Neo

Erins chuckle made Neo grin slightly. He was glad he could bring someone joy in this depressing death trap of a game. It didn't happen often, so he was glad that it happened today. As Neo smiled and began to trail slightly behind Erin, he unsheathed his Katana and looked it over, wiping it off with the edge of his shirt, checking for remnants of troll blood. He twirled it a couple of times in a flower like pattern and then cut into the air with a solid woosh. He looked up at Erin, and in reply to her question, raised the Katana up and the color of blue light seemingly shone from it. "Oh, this little thing right here?" Neo replied as he waved it in the air a couple times, as if testing its weight around. He then lowered it so it was at Erins eye level, showing off the careful indentations and carvings in the edge of the sword, and then continued, "Its name is Perfected Hailstrom. I feel as if that's too much of a badass name to give to a seemingly uninteresting rare sword though. Sure, it has detail, but nothing much else. All bark and no bite." He brandished it in an offensive position for a couple of seconds, to give Erin an example of one of his poses, and then re-sheathed it, the metal swishing into place in his jade black scabbard. Neo sighed and said in a disappointed tone, "I just wish I had a better sword to use. If I had the perfect sword, I would customize it exactly to my liking, right down to the effects, color, and physical appearance. I hear, but these are just rumors okay? Don't hold me to it, but, I heard there are ways to level up and kind of "rebirth" a sword to make it even more powerful than its previous incarnation. Sounds something out of a fantasy anime, but it seems plausible, as this game is the literal definition of impossibility in it of itself, so maybe this sword is meant for something more than it initially was intended for?" He was about to begin again, but he decided against it, afraid of dominating the conversation entirely and making things even more awkward than he felt that they were. Neo, now embarrassed for hogging all of the conversation, said in a shyer tone than he had begun in, "I'm sorry for pattering on like that out of the blue. Just never had the chance to talk about anything like that to anyone except, well, you. Probably one of the downsides of being a solo."

Another downside of being a solo player was not having anyone to back you up in the case of a terrible misread or tactical mistake, which Neo had a small list of. Plus lack of emotional support. Cue the tears and the sad anime music. 

Neo ignored his random thoughts for a moment and then asked in a more lively tone to Erin, saying, "You know, you seem like a gal who knows her way around places like these. Where'd you come from? Whats your SAO story?" Before she started though, he would kindly interrupt with a hand gesture and say, "I'm not pushing you to reveal your life story and what not. I understand that many things are personal to many players, and I'm perfectly fine with that. Its your choice, you choose when you wanna talk at your own pace." After he'd give her a chance to consider, he'd say, "Alright, sorry for that interruption right there. I just didn't want this little expedition going off in the wrong direction if you know what I mean. Sooner or later, if I become too much of an annoyance, you'll probably stab me through the back while I'm not looking and say 'oops, my hand slipped'. Remember, your choice. You talk at your own pace, etc etc." 

      @Telrenya    

(Thanks for the nitpicking and advice! Also, sorry for not tagging you in earlier posts.)

Neo nodded, grinning slightly. He always did enjoy the polite type of girl. They were always very nice and kind, plus they fought pretty hard when the situation came to it. Or the girls he had met that were polite seemed to do that. Neo wasn't really good at interacting with the female gender most of the time, so he knew very little. Just the stereotypes people usually spout off about. He let his arm hang at his side as she began to explain a little bit why she was out here. Neo nodded as she said she was just practicing her form. From that, and the fact that she seemed completely oblivious to the monster's left side swipe before Neo intervened, he deduced that it wasn't just form she lacked. Erin had a lack of battle strategy, quick thinking on the run, a foolproof plan as Neo would say. It wasn't uncommon, and Neo wasn't annoyed by it. He knew that SAO would most likely be many peoples first, and probably last, virtual mmo, so it was natural to find people with a lack of skills and or coordination here. Erin wasn't bad, no, her coordination and attacks were very precise and agile. She was quite capable in combat. But, without combat experience and/or a strategic like mind, it wouldn't really matter how hard or how fast you could hit. If you had no strategy, you'd just be playing like a newbie. Waving your sword or axe around hoping it hit something. 

