Mishiro

Mishiro got the gist. He went back to the <<Garden>> after he left the first time. She'd already left and instead he found a man and his daughter. The former... Her gray gaze dropped and she silently hoped whoever that unfortunate person was had reached a better place now. 

Unfortunate. Unfortunate. Was it truly unfortunate? Difficult mobs hardly spawned in <<Gardens>>, and with the right equipment and skills, players could easily take them on or at least be able to run away from the encounter. It was a matter of inexperience. Years had passed, yet it still remained a fact that players didn't know how to allocate their stats and purchase the right enhancements - min/max their builds - to keep themselves safe.

Was he crying?

She took another step closer. Reaching up, she gently patted his head with a kind smile. It was nice of him, taking Katsumi in when no one else could - even if she had likely been a complete stranger at that point. "Don't cry. You did what you could," she said softly. Ruffling his hair in a fond manner, she pulled away and tugged her scarf upwards, suddenly conscious of the gesture. As she did, she found herself looking quickly over to the small girl playing with Felli in the sand. It was difficult to imagine what Katsumi went through, with the smiling brightly as she built a sandcastle.

"So," she began in a weak attempt to lighten the mood. "You haven't tired of Oreos yet?"

• 1 SP
• 270 Col
• 4 T1 Materials

Mishiro

• 1 SP
• 100 Col
• 6 T1 Materials

• 1 SP
• 150 Col

Tier: 1
Build: 
Discord (Must have ID #): Blake Harris#3771

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"Perhaps it has been," she affirmed with a small nod. Mishiro leaned forward on the bench, and there was a rough metallic sound as she entwined her fingers together. "But what can I say... whether good or bad, it's not easy to forget a moment that changes the course of your life."

And neither was it easy to discard Mishiro's wrongful assumption that Runa was at least five years younger than her. She asked questions with the same polite inquisitiveness children often possessed and her actions and manner of dress weren't of any help. The girl had hopped off her bench and made a bold declaration. Defender of Sweets? So she was defending her candy stash? Mishiro had to withhold her giggle. It was a statement that would have been rather typical of a child playing pretend with their friends, with one important difference: she wasn't actually playing pretend.

She worried the other didn't have a very clear grasp of the possible consequences and she wasn't sure where the girl came from either.

"I have experience." At the quiet chime of her notification bell - she had lowered hers to a volume that wasn't as disruptive as Arabelle's full setting - she opened her PMs with a quick swipe of an armored hand and skimmed through the latest message. Arabelle was coming... alone, for some reason, but she still insisted on continuing on their excursion together. Mishiro sent back an affirmative and rose from her bench, passing the smaller girl as she approached the poster she had put up on the wall. "There was a change of plans. Whoever put up that request was... unable to continue. A friend and I are still heading out, so you can come along with us instead. That aside, you said you wanted to learn how to fight?"

Mishiro pulled out the poster, folded it into a triangle, and tore off the excess. The smaller half disintegrated before it could reach the ground. 

"I'd be willing to give you a few tips." 

[ooc: Requesting to close for inactivity. If Runa wants to continue with what we started here, PM me and we'll start a separate thread.]

❄ SUMMARY ❄

Mishiro, @Kirbs, @Neopolitan, @Runa, @Jomei

• 1 SP
• 80 Col

@Bell, @Arabelle

• 1 SP

Unbeknownst to herself, she was smiling as he laughed.

This was nice. She didn't speak to many people in the same relaxed manner, and she felt a small sense of achievement at the thought that they were getting along rather well for strangers. 

He was speaking up again, apologizing. 

"It's alright," Mishiro responded evenly. She thought he was rather odd - one moment he was loud, excitable, trying to fill in every pause in the conversation, and she couldn't grasp what he was possibly thinking and another he was more subdued, awkward, sometimes asking for her confirmation like he couldn't believe it; and he made frequent, erratic switches between those moods - but not enough for an apology.

Then she remembered his teasing and decided perhaps he did deserve to say that apology. 

She was still red-faced when she admitted, "I don't 'get out' much either. With someone else, I mean."

The cafe they had visited was now out of sight and they were walking down the cobbled path that led to Urbus's exit. She quietly admired the rows of medieval-style buildings as she sipped from her latte. Then she looked back up at him to ask a question that had been nagging at the back of her mind ever since he brought up the mountains. Beginner-safe as it was, that area was not something one would think themselves well-acquainted with after a short walk outside. "Do you leave the safe zone often?" 

She wouldn't. Not after that day she found a girl sleeping beside the Waterfall of the Sage, unaware of the band of orange players closing in on her with their weapons drawn. They had both learned a lesson that day - that the system wasn't their only enemy but so were some of the players within it.

