Birdie

ID# 66821

BD: 10

The boar charged for her and jumped at the last moment, a mistake on its own part. She stood still with her rapier aimed forwards, letting it do the work as the point fractured the digital pig's head, rendering it deceased on impact. Her foe exploded into a thousand little particles, fading away with into nothingness, rendering her battle finished. Birdie almost couldn't believe it - what started as a simple fight seemed to drag on for minutes, hours - days, if she had to exaggerate any further. Despite the debacle, a great sense of achievement washed over her. "Alright! My first kill," she uttered, sheathing her rapier not long after.

She looked through her inventory, sighing lowly. "Guess it was too weak to offer any rewards.." Although it was an embarrassing thought, it could only serve as motivation. Instead of searching for any items dropped by the mob, she instead navigated through the materials section, marvelling at her 3 pieces of clay. ".. this doesn't feel all that special either." A frown almost hit her lips - maybe today just wasn't her day.

Rather than wallow in her sorrows, she decided to make a move - a few more boars wandered over from a nearby field, and given the amount of trouble that a single enemy gave her, she didn't feel like sticking around. As her feat carried her along the edge of the river, she kept her eyes peeled for any deposits she might find along the way. 

ID# 66819

MD: 10

Though the boar was tired, it seemed to pour the last of its energy into a broad strike against the girl's chest; it's tusks ruptured her digital stomach, sending her tumbling backwards onto the ground. She gave a sharp cry followed by an exasperated grunt, and removed her hand from her stomach to inspect the wound. "Cutting a little deep, don't you think?" Her eyes rose to the boar, watching as it tripped over its front paw in an attempt to spin around to her. 'It's in such a pathetic state but I can't kill the thing.. am I being pathetic too?' The thought wasn't too gruelling - in truth, she knew she wasn't the best fighter, a single tutorial wasn't going to make a seasoned duellist. However she'd expected more from herself, given that this was probably one of the weaker enemies in the field.

Taking a steady breath, she raised her rapier and aimed it at her foe.

ID# 66818

BD: 2

"Today's just not your day, Blewes.." Her strike was clean, though the pig stumbled over on itself and narrowly dodged under her attack. The girl's eyes carefully surveyed her surroundings; if word got out that she was this horrible of a fighter, it wouldn't bode well for her in the future when partying up became a necessity. Though no obvious eyes seemed to be drawn to her, it was in her best interests to finish the fight as soon as possible. She'd completed the quest's criteria already, and would even be able to give crafting her own miniature masterpieces a go - even if the items she made would just be decorated clay jewellery and such.

Birdie's thoughts almost got the better of her, however the boar's distorted squeals coming from 10 or so metres away told her that it was ready to tango once more. "You still want to dance? Well, uh, I guess the system wont let you do otherwise.. hmph." 

ID# 66810

MD: 6

Failing to respect the exhausted boar's strength, its tusk scraped against the skin of Birdie's left leg. "Ah, ouch!" She kicked her leg back to avoid any further harm, though it wasn't without suffering 2 points of damage to her health. Her eyebrows pulled inwards, the girl clearly annoyed at how easily she could've dodged away from her weakened foe. 'Keep that up and you'll get yourself killed...' Glancing to the cut she'd suffered on her leg, it didn't seem too deep, and indeed closed up after only a few seconds. The girl wouldn't give in just yet; as the pig recouped itself for yet another charge, she kept a clear mind and focused on nothing but the battle, in hopes that she could end it with this next attack.

Given the boar's poor condition, the thing sped towards her with impressive speed. She ignored it, focusing solely on her own strikes. Readying her weapon, she mumbled a low "Come on!" and prepared to strike.

ID# 66807

BD: 7

With the boar's back exposed, Birdie had a clear and easy target to strike. Not allowing the boar any time to recover, she charged at it and thrust the point of the rapier into the animal's back, causing it to squeal in pain. The noise wrung through her ears like a baby's cry, making her cringe at how truly disturbing the sound was. "Please stop.." Pulling her weapon back, she lowered it down to her side and watched her foe intently, waiting to see if she'd won the battle. "Hm.. still got some spirit, huh?" She took a few steps away from the boar seeing as it finally managed to get back onto its feet, and it spun around with that same fury burning in its eyes.

