Jomei

"Thats a big boy..." Jomei said as he took in the full height of the mountain of a monster the three were going to deal with. His chin continued to tilt upwards as his gaze traveled up and up until he was able to see the large red crystal floating above its form. Left hand gradually made its way to the opening of his scabbard, his eyes still locked with the oversized creature. He thumbed at the hand guard for a moment before pushing at it, revealing the very base of the darkened steel of his blade. The opposite hand moved across his waist and grabbed the handle, but did not pull the blade free

Jomei shook his head in response to Astreya's apology. "No no, its alright. You don't have to be sorry. What's past is prologue. I just.." he let out another exhale, this time steadier as the last of the tears trickled down the side of his cheek. "I didn't realize how much I had missed this. Like you said, sharing a passion. I'm not close with any other performers.. let alone musicians. So it just feels so good to do this again." "But I'd really like that " nodding his head before using a knuckle to wipe the last of the tears from his eye. Another sniffle and he brought both of his arms

His thumb brushed down the face of the guitar, strumming the strings and forming a conjoined sound. E chord. Gentle wrist motions, strumming the strings up and down in a pattern, creating almost a percussive like beat to back the melody. A chord. Lids closed over emerald orbs as his lips curled into a warm smile. The heel of his foot tapped on the wood panel floor to the beat of the music. The sounds of the outside world downed out by the music, slowing time down to a standstill in the moment. Finally, a G chord. He let the strings ring out as he opened his eyes, looki

A single brow rose as Astreya mentioned a folk song that she was familiar with. "Actually, yeah. I have heard that song before." a smile slowly forming. He pushed off of the piano bench and stretched his back before continuing, "Can't say its one of my favorite songs.. but it was one easy enough to pick up, and recognized by plenty." Turning to face the other direction, he walked back over to the wall lined with instruments, reaching down to grip the neck of the acoustic guitar he had placed down earlier when Astreya first arrived. "I have to admit, I didn't pin you as a fan for music li

"What sort of music do you do?" An incredibly loaded question. Jomei let out a small laugh as he tried to even put thought to that question. "Hm.. For as long as we've been in Aincrad, I've been experimenting with some different styles. There's such a wide variety of different people who got stuck in SAO with us.. not everyone has the same tastes in music." He brought a leg up to cross it over his knee, placing the palms of his hands on his ankle and lower calf. "When I had a shop that was open for business, I really needed to take that into consideration. Some people wanted music to h

"No, I'll admit. It wasn't perfect." he began with a small tilt of his head, spoken through a soft chuckle, "But you showed a mountain of progress, based off of what you recorded on this crystal." He took the item in his hand and tossed it up about a foot into the air before catching it in his palm once again. "Rome wasn't built in a day. Just as no one will become an expect singer with just a single day of practice, but you've shown improvement." "As for how to start strong well..." Placing his hands on the edge of the piano, he leaned backwards, eyes turning upwards as if searching for

Jomei caught the full brunt of two swords swinging at him in tandem, catching their attack with his rapier. The force of their combined attack pushed him backwards, but planting the balls of his feet into the hull, the ginger stood his ground. Quickly ducking, he pulled his blade down with him, letting the force that the two soldiers had put on him carry forward with a stumble. The duelist quickly retaliated with swift strikes into backs of each guard, their body's erupting into shards of data moments later. "There's only four of us here, one of which isn't combat focused." his eyes shif

It seemed the emotions that tied to this duel between the two ran deep, though Lessa's explanation as to why only skimmed the surface. A previous duel between the two seemed to set the uneasy atmosphere that lingered between the two friends.. if they could even call themselves that. Lessa's feelings for Alkor were apparent, her mourning of his death, and caring for his well being. Alkor's were much less apparent, and tough to read --as the rest of the man was. It was obvious he help Lessa in high regard, though to what extent was unknown. All he could do was nod as he listened to her, no

