not, as she finally acknowledged his finishing point. Jomei shook his head in response to her, "I never said it would be easy. Me dragging you onto

"I haven't really finished sorting through things myself, so this will probably be incoherent blabbering." Letting out a tiny laugh, Jomei slouches over slightly to level his face with Lessa for a moment "Do any of us really have things sorted out?" He then sat back up, and allowed her to continue. Removing his hand from her shoulder, he stretched it across the table to grab his own beverage. Though despite retrieving it to take a sip, he did not find himself doing so throughout the entirety of Lessa's confession. The loneliness, the lack of motivation.. Jomei would not have pinned