The boar's charge was lazy, it was clearly standing on its last legs. 'This guy's health bar is so low, he's gotta be a lousy hit away from death. Right?'

ID# 66806

MD: 1

Inching her head away from the bony tusks mounted on the boar's jawline, she narrowly avoided the incoming strike, suffering a loss of a strand or two of hair as a result of her quick dodging. Her foe continued to the ground, faceplanting into the dirt before it slid a few feet along the ground. Looking back to it from her shoulder, she bit her lip at the unfortunate sight. "Talk about a miss.." Birdie brushed away the dirt on her skirt and legs, pushing herself up from the ground as she examined the rest of her body. "No injuries - you really just failed to hit me, huh?" The question was rhetorical - boars couldn't speak, after all. "Guess I'm not better than you though." A soft smile came across her lips and her rapier rose into the air once more, the girl's concentration at an all-time high. 'Alright, easy target, you can do this..'

ID# 66805

BD: 1 (MD = 1, CD = 1, LD = 2.. what luck. >_>)

Before she could even approach the boar, it got up onto all fours at lightning speed and ran sideways, avoiding her attack. "Okay, are you serious?!" The usually calm and collected girl was beginning to feel a hint of frustration, throwing her free hand down to her side in an effort to quell her anger. The boar grunted some horrifying sounds towards her - if she didn't know any better, she'd sat the thing was taunting her. "That's rich, just wait until I hit you, you little b-!" She tripped over a large rock hidden in the green of the grass, landing flat on her backside with an 'oof'. "Ow.. huh, wait!" Her foe hadn't wasted any time and began to charge immediately for her, this time at an unprecedented speed. Kicking the rock out of the way, she was frozen in shock as the boar jumped through the air, the world around them moving in slow motion as the puny tusks neared her face..

ID# 66804

MD: 3

This time, she fancied spicing up her dodge a little bit. She wasn't a great gymnast, nor had she trained in any sort of extreme physical activity like that in the past, but Aincrad's laws of physics seemed to stray from those she was otherwise concerned with. As the boar charged for her, she followed suit and ran straight for it, pushing her feet against its face once she was close enough. Gravity took a little longer to enact than she'd imagined, leaving her waving her limbs around like a lunatic before her legs barely managed to stick a landing. Putting both palms to the ground, she stared blankly to whatever was ahead of her for a moment, taking in the risks of what she'd just done. 'If he'd swung his tusks or something, that would not have gone so well.. I need to be more careful.'

Spinning around, she was met with the boar recovering from the girl's manoeuvre. It was right in front of her; she could end the fight right there and then, and she planned to do just that. Raising her rapier, she readied herself for an attack, praying to the Cardinal system that the boar wouldn't dodge away from this one..

ID# 66803

BD: 5

She lowered the rapier in her hand down to her sides, taking a few steady breaths before examining her target. She knew she was right on point that time - she had to be. Staring back however, she felt a wave of disappointment wash over her. A hushed sigh escaped the girl's lips, "Why can't I hit you? You're injured, surely you shouldn't be dodging all of my attacks.." Glancing to her health bar in the top-left corner of her screen, she realised that she probably wasn't in the best of states herself. Coupled with her energy, she soon reasoned that she'd have to wait a while before successfully nailing another meaningful strike.

In a similar fashion to before, the boar stumbled to its feet and shook the dirt from its face, facing Birdie with a burning rage in its eyes. A cute sight, considering it came from a tusked-pig. It readied for another charge, though Birdie simply stood with her arms crossed, waiting confidently for the attack to come.

ID#66802

MD: 5

Though its resolve was strong, the boar lacked the strength to make a meaningful attack on the girl, stumbling straight past her as it rolled along the ground for a few metres after. The smile on the girl's lips slowly faded, it was almost sad to see the creature in such a state. She grabbed the hilt of her rapier and drew it from its sheath, stepping one foot back and the other forwards. She hadn't considered using proper form - up until that point, she assumed that slashing an enemy from the side was the most effective way to handle combat in Aincrad. "Maybe I'll seek formal training.. wonder if anyone's running a school for this sort of thing?"

