Victor

Victor sat under a lone tree deliberating. He stared into the vast Nimean plains that stretched around him. There wasn't anyone visible in his vicinity, so when an old frail looking woman appeared in the distance, Victor was a little startled. He assumed some player to have teleported there. Till he noticed the cursor specific to quest giving NPCs, light up over her head. Curious, he made his was to the woman. The moment he was near enough she cleared her throat and then croaked "Ah! I see deep in your heart, you're a lonely man. You need company, company of a loyal beast." She said. Victor rolled his eyes and awaited the quest offer. After bantering on about some rules and the perils of the quest, she finally offered it to him. Hastily, the boy accepted. It seemed like a decent adventure, sure it would mean parading through areas where creatures could commonly be found, and it left him open to being wounded, but it was worth the shot. "I hear Mt. Olympia might have what your soul seeks." she finished with a rattling cackle. Victor had heard rumors of tough mobs there, he was sure this could be a suicidal mission... But for some reason, he fell prey to curiosity and found himself tracing steps to the godforsaken peak.

Casually strolling in the fields, Victor drew in a long breath of air. The vast expanse of field stretched in all directions. He'd walked decently deep into the fields, a large chunk of the boundary of the town was visible to him. This small world of SAO wasn't all that small in fact, or at least it seemed to be more infinite than Luke had ever seen IRL. The things signals in our brains can do. He thought, marveling over the possibilities this opened up. He really appreciated the technology, but he hated the catch Kayaba had strung along with it. Such a waste, now it will instill fear in people's minds. If we get out of this that is.

Though there was a small nagging voice in his heads about the constant danger, Luke had a feeling that this game wasn't about taking lives, that was certainly not the end goal, it was simply about having people play it and clear it, on the maker's term. Stupid guy just had an inferiority complex, was probably bullied at school or something, Luke mused. He was on his daily run to collect special items for his Merchant training. Thoughts like this often drifted into his idle mind. While he performed an extraction on a different looking weed he'd found amidst the grass, his eyes caught something moving across the fractional perimeter of the Town of Beginnings, that he could see. He didn't obtain anything from the weed, so he dropped it and approached the moving speck slowly and cautiously.

Vic walked towards, what seemed to be another person, initially he thought it was an NPC, but then he noticed the green cursor atop the players head. As Vic neared, the man slowed and eventually sat down, though he had evidently not noticed Vic's advance towards him. The brown haired boy made his way closer. He'd seen this guy at the town of beginnings, he was the one who had fallen into the fountain. As Victor got even closer, he noticed the player was older than him. Victor hadn't paid any mind to his age back then in town. The boy slowly approached him and crouched surprised to see tears streak the man's cheek. Honestly, Luke was a little put off by that, but it wasn't uncommon for players to break down. "Erm... Hey there, Are you all right?" Vic asked, hoping he had feigned concern successfully, because it was too late to just walk away now.

OOC: Hope it isn't to late to 'jump in' (not really, Vic would never.) xD

Victor had placed himself in the shadow of a nearby alley. His brown eyes were trained in an absent minded fashion onto the fountain. He drew peace from it, while his mind whirred with future plans. He thought of things ranging from possible builds, to the variety of quest options and which one he was ready to take. He also thought about how much longer it'd take for him to complete his training as a merchant. His beautiful line of thought was broken by a commotion at the fountain. initially, he felt annoyance engulfed him. Then, especially from where he was standing, he saw the humor in it all. The young adult, folded his arms and snickered softly, watching it all unfold. Three wet people later... He finally strolled out of the shadows of the alley, struggling to keep a straight face, he joined the amassing crowd, mostly to get a closer look at the idiots who'd managed to make such fools of themselves. He happened to know one of them, Emblem, from what he could see and recall. The brown haired boy refrained from making any introductions or offering any insight till the whole situation sorted out, or got incredibly out of hand. Vic loved observing such interactions, he stayed amidst the crowd, attempting to hide in plain sight.