It was comedic when that happened, but basically a death sentence if it so happens in a combat situation.

Neo though, did have many  years of experience. He played virtual reality games, which kept his coordination at a near perfect condition, and played lots of fighting and mmos. The other games helped him to analyze players and what their goals and objectives were, and helped with recognizing attack patterns with monsters as soon as the first couple blows were thrown. Of course, this wasn't fullproof, and it didn't always come to light some of his guesses. But when they did, it made his life a helluva lot easier. So, Neo decided to tag along with Erin, maybe teach her a thing or two as they both leveled up a bit. As Erin finished up her short explanation, Neo began to look her over slightly, analyzing any interesting things to nitpick at and ask about later on. He took notice of the silver sleek mask attached to her hip belt, the light glinting off its polished frame. Neo's eyes widened slightly, as he only heard of a couple of elite players who wore a mask in combat. Most of which were either bandits or guild members, who wouldn't usually take the time to train down here. He decided, against his better judgement, to talk about that more later, when he got to know Erin better. As she finished up, he looked at her and said, "Hey, Erin right? I could always tag along if you need an average strategist. The more the merrier, right?" He dusted himself off and straightened his collar, saying, "I really only came out here to find either some trouble or some fun, and I think if I stick with you I can find both. So, what do you say? Do you mind a kind stranger like myself helping you with killing some forest monsters?"

Neo sighed and raked his greenish tinged hair. Holy s**t was she a feisty one. He's heard of crazy girls before, but this? Yeah, safe to say that Neo never experienced anyone like this in the real world. But, Neo wasn't exactly the type to give up. Whether it either be determination, or probably more like stubbornness, he walked out of the alleyway and followed Rubys footprints to the restaurant in which, conveniently enough, he was banned from. He swore a couple types and just decided to wait for her outside. Sure, it sounds and it probably does look stalkerish, but Neo really hated it when people misunterpreted his actions in such ways that don't even make sense to him. Especially the alleyway fiasco that happened literally a minute or two ago. I mean, the hell did she think Neo was gonna do? This was a safe zone, in which no one could really get hurt. Even if you did manage to even advance onto anyone like that, there's a reporting system in place which basically can insta-ban you on the users will if they believe you're harassing them in anyway. Neo thought she was overreacting. He wanted to just go somewhere else. He didn't want to wait in the cold outside for a damn girl he just met just because he ran into her. But he can't just leave an impression like that run free. That would probably cause a lot of problems later on. So, he decided to stand outside the main window of the restaurant, and wait for Ruby to come out.

Or at least, that WOULD'VE been the plan if it hadn't been for the rest of the players he juked out from their snowballs returning to literally bury him in a coffin of snow. He knew everyone in the restaurant could probably see this from the main window he had been standing in front of, so maybe his story will have some credibility for Ruby now? As the players began closing in on Neo in a half circle formation, Neo unsheathed his sword. Yeah. He knew it was a safe zone. But that doesn't mean he couldn't use his sword in other situations. So, as the snowballs came barreling towards him, he used his sword to start slicing them all up before they could hit him, the pieces flying against the window with a dull thud. Neo didn't know how long he could last though, so he hoped Ruby would come out soon, or else he'd be buried in a gosh darn Avalanche before he'd be able to explain himself more to her.

Trying to call out to Ruby, Neo yelled, "Hey! Are you done yet?! My arms are getting pretty tired over here!"

 @Ruby

Neo blinked and grinned in satisfaction. The girl wasn't half bad. Hell, her last shot even dealt some near fatal damage! But, problem was, the troll was still standing there, which meant its speed stat increased by two fold. He sighed. Neo should've kept attacking the monster while in wait for the girl to support him. Strategic misread on his part. Neo then took the moment in which the troll's AI was switching targets to shove his katana right where his liver would be. It read as a critical hit, and the troll disappeared in a cloud of mist and data. Neo resheathed his sword and sat down on a nearby tree trunk, breathing out a breath of refreshing tree air. He looked over at the girl and smiled warmly. He was impressed. Neo then checked her level and did a slight bit of a double take when he found out what level she was. Also a bit amused. Neo never thought he'd see the day a higher level player would be struggling, or at least finding difficulty, in vanquishing simple monsters like the one they had just killed. But of course, power is nothing without skill and experience. Especially that in a game like Sword Art Online.