Shoving the tip of his rapier into the dirt at his feet, he used the blade as a cane of sorts, resting the palms of his hands atop each other at the pommel. With a crooked smile on his face, he watched, confident in her abilities, as Lessa moved in towards the final Hellhound to take the kill. "Well.. I don't think I've given any indication of trying to hit on you.. so I'll take it you expect the former. But if you'd prefer I did, then I can try and think of something." he added with a sharp laugh. As expected, Lessa made quick, easy, work of the final canine, the beast letting out a yelp as t

"Years of practice" he said softly, as if to not speak over the music that played right in front of him. It wasn't uncommon for musicians to be able to pick up how to play a song by just listening to it a couple of times. Especially a lullaby, which usually only consisted of a couple of notes without going too high or too low. Once Astreya felt ready, he began to play. Astreya quickly joined in, singing each note rather than humming as she had on the recording. A bit of a rocky start, he had to admit, but he blamed it on her trying to match up the speed of her singing with his own playin

"Yep!" he said with a small laugh, "Not on your own at least. I'll play the piano along with you." Taking the recording crystal from Astreya, he placed it on the ledge of the piano that normally held sheet music for the musician to follow along to. "There's two types of learning a skill.. Those that do research and study so they can learn the ins and outs, and those that learn from experience. So we could sit here all day just working through drills, and mulling over sheet music. Or, we could just jump right into it. Its a lot more fun that way if you ask me." he said with a smirk.

Before long, the small transport they rode on was crashing into the hull of the large warship. The other two players claimed Jomei's idea of holding one front while they tackled a second was a bad idea, and it was quickly scrapped. Just like the two ideas he had suggested. His hood masked most of his features, so the sheepish defeat he wore on his face was unlikely to be seen. Perhaps the fallacy of his plan to take on the Leviathan had become more widely known than he thought. Either way, there was no turning back now. Failed leader or not, he said he would help. So leaping from the shi

As Lessa's blade came down atop the hellhound with an explosive attack that made her previous blunder seem like she was just toying with them, the ginger nearly lost his footing. Catching his heel on a crack in the ground. He stumbled backwards a couple of steps before righting himself. Jomei never doubted that Lessa was strong, probably stronger than he was with her use of a two handed weapon. But the way her blade cut through the canine like it was nothing but air caught him off guard, especially as the glass-like shards of data erupted out to either side with its demise. "Oh so we're

"Nah" the ginger said with a shake of his head and a soft smile, "You don't owe me anything. This is a learning experience for me just as it is for you. An old teacher of mine once said, 'what is the point of knowledge if not to share that gift with others.'" He shone a bright grin, "So that's what I'm doing." Astreya continued to show dedication to learning this craft and discipline by keeping on top of herself to correct any mistakes. If she sang a note wrong, she tried to fix it. If she couldn't fix it, she'd try again. The more they played through the single scale, the more she was ab

The resonating sound of claws raking against a metal surface shrieked through the air, drowning out other sounds of battle for a split moment. A quick shift of his kneeling stance and Jomei turned himself around to see how his companion was doing. Were it nerves, thoughts of their prior conversation, or just bad luck of the dice, Lessa had swung and missed her target, opening up herself for a quick counter attack from the Hellhound. Pushing the toe of his boot into the dirt, Jomei sprung up from a kneel and immediately took to a jog to close the distance between himself and Lessa. These

"I have to fight Alkor next." The crevices that formed upon his forehead were deep with concern given the very few words Lessa shared about her upcoming, round 2 fight. A constant theme of the day, brought up by multiple persons in the span of a few hours, was that this tournament was based upon comraderie and the formation of bonds. Lessa and Alkor already had history, whether that relationship between them had remained was still unknown, despite his lengthy conversation with the latter of the two. So hearing that the two were matched up to face eachother in a friendly duel, he woul