The boy seemed like a nice one to have on his side. "I'm not a blacksmith or an alchemist, I'm training to be a Merchant." the older teen added, in response to Emblem's questions, crouching again and overturning pebbles to see if they had something special to offer. He picked up one and performed another extraction dismissively. When he gained nothing from it he tossed it away. Vic chuckled softly as the boy apologized "Don't worry about it, one can never be-" In a swift motion, he pulled out his dagger and made a quick stabbing motion towards the younger player...

...and then stopped right before the cursed icy blue blade touched the other player. He remained paused like that for a brief moment, in order to assure the other that he wasn't going to attack. Speed was hardly a problem with Luke, given all his training in real life, of course the actually damage he doled out was highly dependent on the system.. "-too careful." he finished his sentence, now laughing at his probably inappropriate action. "Ok, maybe that wasn't all that funny..." Victor said reflectively. "And seriously, I'm not going to harm you, just messing around a little." He finished with a wink and sheathed his dagger.

Luke wanted to smirk in the kid's face, however he thought better of it. Age didn't matter that much, he could be of a much higher level and kill Victor (and hence Luke, unfortunately) with great ease. Not to mention, the younger one is, the more pliable they are, it'd be good to have such a person on his side. So, instead, he went for a calm smile. "Oh god! That sounds terrible." He said in sarcastic fear, but toning the sarcasm down enough for the younger player to believe he was genuinely scared. "Well, I'm really sorry I look shady and that I startled you. I was just attempting to collect some materials that I could use to better the quality of the equipment that people use... That's all." Victor said, crouching to now attempt an extraction with a piece of root.

As the player threatened about the sword, Vic remained crouched and noisily took out his dagger from the sheath, as a small warning. He had no intention of hurting the other player, but also wanted to let him know that he isn't completely defenseless anymore. Very visibly and slowly, he then tended to the root of the tree, in order to remove a piece from it. Adding a reassuring touch to his smile, he got back up, dagger still in hand and said "No sword in my chest please. I'm no PKer." He then returned his dagger to his pocket. "Like I said, I'm Victor. Pleased to meet you too, Emblem." The player added jovially. He attempted his extraction on the root piece and was glad to find something from it. "Ah finally, something worth using." He muttered.

Victor noticed the trade window appear in front of him. He was tempted to inspect the gear right there, but refrained from doing so, possibly because it'd be rude. It's be especially rude because instead of one, Oikawa had been generous enough to offer two. Victor instead just smiled and eyed the frontliner with thinly veiled scrutiny. He was sizing the guy up, to see what it could have taken in order to reach that level. He sure came across as determined. Victor also sensed some friction towards him. "Of course, I'll return them." the boy reinstated and emphasized, with a casual smile. He meant that, solely because he hated being indebted and unfortunately, this Frontliner was making it out to be like that. When he suggested that introductions were in order first, Luke was fuming, the boy hated anyone correcting him on his manners. He worked on hiding his feelings though, Vic maintained a cool demeanor, partially impassive as well.  He tousled his hair and apologized "Oh yes, sorry, just didn't strike me. Victor it is, as you already know. Thanks again for the gear." He stated simply.

Luke wanted to scoff, but Victor had to resist the urge to do so, especially because the trinket being offered was free. He eyed her carefully, barely managing to hide the skepticism. Her face seemed familiar, a general description of her was rather ordinary - blonde hair, aquamarine eyes, relatively average stature, but it was something about her demeanor that alerted Luke. He had a feeling he'd met her before, just couldn't recall where. He let the feeling pass for the moment, focusing on the dilemma at hand. The trinket itself was rather simplistic, much to his liking. It wouldn't be too obvious that he was some lunatic who believed in such things if he wore it... Mostly he accepted it, because it couldn't hurt. This wasn't real life, it was a game, the ring probably did affect stats some how. "Fine... I'll take it and let you know how it goes."