Neo shrugged to himself. It really didn't matter to him what level you were. All that mattered was how you played and if you could pull your own weight.

He decided to praise the girl a little bit, saying in a prideful and confident tone, "Hey, nice job out there. When I intervened I was hoping I didn't shock you to the point where you couldn't move. Sorry about that. Just thought I could help a fellow player out, since not a lot of that happens these days. Which is deeply disappointing." Neo then stood back up, stretched a little bit, and walked back up in front of the girl to get a better look. She looked, well, wonderful in Neos eyes. The girl was sleekly build, lean but not too built. Easy for her to manuver and gain more speed he guessed. She was shorter than Neo, which he always finds adorable whenever meeting new people, particularly girls, and her eyes were a wonderful mix of brown and auburn. Neo, after dusting himself and his clothing off in a very dignified manner, extended his hand, smiling politely, and he spoke in a friendly tone, "Hey there. I'm Neo. What's your name?"

Neo tilted his head in confusion. What had he done wrong? Did she think he was full of crap? Seriously, this was gonna be an interesting day. This was the first time he had ever made a bad first impression, probably. He began to explain why he had been in such a haste, as Ruby had already turned her attention to some snowflake falling down from the sky and had seemingly decided that's more important than the human being standing right in front of her, when a barrage of snowballs came firing down from the heavens right onto the pairs heads. Neo reacted on instinct, and he quickly took Ruby's hand and began running into the nearest, narrowest, darkest alleyway. He stopped for a minute there and before Ruby could get anything out of her mouth, Neo began spitting information at a light speed, saying, "Okay, look. This all started when I looked up at the sky this morning and thought to myself; 'wow, today seems really depressing for a day in which Christmas is drawing near', call me childish all you want, I don't care, that's what I thought at the time. Anyways, after that, I picked up some of the snow off the ground and made it into a snowball, okay? With me here? Then, I chose some random guy who was walking by me and chucked it at em. He attempted to retaliate, but just ended up hitting someone else. Repeat that process a couple dozen times, and now half of the people in the Town of Beginnings are in a huge snow war. That's why I had been in such a hurry, that's why I had crashed into you and made myself look like an idiotic fool, to run away from the dozen people who had been dogging my trail since the war started! And yes, I know you're probably pissed off for me dragging you into it, and I'm sorry. Sincerely, I am. But now you either run with me and hopefully not get completely trampled, or don't, and probably get trampled and hit by a couple billion snowballs on the way." Neo stared at Ruby for a moment and then asked in a slightly more persuasive than usual tone, "So, are you with me, or not? We don't have to fight back if you don't want to." He then picked up some snow and kneaded it out of anxiety, waiting for Rubys answer.

 @Ruby

Neo laughed, amused. This girl was different from most. All the women and girls that Neo had met were either frail, fragile, as if a single blow of wind would break them into two, or just as they usually were mostly in the real world sometimes; stuck up and rude, expecting for everyone to do everything for them. She, Ruby was different. She had a confident air to her, seemingly unafraid of any threat, obstacle, or challenge in her way. She was a girl who wouldn't let anyone tell her what to do. Neo enjoyed girls like that, they were good company to keep. After he dusted himself off and straightened out his clothes for a moment or two, Neo muttered another apology while slightly bowing, saying, "Sorry about that mishap, miss, I'm certain it won't happen again. If it does, it'll be under somewhat better conditions, and it won't exactly end up like a complete car crash. Normally I'm much more well-kept than this, but certain circumstances do lead me into being unprepared like this, so yeah." Neo then extended his hand once more, greeting her with a warm proper smile, saying, "The names Neo. We clearly have gotten off on the wrong foot. Mind if we start over?" As he waited for a response, his eyes made tiny movements, darting around nervously for any sign of the mob that had been straight on his tail. He couldn't stay here for two long, and if the girl here didn't want to get trampled, she'd better come with him to.