Mishiro thought she already knew that, but experiencing it firsthand was considerably different. Memories of the thin sliver of red in her HP bar with her opponent's dagger pointed at her throat flashed across her mind. Her life was in danger. Jinx would have been matched one-versus-six if she had gone down. Perhaps... in that one instance, it might have been right to—

"It was a close call, but you weren't wrong to hesitate."

No, it wouldn't.

Her gauntleted hand closed around a flat stone. The girl didn't feel any more unsafe now than she always did. Worrying about things that weren't very likely to happen wouldn't benefit her at this point, though she did take the necessary precautions of checking her surroundings regularly and having a Teleport Crystal at her belt as Roman had advised. 

She regarded the stone in her hand and tossed it into the lake, watching it skip once, twice, before going under. Mishiro watched the ripples in the lake and reached around her basket of coffee beans for another pebble.

She didn't mind being alone.

A pebble drops into the ocean and a tidal wave ravages the shores on the other side of the world. Chaos Theory. The ripples in the lake reminded her of it, but - watching the small waves glance off the edges of the shore - it didn't apply here. It was the opposite of a chaotic system; a stagnant body of water where changes are mostly self-contained, and the most a ripple could ever do to disturb the world around it was the occasional splash to the side.

And it was detached from everything.

The girl thought she liked its silence. Seated by the lake's shore, partially obscured by a clump of reeds, Mishiro pulled her legs close to her chest and watched a small family of birds taking turns dipping into the water and then taking to the air as quickly as they came. Even as she was resting, she left her gauntlets and combat boots equipped and was dressed in the cold black iron of her heavy armor set. Beside her was a wicker basket, filled with the coffee beans she had gathered from the nearby <<Garden>>. Casting it a quick glance, she pulled herself out of her own thoughts long enough to give a small, proud smile.

She had well exceeded the amount she set out to gather today, and she thought a half-hour's rest by one of her favorite places in Floor 1 was warranted.

It was quiet and peaceful.

But she never kept her eyes closed for more than a few seconds.

Mishiro almost smiled. 

"Was that supposed to be impressive?" she lightly teased. The girl dismissed her gathered materials to her inventory and turned back to the masked man. Where she would have ended a conversation, she had decided to play along. It was harmless fun and part of her was, admittedly, glad for the company on a gathering trip usually spent alone. "Why every weapon in the game though? Most players would just aim to learn one or two."

Dusting off the edges of Roman's coat as she stood, Mishiro briefly reactivated her <<Detection>>. She cast a quick glance at the other member of her party - still fighting, but now the flytrap was at a fourth of its HP - and she figured he wouldn't need any assistance. It was only when she had walked a slight distance away to pick leaves from a rosemary, did she take notice of the little blue flame that had followed her.

"Felli, shouldn't you be helping Huginn?" She made a small shooing gesture with a gauntleted hand. The movement unintentionally fanned a puff of cold air at the familiar, which it quickly took to the side to avoid. Still, Felli continued dancing happily around her, leaving trails of light as it moved. Mishiro glanced at Huginn, then back at the little wisp who wouldn't leave her side. "Alright, you can stay..." Lowering herself in front of the rosemary, she let Felli circle around her hand with a soft smile.

She would just have to apologize for both of them later. 

It didn't take him long to realize he wasn't the only lone player in the island - which was already unusual in and of itself. His scouting had led him a ways away from Paraneze, where even frontline-leveled players would be found in groups. Whoever that was must be confident in his stats and, most likely by Claude's own negligence, had gone undetected for however long they had been on the island.

And they were coming closer.

Claude stopped and turned to the newly-arrived player. His left hand disappeared under his cloak, coming to a casual rest on his sheath. Green cursor. A knife sheathed at his belt. Cowboy attire(?). And a smooth as heck Southern accent that gave him the impression of a guy who walked straight out of an Old West movie(??). Whether he was the real deal or not, you wouldn't normally expect to see cowboys playing a VRMMO themed around swords.

"Yeah, he's mine." He gave a vague gesture to the ferret that was earlier nestled sleepily in his hood, but now had its paws on his left shoulder and was watching the man with slight curiosity. "Sorry, did he disturb you earlier?"

"I've met him," the girl reminded with a small nod. The first, by a set of 'Wanted' posters and one of Aincrad's strongest warning the public of criminals. The second, at last year's Christmas fair with a smaller child riding happily on his shoulders. Both gave contrasting impressions, but more than anything, Mishiro wanted to believe - "He seems like a nice person." 