+ Ring of Assassins

The boy had traipsed along several shops in hunt for items to customize his build. While it was ideal and safer to build a tank, Victor had gone for the more sneaky, assassin like approach. He had picked the dagger, mostly because it dealt a lot of damage and because he had experience with using the knife in real life. He was partial to a weapon that was easily concealable. The boy had debated long and hard over just breaking that quest boulder and working on martial arts, but the damage output in game was just dismal. Luke was disappointed with this discrepancy, in real life, a right blow to the right place was effective as a sharp slash, but oh well, there were a lot more faults with Kayaba than that. He'd approached this particular shop, it looked intriguing. An artisan, Luke could appreciate art, but the stuff here, was more like the kinds you'd find in a fortune teller's dwelling. wasn't the usual clammy over decorated kinds, but it did sell a fantasy.  and initially thought it was a hoax of sorts. "You can't be serious? Lucky charm and trinkets?" he said loud enough for the owner of the shop to hear.

The frontliner took his own time deliberating on Luke's demands, or rather, Victor's requests. He observed the other players demeanor, which could pass of as calculating perhaps. Maybe I should have been softer in my request. He reflected. In either case, his fingers joined the others in casually drumming the counter, it was already too late to pretend that he wasn't slightly impatient about the whole ordeal. Finally the other player relinquished and offered to give Victor low level gear, but only until he leveled up. That did put a slight smudge on Vic's plans. Luke had hoped that after he completed his training for becoming a Merchant, he'd be able to make a collection of these 'recyclable goods' and offer them up for a decent prize, not as much as the originals go for of course, but enough to fill his pockets. Maybe the other player saw through his easy col making plan, and decided to shred it. Victor considered offering a cut, but then changed his mind and just requested for what he needed. "I believe despite being a blacksmith, you're actually a light armor guy? So you got anything with some mitigation and evasion lying around?" Victor said offhandedly.

Victor had recognized that people had to pay a decent bit to get custom made orders from blacksmiths and tailors, he instead had concocted a better plan. He had read about the Frontliners and recognized that most of them had to have moved on the better leveled gear. This meant that the gear they were using was now lying around, dusty and abandoned. Although Victor did care for appearance, he was convinced he could find something that gave him a edge in the game as well as looked decent, for either very cheap, or if he managed to convince the owner... for free. The infamous, Oikawa with an orange cursor, seemed like someone he could see eye to eye with. He was a blacksmith, Vic had heard of the shop. Making his way there, he strolled in casually. "Oikawa? Are you around? I've come to collect some of your old gear... for recycling, in a manner of speaking, is there anything you'd like to offer?" He announced his arrival and intentions, to keep things efficient.

On occasion the boy gambled with luck and forayed into the regions could prove dangerous, however he stuck to remaining within the limits of the town. His reason for doing this was, gear collection. He had recognized that people had to pay a decent bit to get custom made orders from blacksmiths and tailors, he instead had concocted a better plans. Initially it was to try and get second hand gear of higher level folks. Secondly, it was also to try and see if shops had any abandoned orders he could just... take. He managed to make his way to a girl's Blacksmithing station, oddly named Shira's Sharpies. She was furiously crafting. Over the resonant metallic sound, their conversation was barely audible. "Hey! I've been stopping by occasionally and I always see that dagger displayed, if no one want is could I have it?" he said staring at the dagger labeled Icy fang, he had never been there before, but it was worth a shot. From what he heard, he assumed she had given her consent. It did surely sound like that. He sauntered in calmly, picked it up and left.

+ 1 Icy fang. Perfect dagger (+3 Dmg)

The leaves of the tree were deemed worthless, the brown haired player turned his attention to the bark he'd been initially using in his private little experiment. He plucked of a sizable chunk of brown and attempted to make his extraction. Alas, the bark was as useless as the leaf. He turned away briefly, to scan for other things he could extract from. When he turned back, the blonde haired player had indeed noticed Victor in the distance. As expected the other player was surprised by his existence. Vic raised his hands and smiled in a friendly manner to assuage his confrontational instincts. "Could you lower your sword please? I'm unarmed." He said simply. He took mental notes on the appearance of the other player. He added easily startled to his checklist. Perhaps the player could be of some use to him, perhaps not. "I'm Victor, I promise I mean no harm." The teen added, tentatively extending his hand and widening his smile. "What's your name?" He asked in attempt to keep the conversation going.
 