Might as well introduce himself first at least. I mean, he did just crash right into her.

 @Ruby

Floor 3. A place in which Neo both loved and hated to traverse through sometimes. Loved because some views from the wooded areas were simply something to behold, despite being something out of a video game. Hated because sometimes the enemies got the better of him and he had nearly died on some occasions, had he not used some sort of exploit to escape. The heavily forested area greeted him with open branches as he walked through the forest, darkness encompassing the main part. Neo continued to walk through a specific path in which he knew most of the wildlife wouldn't be able to detect him. Most. The other small percentage that had a chance was almost never there; they were usually used as cannon fodder for some of the higher levels around the forest. As he continued on his walk, his eyes scanned the tree line for anything suspicious or just simply something to admire.

He seemingly found both when he spotted a girl was about to attempt to fight one of the woodland trolls, fangs bared and in attack position.

Clearly Neo could tell that the girl had no real sense of strategy or even a plan of action. She just had walked up to the monster and seemingly said, "Come get me". If she had done time to study most of the attack patterns these kinds of monsters took, she would probably notice the fact that it would go for her blind spot first, which happened to be her left side. He began debating on whether or not he should intervene. If the girl was confident in her level enough that she would be able to come out here and fight, Neo really shouldn't be worried. But, if his assumptions about her lack of strategy were correct, this could end in a more tragic way than he wanted. Out of the goodness of his heart, or perhaps just the foolishness, Neo quickly sped towards the monster, taking out his trusty Perfected Hailstrom Katana, even though it really wasn't that special to him, and slashed the monster right in its back. It reared forward in pain and Neo called out to the girl, who had her rapier at the ready, and said, "Get him, while he's distracted! Stab him right where his neck would be!" He said about where his neck would be because it looked as if the troll had none. A literal head connected to a body would be a good way to describe it.

WC: 419

  @Telrenya

Neo looked up to the dark and cloudy skies. The weather changed oh so often here in this virtual imitation of the real world. Snowflakes had begun to fall from their perches up in the dark sky and cover the ground in their pure white color. He picked up some snow, the cold didn't really bother him anyways, and balled it up into something that resembled a snowball. Neo grinned. Oh, he was gonna cause some mayhem today. He looked over at the nearest person and called out, "Hey there! Think fast!" Just as the person turned to reply in greeting, a snowball turned to greet them right in the face. The person wiped the snow off their face and looked at Neo with a glare of bloodlust. They grinned evilly and made their own snowball to toss at Neo. But as soon as they made their throw, he ducked, and the snowball hit another person walking by, catching them off-guard and pushing them into the snow. After rinsing and repeating this basic strategy, he basically had multiple plazas in an all-out snowball war. Everywhere you looked, a snowball seemed to head your way with your name on it. No matter where you turned to look, you could hear the laughs and banter of dozens of people battling it out in with their snowballs of mass destruction flinging towards their targets. It was pure pandemonium.

And Neo absolutely adored it!

He dodged left and right, tossing snowballs in each and every direction, causing more people to join in on the chaotic fun. Some even hit the NPCs, which resulted in hilarious glitches and mistakes in the AI's behavior patterns. Neo's karma, however, began to catch up to him. Once he turned around to face the center of the plaza, five different snowballs, all of which were the more larger than the average, were heading straight towards his head. Neo hit the deck and let the snowballs fly right above him, crashing into a group of other people. Unfortunately however, now he had two groups of people on him, as the other group believed Neo was the one who threw the projectile snow at them. He ran throughout multiple plazas, ducking into multiple alleyways until he finally found one in which he could lay low in. However, in his haste, he collided right into someone who had also seemingly attempted to get away from all the disordered chaos. Neo rubbed his head, headache forming, and opened his eyes and found blurred vision. He was able to see enough though that he could see the unfortunate soul he had crashed into. A girl,  slightly taller than Neo to his dismay, and blonde. he slowly got up, staggered a bit, and then offered his hand to the girl.

"Sorry about that, was in a bit of a blind rush. Are you alright?"

WC: 479

 @Ruby

(Sorry if the post seems a bit lackluster, I'm just never good at starters!)