She stayed by Jinx's side as the other took in the scenery before her eyes with a quiet smile. Deciding to herself that she did not interrupt this moment, Mishiro looked back down and took the time to admire the view for a few more moments herself. There was nothing but the rustling of the trees above them at the occasional breeze, and the sound of bird calls. Restful. Tranquil. It reminded her of the forests of her hometown, and she always held those fond memories close to her.

Though it only did some to ease the heaviness in her heart, she was glad she had the chance to experience this moment with her friend.

"Let's keep going?" she asked softly when she felt her friend was done. Mishiro offered the shielder a sincere smile as she turned and started along the path, and would drop a few steps back to walk alongside Jinx once she started moving.

When he spoke again, she latched onto it. Onto his words. Onto the potentialities of the subject he brought up. It was better than the heavy silence, and it gave her something simpler to mull over. Mishiro pushed her concerns of the masked man's identity to the back of her mind where they rightfully belonged and gave a disbelieving hum.

"Is that so? People who say that often intend the exact opposite. If your words were sincere, that statement would have been better said without that phrase. It's likely that no one would notice a thing since you never brought their attention to it," the girl casually remarked. If he looked over now (likely), he would have seen a faint teasing smile on her lips that was more friendly than condescending - hinting at the true intentions behind her comment. "How did you fare with martial arts?"

Mishiro watched him from the corner of her eye as he gave out advice. Huginn and Felli's blue outlines, clashing against the Venus flytrap's orange in strong contrast to the muted background. 

"Were you watching?" That question, she could ask him without any reservations, at least. Mishiro tucked a gauntleted hand into Roman's coat pocket and turned to Ares. "I'm not very experienced with a spear, but I could at least tell he missed his initial attacks because he was keeping his distance. It's a common mistake among fighters. They have a long weapon, they think they can reach far enough with its length. So in a sense, he's already doing what you told him to do, but a bit too much."

There was only so much he could garner from her lack of expression. Disappointment might be one of them. She turned, just in time to witness Huginn land his first hit against the flytrap, taking a great deal of HP and paralyzing it. Mishiro suspected he might heed Ares's advice and revert back to his mistakes from earlier. The mob wasn't moving for a while. He had time to listen, time to adapt. Pausing to think for a moment, she called out, "Keep a reasonable distance. Not too close, not too far! Remember your failed attacks from earlier and learn from it! Don't overcomplicate your maneuvers, and keep your movements direct and simple. You need time to get used to combat, and you aren't doing yourself any better for rushing it along!"

"...that was advice for a beginner. He looks like one," Mishiro quickly explained to the boy beside her. Satisfied with her input, she turned and walked a short distance away to pull up a patch of greens her vision had highlighted earlier.

At the sight of the wooden arch towering above Krycim's entry point and the settlement's familiar vine-riddled structures, she allowed herself a quiet sigh of relief and the tension in her shoulders eased. It was a much welcome comfort - and it lasted until her thoughts took hold. Mishiro stepped forward, further into the safe zone. Her gaze was blank, listless.

She stared off into the distance, processing.

Roman sometimes spoke of player killers, but until now, they had been nothing but a cautionary tale. They couldn't touch her, so long as she took the necessary precautions. But time and again, they brought down the strong and the innocent. Some whose names she knew, most she didn't. And today - she looked over her shoulder at Jinx, carefully handing off the sleeping ferret to Roman - she had witnessed an attempt firsthand. In a world where everyone would have benefited from working towards a common goal, they were a reality. 

--She remembered the dagger raised above her head and all of the fear she should have felt in that moment came back to grip at her throat.

"Then, I guess we part ways here. Are you sure you'll be alright?" Roman turned his head to the side, allowing the familiar to nestle comfortably into his hood, but he still looked at the shielder with concern. "If you have a guild or some friends, I think it would be best to stay close to them for the next few days. Or -" He looked over to Mishiro for approval. She took a moment to figure out what he was alluding to. Breathe. And she gave her agreement with a small nod. "- You can come over. Floor 3, Cafe Myosotis. It's a safe zone, and I know a few people you can talk to if you feel unsafe."

So this was goodbye?

Jinx's switch to German went unnoticed. Mishiro returned her small bow. "I was just doing what anyone else would have done." She straightened and considered the girl standing in front of her for a moment. Her name, their short exchange of words, and what they just went through. "Do you want to exchange contacts?" 

Mishiro sent the girl a friend request and they said their farewells.

Once Jinx had left, silence settled between the two. 

--She remembered the dagger raised above her head, and she didn't feel like gathering those materials anymore.