"Ah man! You never got to see her in the game at all?" Victor asked redundantly and in a pretentious distracted manner as he scanned the area for more mats, but it could pass off as him looking for the said NPC. "In a way its good we all look like are IRL selves, at least you have something to go on." Victor said, trying to make something out of nothing. Luke was just happy so far his plan had worked. After looking around for another couple of seconds his eyes cought a stone with a certain gleam. Before he could inspect it he had to reel out his apology. "Dang! He's supposed to be right here, kind of like a watchman or gatekeeper, from what I've heard, guess it was just a rumor, I'm sorry." Victor said, trying to look apologetic, failing and just settling for good old disappointed, briskly he picked up the stone and extracted something special from it, that he suspected would help him in his ventures. He turned to Raun, still wearing the look of concern. "Anything else we can use to find her?" 

No matter how hard he pressed his back against the bark of the tree, the wood didn't chaff his skin, nor did it cause any pain, he just felt a mild increase in pressure. It's funny to feel that one without the other. Luke thought, usually increase in pressure meant some pain at the very least. So the game didn't allow for any pain sensations to be activated. With the cruelty of being trapped in a death game, one would assume Kayaba had some sadistic fantasies, but apparently not. The boy was always trying to decipher the intentions of the creator. For now he had deduced the 'will to play god' and large ego with a heavy dose of self importance, to the point where he believed that in order to have his creation appreciated, he'd have to force it upon people. Which too was senseless, because forcing something upon someone is hardly a measure of true value. Victor shrugged and scoured the fields in front of him. The low hanging branches of the tree provided good shelter. The player reached out a plucked a leaf in order to test if he could procure anything of value from the tree. Upon finishing his attempt at extraction, he noticed another young looking player in the vicinity. Tempted to just observe from a distance, Victor made no move, waiting to see if the other player noticed him too.

Once the older player mentioned that he was looking for his sister, Luke resisted the urge to casually swat aside such petty problems, Victor however put on his best concerned face. "Oh! When did you last see her?" He inquired with enough sympathy and curiosity lacing his words, to make him sound interested. Before answering his question, the fellow went on to describe her. "Er... That's a very generic description..." Victor said thoughtfully, as though straining his mind to recall such a stature. Mostly, Luke was just trying to find a way to lure the player out of town with him. "But, someone once told me of a few NPC's on the outskirts of towns who kept track of player databases, maybe they could help you find her?" Victor said, masking his simply wrought lie with enough doubt inducing vagueness to escape judgement, by tossing it aside as a unfortunate rumor, when the time arrived.

"Come on! We mustn't waste time, I'm sure your sister wants to see you too." He said, now letting an adventurous, encouraging voice take over. With that he began weaving his way through people, occasionally throwing a backward glance to check on his new acquaintance. Soon he was teetering at the edge of the Town of Beginnings. While he waited for the other player to catch up, one who's name he hadn't bothered asking so far, (but he put that on his to do list) he was already searching the surroundings for possible materials. Perhaps I risked sounding too impatient this time... But I need to venture out further. Luke mused, upon not noticing anything significantly helpful in bettering the quality of items.

Having conducted his research on how this game worked Luke was finally ready to step out of the shadows and start playing. The boy felt a little safer that there were people around him who were strong enough to help out if he needed. He knew he'd have no trouble convincing someone to tag along on small quests and odd jobs. His first quest had presented itself, with a friendly old man offering to teach him how to open his very own shop. Victor had accepted the 'Earning a living' quest, within moments after the conversation he had with the NPC. His goal was to collect certain materials that would help better the quality of items. The teen had played enough games to know that by now there would be zones fringing the town, that were relatively less dangerous. Given the time it took for him to conduct thorough research the observing, it could be assumed that eager players would have wiped out the mobs near the safe zones. All that was left, was to find someone he could take with him, just as a precaution. A cursory glance was swept across the streets of the town. The landed on a distraught looking player with dark hair. He made his way towards the haggered looking fellow. "Hey there, you look a little upset. Can I help you with something?" he asked with a pliant and sympathetic smile plastered on his face. When you need something, always make an offer first.