"Oh lordy, now that's a helluva crowd they've got there," Neo said as he walked up to the same plaza like spot Mars had been heading to. The Christmas season was here, thus meant that groups of friends and family gathered for the holidays and to spread their cheeriness everywhere.  Neo wished he had some friends to do that with. The friends he had did buy the game along with him, but just as they were about to jump on, they found out the news about how the game was a virtual death trap. Unfortunately, Neo wanted to get on as soon as he could, thus he had gotten stuck in this hellhole that mocked him in every which way of his old life. The snow, the way it trickled down from the dark sky and ticked his nose like how it did in real life, how the multicolored lights sparkled and glinted in a saddening yet lively way, and the way all the people around him had vanity equipment all representing Christmas. It made him yearn for something more. 

Something real. Much more realer than this virtual game's twisted take on reality.

Neo continued his lonely walk down the stone-bricked path to one of the main plazas. He looked over at the crowd that had gathered in the middle of the plaza and tilted his head. 'The hell's going on here? Up close, it seems like the crowd doubled!' Neo thought to himself as he circled around the middle of the plaza, trying to get a view of what was hidden in the middle. No such luck. It was like a mob, except a lot more tightly wounded up. As if they're, in battle formation? Neo didn't know, he was just making assumptions on what he was seeing so far. Curious to see what the heck was happening here, Neo began looking around for anyone he could probe some info out of. Not in a weird way, just a simple 'hey whats going on' type of thing. After scanning the outer path of the plaza he managed to set his eyes on one other visitor. He looked kinda like Neo, just without the emerald green eyes and green tinged black hair. He seemed to be looking for some company as well. Cool! Kill two birds with one stone, Neo guess as he slowly inched his way toward the guy. As soon as he was by his right side, Neo said in a friendly tone, "Heck of a crowd they've got formed up there, am I right? It's like they're waiting for Santa or somethin."

WC: 435

 @Mars  @Macradon

Neo glared at the red haired menace while he began to talk to Simba, quietly noting the fact that this guy, Abyss was it? Was trying to interrogate Simba in a way that would make him seem less..obvious? But he couldn't be anymore revealing to his true colors than he is now. Neo could nearly see right through this weak facade of his. He's seen it time and time again, it's like a parasitic infection that refuses to die. It's as if he's a dirty window glass, and Neo is busy cleaning it up for a better view of what's inside. The way players like Abyss liked to play was to act as if he was the one in power. The one above all. The ultimate apex. He needed someone to either act as his lackey(s) or just as another pawn in his bigger "game".

Neo has experienced people like these all throughout his lifetime, not just in gaming. They hate to do anything alone, as if they're afraid to fight by their lonesome. Or perhaps just too powerless to. Neo however, is the complete opposite. Neos the one always by himself, isolated from the rest of civilization in order to focus on the bigger picture. He always acted as the martyr, the one on the front lines, the one making all the rash decisions and harsh sacrifices. Sure, people may think of Neo as one of those stereotypical heroes from those anime they watch, but they reall couldn't be father from the truth. He's just a guy trying to make his way through this hellhole. But this guy thinks that only the strong shall survive in this world. Maybe so. But Neo isn't going to stand by and let them all die. He's ready to help when and wherever he can, while Abyss only thinks of the strong and getting out. 

It sickened Neo. Straight to the core.

Of course, he could always be completely wrong. But judging by Abyss' approach and extremely fakeish enthusiasm, he could also be right on the dot. But, he decided to keep that under wraps for now. He didn't want to draw anymore attention to himself after that restaurant trick. He decided to see how far Abyss' patience would take him, and decided to play the role of the "newbie". Neo looked at Abyss and spoke in a clear tone, "So, got any friends or family here? I do have some who purchased the game, but never actually played it yet. Good thing they didn't, right?" Hopefully Neos diversion stalls Abyss long enough for Simba to come up with some lie or excuse. Or maybe just tell the truth. Either/or.

WC: 448

@Simba  @Abyss

Neo began to answer Simbas question right as the red haired newcomer jumped right into the fray. He raised his eyebrows in confusion as he acted way too enthusiastic for someone who had just met two strangers. Seriously, who drapes their arms over two complete strangers? Sounds like you’re either looking for a fight or you’re just way too friendly a person. 