As her eyes wandered back to her foe, the guilt returned to her. "Sorry, little guy." This time she wouldn't miss - not unless the system failed her and allowed the boar to move away from her attacks, anyway. The enemy stood up, spun around, and charged towards her once again. Feeling confident in her strikes, one foot followed the other as she sprinted for the enemy once again, closing her eyes as she aimed to slash at the poor boar's sides.

ID# 66790

BD: 5

The boar hobbled onto all fours, prompting Birdie to raise her rapier and initiate another attack. A smile curled onto her lips - if she could hit it with a force similar to her last strike it was sure to fall by her blade. Lacking the energy to execute another sword art, she charged for the enemy with a basic attack and lined it up with the opposite side of the boar's stomach - as she passed by it, she halted on the spot and sheathed her rapier, imagining to herself that she looked like a hero who'd slain a simple grunt. As she looked back, she hoped to see her fallen foe.

She'd missed, and by a long shot. "Huh?!" Her eyes glanced between the weapon in its sheath and the boar that was now charging for her, 'How? That was right on target!' A groan escaped her lips, unbelieving of her luck (or therefore lack of). 

ID# 66789

MD: 1

The boar stumbled in its charge, its little feat waving helplessly as it flipped onto its back and slammed into the ground. Birdie tried and failed to suppress a burst of laughter at the sight - 'No way, that's programmed into this game?!' The poor thing began to try and right itself, and the cyan-haired girl took a second or two to appreciate her enemy's failed attempt at dealing some damage to her. "I really don't want to take advantage of you like this, but.." A pitiful grin befell her lips, she couldn't bring herself to strike a downed enemy, even if it was just a computer controlled boar. With an exasperated sigh, she'd wait until the pig was at least on all fours before going in for another strike.

At that same moment, something in the distance caught her eye; a dark passage with a minecart outside, seemingly leading into the hillside. 'If that's a mine, there might be some useful materials inside..' The thought remained in her mind as the boar finally stood up, and she readied herself for another strike.

ID# 66788

BD: 7

Birdie's eyes widened in surprise of how fast the boar sped towards her, had it been that fast the first time? She took a breath, holding her rapier out in front as the beast approached. The tip of her rapier lit into a bright purple colour, swallowing the entire sword as she concentrated on delivering a piercing blow to the boar - she sidestepped the enemy and slashed her weapon through it's side twice, the pig squealing with a gaping V-shaped gash splicing open the majority of its left side. Her weapon returned to normal and she noted her lack of energy, she'd need to wait to perform another attack such as that. She twisted on the spot, peering over her shoulder towards her foe. "Persistent, aren't you?" She felt a smirk appear on her lips - was she having fun? Violence wasn't something she'd condone in the real world, but in this one..

The boar stood up, its wound not stopping it from charging nonsensically towards her in a blind rampage.

She balled a fist and raised it into the air triumphantly, "3 out of 5!" As the new material deposited into her inventory, she felt on top of the world - at this rate, she wouldn't run out of materials for a long time to come. Her attention shifted to the edge of the river, and her eyes followed all the way up stream in search of potential materials for crafting. As luck would have it, nothing seemed to show up for at least a few hundred metres or so. "There goes my luck," an exhausted sigh escaped her lips, "If the deposits are becoming this sparse, I'll be searching for hours.." Her mind began to wonder, what else would an Artisan gather? 'Gems, maybe.. hm, where can I find those though?'

ID# 66786

MD: 10

Deep in thought, she hadn't any time to react as a boar charged straight at her, its tusks slashing deep into her back as she fell to the ground. A troubled grunt escaped her lips, 'That's not good.. huh?' She examined the enemy from afar - its stats weren't anything to marvel at, certainly, though it still hit like a truck. Rising to her feet not a second after she'd lost her balance, she pulled her rapier from its sheath and held it by her side, waiting for as the boar turned on the spot to face her once again. "Okay, remember the tutorial, just strike it as it passes.. okay." The mob came charging for a second hit, and she raised her rapier in anticipation.