Jomei sat there at the piano, with his hair tied back into a messy bun, wearing clothes that.. if he was being honest.. he sometimes slept in. There were no boss fights coming up, he had no guild to attend to.. he didn't have too many friends to worry about anymore. Days like these where he sat in the confides of the music hall, plucking away at the strings of a lute or pressing the keys of the piano until the night fell, were days when he had absolutely nothing of importance on his mind. So looking around the room, he turned back to Astreya, a bit of a sheepish smirk painted his face. "Don't

Thread Complete Total Words: 17374 / 30 = 580 * 5 = 2900 * Tier Player Tier EXP Col (P.5) @Baldur 9 --- --- @Astreya 3 2175 --- @Jomei 9 6525 979 @Mina 4 --- --- @Koga 7 5075 762 @NIGHT 11 7975 1197

Watching as the other three came aboard, Vigilon included, the hooded Jomei looked to the older gentleman who claimed he knew how to operate this large piece of flying machinery with hardened curiosity. "You sure you know how to fly this thing? I don't think I've ever seen one of these in Aincrad before." Technology and magic, for as far as they knew, was unexplored grounds in the world of Aincrad. Many residents of previous floors claimed magic didn't exist, especially given that they players could not cast spells as they might have been able to in other games. Technology was a whole di

"The breathing will come second nature to you" he said with a nod. "You don't want to think too hard on it, or else you'll focus more on that than your singing." His shoulders rose and fell with a quick shrug, chuckling to himself. "Honestly, I sometimes finding myself breathing this way even if I'm not singing. If I'm just taking in a deep breath. You'll get the hang of it." He began to play the smaller scales, allowing Astreya to mimic the pitch of each note after he had concluded. 'Do' was a little flat at the start, but she managed to climb the scale a bit better, the descent, howeve

A hooked smirk added to his determined expression when he saw a bit of that spark come to life in Lessa's eyes once again. "Good. I was hoping you'd say that. Besides, I don't think the new friend you made in town would be too happy to hear we ditched the quest before even attempting it." With a half turn from Lessa, Jomei looked towards the entrance to the volcano. It had been some time since he had done any fighting, well before Telrenya had left. He was confident in his level that they would have no issue taking down the Cerberus and any other monsters that stood in the way.. he more

Jomei found himself breathing along with Astreya, sitting with a straight back at the piano. Flowing through the motions, he took in an inhale, imagining the air heavy as it entered through his lungs and plunged down into his stomach. Then, like pushing air out of a bag, he allowed the air to flow back up through his lungs and out a slightly parted mouth. The only sounds filling the room, aside from the muffled noises of passerbys outside of his window, were the deep inhales and exhales each of them took. That was, until Astreya attempted her lullaby once again, this time in front of a live au

Into each other? No, not likely. Was he into her? ... It was starting to seem that way. But she was still in a relationship, albeit not one that made her very happy, and he was just out of a long term one. It just wasn't in the cards right now, so it was probably better he kept those thoughts to himself. He simply dismissed Astreya's assumptions with a sigh. Finally getting down to it, Jomei had requested Astrya show him the song she had composed on her own. Green eyes watched as she procured the palm sized crystal from her inventory. Tapping on the surface of it caused it to spring to l

Moving across the room, the ginger reached down to grab the guitar he had haphazardly placed before responding to Astreya's call. He listened to her as she spoke, a small smile on his face as he retrieved the instrument and began walking it over to an empty stand along the wall. At the mention of seeing him 'chatting with that pretty blonde' his cheeks flushed red, despite facing away from Astreya at the time. The instrument nearly slipped from his fingers as her comment caught him off guard, accidentally tapping some of the strings as he caught himself. Finally setting the guitar down, he wou

Astreya had given him a small out, would have made him feel incredibly guilty, but that small sliver of escape was there if he wanted to take it. With a shake of his head, Jomei smiled, "Well, really, the range of performers is a bit larger than it is for some of the other professions. What I mean by that is, you can really rely on whatever your form of talent is. I've seen performers who sing, play instruments, even dance... Though how that works from a crafting standpoint.. I don't really know." A small clap of his hands ended the tiny tangent and brought him back on target, "But, what I mea