Over the years, Neo has gained many people, well, more specifically infiltration and analyzation skills. One of which was to analyze behaviors and actions to determine what kind of player he was dealing with, and what kind of battle strategy to use. But of course, it was also helpful in social situations as well. As Abyss asked to join the convo, Neo answered in a more confident tone than he had started, finally getting more comfortable around the two, and replied, “Yeah, sure. It’s indifferent to me. Although I hope you aren’t a drag.” 

He also gained some acting skills too, if you haven’t noticed yet. Although, sometimes he goes overboard with imitating separate stereotypes and such. 

Neo paused to look over at the man. He held a friendly air to him, but underneath he could sense a atmosphere of confidence and superiority. There was more to this stranger than he was letting on. There were literal hundreds of other people who were at the center, so why single out them? He didn’t want to make assumptions based on first impressions, but he really couldn’t help it. The red hair and such also did help his superiority complex theory. Neo shifted in his seat to straighten his back up a bit and said,

”Well, where did you come from stranger? From what I could tell you just seemingly fell out of the damn sky.”

WC: 296

(Sorry about the strange way my post is structured and it’s lack of length. Had to type this from a phone.)

@Simba @Abyss

"Whoop dee freaking doo," Neo muttered as he stalked through the cold dark alleys of the chilling morning in the Town of Beginnings. Irritated, as he stepped out of the alley, he angrily kicked some snow, as he had just been banned from one of his favorite restaurants. One of the other diners were being disrespectful to one of the waiters, and without any consideration of any of the consequences at all, Neo walked over to their table and dumped his hot soup right onto his head. The diner got up, after looking shocked for a moment, and then stood up to confront Neo. The two were right on the edge of a brawl. The manager quickly ran out as soon as he heard the argument grow into threats of fist-fighting. "Seriously, all I did was teach a lesson to a rude customer!" he had said in his defense when confronted by the manager. But the manager would have none of it, saying something along the lines of, 'this is supposed to be a nice and peaceful establishment' and, 'somewhere people can eat in peace and not worry about their problems or violence'. Neo was then abruptly thrown out onto the cold streets, his hot cocoa and cookies left in the restaurant untouched.

Hey, at least he didn't have to pay the bill.

Once he realized this, he quickly ran into the nearest alleyway to avoid having to endure another confrontation with any other of the staff about his bill. In his haste, however, he had tripped and covered himself in snow and dirt. This, obviously, did not do anything to help his mood, and once he got up he cursed the restaurant and everyone who worked there. Neo covered himself in what little covering he had with his coat and decided to take a walk, maybe it would cool him down. He instinctively began to traverse through the alleyways which would take him to the Town's center, which everything in the Town of Beginnings eventually led to. Seriously. Everything was connected to the center of town. Whenever someone would ask for directions to somewhere in the town, their answer would always have to do with the center of town. Oh, you wanna go down to the marketplace to purchase some fresh new gear? Go to the center of town and take a left once you get there. Oh, you wanna go eat at a nice restaurant? Go to the center of town and take an immediate right. So, assuming that the alleyways were also connected to the center, Neo continued to follow the pathways the alleys seemingly formed until he had made it into the center of town. Bright lights covered most of the buildings and the players there all had some sort of Christmas effect to their gear, whether it be a Christmas color scheme or a snow effect. There, in the center of the center, stood a nice large Christmas tree, adorned with multiple lights and decorations. Neo grumpily walked into the center and found a bench to sit at. Coincidentally it was the same bench Simba had chosen to sit at. Neo pondered whether or not to sit, and he shrugged his shoulders and sat down next to Simba. The man was staring right up at the cloudy sky, which had began to rain down artificial snowflakes. Neo cleared his throat and said, as a cheery as he could be, "So, how about that snow, huh?" He immediately regretted his decision though, as that was the literal most cheesiest conversation starter he had ever heard and he didn't want to make the guy feel uncomfortable.

 @Abyss  @Simba

WC: 609