The deposit of clay dissipated into nothingness, leaving Birdie's pockets vacant of any new materials. She sighed, her luck was bound to run out, though there was a far more pressing matter on her mind. 'I can't fight two of them, certainly not on my own..' She searched for an out, a way to avoid entering combat with the boars, though the only escape route she could see would be to cross the river. Giving a low sigh as she faced the stream, her eyes caught the final deposit of clay lining the ground right beside her. 'I'll come back for you later,' she thought with a smile, jumping into the shallow water in a bid to cross over to the other side.

Reaching the opposite edge of the stream safely, and now out of the aggro ranges of any nearby enemies, she felt ready to continue her search for materials, and luck was on her side once again it seemed as she caught site of another deposit just a ways down the river. Her feet carried her forwards, and upon approaching the discoloured patch of dirt, she hit the accept button with high hopes..

ID# 66784

LD: 19 (+1 Material)

A pair of boars roamed around the land nearby, not close enough to raise any alarms for the cyan-eyed Birdie. Her attention was suddenly dragged away by the chiming of the 'Congratulations!' screen, followed by the new material depositing into her inventory. The corners of her lips turned up in joy and she dismissed the notification, with any luck she could gather five or six materials on her very first gathering run. She approached the next deposit of clay not far from where she stood, one again accepting the notification. Whilst the soil began to discolour, the two boars previously wandering around far away had seemed to come closer to her, blocking off her escape routes with their aggro ranges. She clenched her fists and cursed under her breath, "You're an idiot, Ava.." 

ID# 66783

LD: 9

The girl's cyan eyes widened in shock as another small window popped up with the words 'Congratulations!' "Alright, success!" she cried out, navigating through her inventory and into the materials section. She was met with some Clay - only 1 of the item, though it was already enough to appease the NPC and grant her the profession she so desired. Her smile grew a little, and she continued along the river in search of more items. "At this rate I'll be able to make tons of items!.. Oh, right, I should probably learn how to do that before getting all excited about it." She huffed, knowing she'd have to consult an existing Artisan some time to learn a thing or two about the craft.

It wouldn't be long before she'd come across a small stretch of the river with multiple deposits. With a smile she accepted the first notification and gazed around at the scenery, scouting out the area for potential enemies.

ID# 66778

LD: 20 (+1 Material)

Birdie let loose a disappointed sigh. "Aw.. guess it was only my first try, just my luck too." Rubbing the back of her neck, she watched as the final trace of brown faded away from the clay deposit - that thing should've been yielding clay by the dozens! She wouldn't let it get her down, and her feet soon carried her along the winding stream of water, eyes peeled for more deposits of clay hid along the edge of the river.

Since joining this dastardly world, this was the first opportunity she'd gotten to truly admire the scenery surrounding Starting City - even if it didn't bring much comfort, it was nice to see that such details had been implemented into Aincrad. It almost reminded of her childhood, when her father would take her out for walks along the hillside..

Nearly zoning out, she barely missed the splotch of brown dirt beneath her feet. The notification caught her by surprised and stumbled backwards, falling with her arms held backwards to break the fall. One sigh later, she swung a finger round to the notification and hit the accept button, biting her lip as she desperately awaited the results..

ID# 66777

LD: 15 (+1 Material)

Scouting out a nice empty spot by the side of a river, she carefully trod along the dirt path leading away from the city. Being mindful of the nearby boars, she made sure to avoid their aggro ranges, though her rapier was constantly at the ready in the event she'd need to use it. Thankfully, her arrival was without any setbacks, and she celebrated by resting her back against the stump of a fallen tree. As her eyes scanned the side of the river for any deposits of clay, she found herself wondering which materials would be best to gather; whether some jewels for a small charm or clay for a nice little bracelet. "Hmph.." Though nothing seemed to be close by, she could spot a partially discoloured patch of brown dirt a ways away, and with her hopes sky-high, she scrambled onto her feet and quickly ran for the spot.

When a notification popped up in front of her, she whacked accept and watched as the colour of the deposit began to fade. The girl eagerly awaited the result of the excavation, desperately hoping to have bagged her first material..