"Let's go home? I'll pull some materials from the treasury, have them make an exception," Roman offered. He rubbed her head in the fond manner she was familiar with, and she couldn't help but return his reassuring smile. "Okay? You need to rest."

He reached for her hand, and they started down the short path to Floor 6's teleport gate. 

...

❄ SUMMARY ❄

Mishiro and Jinx

• 2 SP
• 400 Col

Embers

• 1 SP

A name has been crossed out of the Monument.

<<Haniel>> ^NPC
Player-Killed by Claude ^NPC.

• 200 Col
• 1 SP

"--And you are. I know, it's fine." Mishiro accepted her takeout after a short wait at the counter. She discarded the paper bag and shifted the steaming hot paper cup back and forth in her hands. Lifting it to her lips, she took a sip. 

Pinball was still talking.

"I want to. I already said so, didn't I?" Honest, and straight to the point. Mishiro turned to face him, gray eyes betraying a slight hint of confusion. It was a fact to her that she wanted to go on a walk - why wasn't it to him? The boy went on, offering her two options though it was evident he was leaning more on the latter. His sentences dragged, he talked too fast, and there was an effort to make the two places more interesting. And now he waited, his ears red and his foot tapping repeatedly against the floor.

The girl had a rather vague sense this conversation was a bit... off. 

She considered his words. His repeated questions. He wasn't used to this; neither was she. But he told her he was trying. She thought she was, too. 

"We can pass by the market any other day, and you seemed more interested in the other, so let's go for the mountains."

Perhaps a different approach was better. 

"A flat top mountain... you must be talking about the range in the northeast, right?" It was the nearest and located on the farther edge of one of the beginner-friendly areas. She had reason to assume he wouldn't take her straight to a high-leveled zone without asking for her stats first. Mishiro recalled the map Roman had once given her, affixed to the beta testers' guide to Floor 2. She had no need for it, but she would bring it out of her inventory and study it in her free time out of curiosity. "Then if it's alright with you, let's make a stopover in the middle. There's a hill in the middle of the grasslands, only a few minutes off the path." 

This was weird, different, somewhat unfamiliar.

"It has a good view of the surrounding area, and... I've only been there once, but it's a nice, quiet place. Consider it my contribution."

But she was trying some more and maybe that was the point.

Mishiro would follow after Pinball as he made for the exit. She remained a step behind him, clutching the warm drink to her hands as they stepped out into the cold January air. 

"By the way, the vanilla latte?" The girl sped her pace until she was walking alongside him and held up her drink. "It's good, but I still think it's best enjoyed if you drink it slowly."

February 14, 2023

Claude    --interlude: philia

In the stillness of the moonlit hall, the performer turned to her enamored audience of one.
"What did you dream of?"

An amaranth blossoming in the moonlight.
"I thought of you."

He awoke to the scent of flowers and a melody playing by his ear; soft, cold, and gentle, like watching snowflakes fall from the night sky. February's winter chill lingered in the air, but the fluffy blanket on his shoulders enclosed him in warmth. A sigh escaped from his lips. This was nice. Moments of peace were sparse among the chaos of the past four months, so when they came, they were greatly appreciated. He kept his eyes closed and buried his head deeper in his arms. If the Suite bergamasque was lulling him back to sleep, then the faint scraping sound from the corner of the room - like metal sliding slowly across metal - was grating against the back of his mind and pulling him back through the veil of consciousness.

--And he remembered that song and a pianist's slender hands gliding over ivory keys, and it ripped through whatever sense of calm that had briefly overtaken him.

Claude lifted his head. He took note of the scented candle he didn't light and the blanket at his shoulders, then of the figure by his window.

With one curtain already drawn, the small girl gently pulled on the other. She had left her shoes by the door as she was accustomed to and was dressed almost entirely in white. With sharp gray eyes narrowed in concentration, the girl looked up at the curtain rod above her head. Standing on tiptoes, she carefully tugged on the curtain again and it moved with the quiet but noticeable sound from earlier. She paused when it moved with less sound than before, and he already knew she was trying to remember what she did so she could replicate that same process.

He smiled despite himself.

Pure, delicate, quiet. Like she would break apart at a touch - and she almost did once. Mira Gonzales reminded him of snowflakes.

But more importantly, what was she doing here at four-something in the morning?!

"Shiromi..?"

She froze. And Claude considered that maybe calling out to her was a bad idea. He could see it in the dismay that took hold of her expression when she turned to him and resignedly loosened her hold on the cloth.

"Did I wake you?"

White light slipped through the gap in the curtains and spilled into the room, shining down on her as she took a small step forward. 

It did not look like it was four-something in the morning.