ID# 66778

LD: 12

"Ah, hello! Are you the, uhm.. Artisan NPC?" Birdie stopped ahead of a gruff looking old guy, a thick grey beard stretching down to the man's chest.

Having freshened up in one of the many inns at Starting City, she felt it right to begin her journey by choosing a profession to study and eventually master. Though knowing what the future held would be impossible from her perspective, she felt drawn to the Artisan and Blacksmith professions almost immediately, the idea of a hands-on approach to gathering and crafting items appealing to her particular tastes. Despite her desires to create her own weapons and smith them to her own specification, the amount of Blacksmiths she passed on the way to the NPCs told her that there was enough respectable Smiths out there in Aincrad. With that in mind, she chose to walk down the path of becoming an Artisan instead, creating trinkets and lucky charms in favour of weapons and armour.

After speaking with the NPC, she was suddenly tasked with finding and returning a single material to him; a simple task, though one she wouldn't take lightly. Walking to the outskirts of Starting City, she scanned the horizon for any deposits of clay in the vastness of the fields, being mindful of the boars that roamed freely. As nothing came into sight initially, she let out a hushed sigh. "This may take longer than I thought.."

Character Information

Username: Birdie
Real name: Ava Blewes
Gender: Female
Age: 19
Height: 5'2"

Personality

Prior to the events of SAO, Ava likened herself to a shut-in. A self-loathing mess of an adolescent, she often hid from the world and found solace in books and written literature, using them as an escape from reality. Living with two unhappily married parents - and later on, just her dreadful Mother - meant she'd little motivation to socialise, though the girl was unmatched in her ability to fake happiness and made sure that other people thought she was a regular, happy person. Her social skills were fairly underdeveloped but she put on a convincing smile and spoke in a soft tone, so nobody thought twice about her stuttering. So as to not invoke her bickering parents' ire, the girl learned to be polite and avoid conflict, growing timid in nature and always doing as she was told.

Nowadays, after many months of living inside the death game, Ava (now known as Birdie) has broken free from the shackles that once confined her. Though still shy with unfamiliar faces, she oozes an air of confidence around friends and has become abundantly more sensible. With help from the Celestial Ascendants, a guild which (whilst she was a member) prided itself on raising low-level players, she was pushed to dig deep and discover herself amidst the anxious mess she was - her fighting skills rose dramatically as did her acrobatics and scouting abilities, and though she inadvertently burned a few bridges by leaving the Ascendants, the girl recognises what they did for her and will remain eternally grateful. All is not well, however - her sensibility has made her overly-analytic, fearing the idea of taking risks. This makes her seem like a coward when in reality, she is completely self-aware of the potential of failure and will not take heavy risks unless a friend can convince her otherwise.

History - Early Life

Ava was born and raised in Britain by a loving Mother and Father. Although she would only find out much later in life, her parents were due to have another baby - a younger Sister - only two years after she was born. Fate was a cruel mistress, however, and as a stillbirth befell the family only two weeks before the newborn was due, a terrible strain was placed upon the parents' relationship. The loss of a child made them grow bitter towards one another, developing a toxic atmosphere in which their remaining child was raised. Moments of affection were sparse and brief, though to this day she does have a few pleasant memories from those times- she already knew the relationship would end, however. Although things gradually eased over the years, her Father was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer as she approached 12, and the family would soon live out a second depressive spiral.

Death would steal Ava's Father when she reached 15. At such a crucial schooling age, her plummeting grades became unacceptable level and despite powering through to the very last year, Ava was a drop-out come the end of school. Her Mother, now a chronic alcoholic and mess of a woman, managed to contact a friend and secure Ava an underpaid job as a waitress. Her The girl's relationship with her mother was non-existent but she wasn't in the spirits of denying help. Of course, after the old hag took her cut of the pay, Ava wasn't left with much anyway. Saving every penny from that day forth, she pledged to rack up enough coin to run away from her terrible life, no goal or direction in mind.

History - Pre SAO

Ava stumbled upon an ad for the upcoming ‘NerveGear’ on her bus ride back from work. Video games were sparsely in her life, yet the main title advertised with the technology - ‘Sword Art Online’, an action/adventure and fantasy 'VRMMO' - captured her attention immediately. The concept like something straight out of a book, though the girl did have her doubts about how much she would indulge.  At the very least, she could use it as a daily escape from living with a hag at home and working with a hag at work. 

After her 'acceptance letter' came through, she realised that the game's copies were limited to 10,000. Being unfamiliar with video games, she thought the limitation to be odd but quickly shrugged it off as some marketing like most others. Ignoring the odd quick, the girl revelled in joy and had her NerveGear imported the very next week. The game's release would still be a month away but that didn't stop her from performing the necessary calibrations, and other than a few random VR games which came with the system, she allowed it to collect dust for the following month. Release day rolled around soon after, and the girl loaded the game as soon as she came home from work, neglecting to change out of her uniform or clean up her bag's spilled contents. The game prompted her with those two dreaded words, and as she laid comfortably across her bed & produced long, happy sigh, she spoke: "Link start."

Virtues

Logical Operator (Sensible, rational) -

Throughout her time in SAO, Birdie has become a responsible, semi-functioning adult. Though she doesn't have a great understanding of her limitations- mainly due to a safer approach in life- she can generally assess a dangerous situation and tackle it in a (perceivably) risk-free manner. In a reality where death in-game means death in real life, she wields sensibility like a weapon and uses it to keep both herself and those around her alive.

Swift as a Coursing River (Agile, acrobatic) - 

When she was young, Birdie signed up for her school's gymnastics class to act as a get-away from home life. Though she gave it up after a few short years, the skills she learned carried through with her into SAO and- thanks to Itzal's training- have proven massively useful in the field of battle, saving her on multiple occasions. Complex moves do not come naturally however; She spent so much time perfecting the basics that flashy flips aren't easy to pull off, much less land with perfection. Having grown a likeness for acrobatics again, she trains each and every day to hopefully transfer those skills back to the real world.

Kept Calm and Carried On (Calm, soft-spoken) -

Before the tragedy of Sword Art Online, Birdie's real life wasn't much better. A failed student and depressed waitress, she was only kept from insanity due to her affinity for calmness. Dealing with loud customers as both a waitress and an artisan has allowed her to speak softly in a tense and stressful situation, despite any anger that might be building up inside the girl. Rarely does she blow her top and when she does, it does not last for long.

Flaws

Fight or- Preferably- Flight (Cowardly, scaredy) -

Birdie often displays cowardly tendencies. Her sensibility stems from a will to survive, hence not taking any chances or risks- even if the rewards would lean heavily in her favour. In essence, she would almost always flee from a dangerous situation instead of facing it head-on, though having friends around does seem to revive her confidence a little.

When the bluenette abandoned her social life to accompany a dying widow, she grew fearful of returning her friends' and ex-boyfriend's messages, fearing the possibility of being slandered by her loved ones and hated for leaving so abruptly. The girl did what she thought was best and ceased contact with everyone she knew, only to return many months later with her heart in her hands.

Why Am I Like This? (Over-analytic, awkward) -

Birdie has the painful tendency to overanalyze. Negative thoughts can sometimes dull the girl's rationale, especially when it comes to calculating risks of failures. Though she has taken steps to suppress this behaviour, it continues to plague her to this very day, causing her to back away from golden opportunities and friendships before they have a chance to exist. For this very reason, she labels herself as/believes herself to be an awkward person.

Guilt Complex (Shameful, Guilty) -

Before disappearing without a trace, Birdie had gotten herself into a dilemma with two equally terrible outcomes- take time from her guild to tend to a dying elderly player's care thus neglecting the life she'd built for herself, or allow the elder to die a slow, lonely death. Choosing the latter, this proved taxing on her mental health as she grew distant from her friends, so much so that she avoided replying to messages due to the thought that they might never want to speak to her again. Once the elder passed away, the girl was finally able to make her return, though the damage to her relationship and friendships had already been done - she'll never let go of the shame of abandoning them without a trace.

Refer to the spreadsheet for skills, inventory, and future quest & transaction tracking.

ttps://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1JEsJ4RidW6LfTQlnrN5rDs0eGV6udPkZJZx5RVeoW-w/edit?usp=sharing

Combat stats:

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