"You weren't coming down for breakfast, so I went over to check," she continued. "Go back to sleep if you like. It's best to take advantage of this rest day and recover your energy. I believe that's also what Leah said yesterday." Crossing her arms, she leaned back against the window and glanced at him. "Though I think it would be more comfortable if you moved over to the bed."

It was really not four-something in the morning. Sitting up straight, his gaze flicked down to the bottom-left field of his UI. 12:30 PM, and Mira probably had breakfast alone on his one rest day. He expected a scolding, or a light jab at his sleeping habits. That was what she always did whenever she went over to wake him up a year ago - before SAO, before her accident. But there was none and only a thinly-veiled expression of concern, and it felt wrong.

 "It's okay. Oversleeping is bad too, you know? Any longer and I would've waken up with a headache." Claude quickly assured with a smile. He turned away from her and muted the crystal. "Sorry, did you want to do something today? Or do you already have plans with someone? That's good, too. You know, I noticed you've been out more often lately." 

Mira moved over to sit at the edge of his bed and swung her legs in an almost childish fashion. "I don't have any plans." -- And Claude felt really bad for whichever poor guy had a crush on her this time, if there were any, 'cause she barely even paused to think. -- "And considering how you were in the middle of your yearly routine of taking out your frustrations on cleaning, you don't have any either. That makes the 25th year in the row. Congratulations, you are now at the silver anniversary of having no date on Valentine's Day."

And Claude felt bad for himself 'cause that one went straight for the heart, where the hell did his cute, innocent Mira learn to say such things with a straight face -

"I- I just didn't have any time, okay?!"

"Mhm. You have another year. Do your best, Roman. I'm cheering on you."

She encouraged. In a flat tone. As she disinterestedly picked up a dungeon map and its attached guide from the stack on the floor and began to leaf through its pages.

Yeah, okay.

"That aside..."

Loath he was to admit, she wasn't wrong. He had gotten up early to tidy up his place... only to nod off halfway through. Even with SAO's magic unlimited inventory system, he kept most of his belongings manifested in his inn room. Some of Mira's sketches were pinned up on the wall, various vanity trinkets he hadn't disposed of yet were stored in the drawer, the guild's paperwork in cardboard boxes and his desk, and a statuette Leah had given him for Christmas along with a few others on the bedside table. In contrast, Mira left her room mostly bare with the only personal touches being a panda plush on her bed and her sketchpad and notebooks stacked neatly on her desk - and last he saw of it, she didn't even hang her clothes in the closet. 

"Were you doing this all morning? You didn't have to, you know..." Or she could have just woken him up. Claude had noticed how she had already finished half of the clean-up for him, leaving the mess of drafted floor guides, dungeon maps, and paperwork stacked on the floor. And he could only attribute that to her not knowing what to do with it. He went over and ruffled her hair fondly. "That's really nice of you. Thanks. But seriously, wake me up next time, alright?"

He thought he saw her turn a slight shade of red, but she only nodded quietly. 

"How about this?" Mira held up the dungeon map in her hands. "Tell me how it should be ordered and I'll help."

It was Valentine's Day. She should really be doing something else other than being cooped up inside for the rest of the afternoon.

"I think we've done enough for now. How about we leave that for later and head down for some lunch?"

It really didn't need much consideration. Mira nodded quietly and placed the map down on the bed. 

"Before we head out..." She stopped him before he could say anything else. Mira procured a small cellophane pouch wrapped in a red ribbon from her inventory. Chocolates, he quickly realized. They were bite-sized and came in different cute shapes that were typical of Mira's usual Valentine's chocolates. She stood and presented her gift to him with a sincere smile. "Leah helped me make it. Happy Valentine's Day, Roman. Please take care of me for another year, okay?"

He returned her smile.

"That really goes without saying already but for the sake of formalities, please take care of me for another year too, okay?"

He took the chocolates from her hand, but unexpectedly, she leaned forward. Instinctively, he stiffened as she pressed against his chest and wrapped her arms around him, but quickly relaxed and held her close. It was warm and soft, and she didn't hold him tightly - it was more like she was barely there. He pulled her closer and his hand rested against the back of her head. It felt... nice.

Claude pulled away.

"I'm gonna take a quick shower. Head downstairs and grab me the usual, alright?" He took another few steps back to allow her some space. "Thanks for the help today, but no offense, I hope it'll be different next year."

"That's what you say every year." 

Mira stopped by his closet to pull out one of his smaller coats and shut the door behind her quietly.

Left in the silence of his own room, Claude stared vacantly at his desk. He took the recording crystal and absentmindedly turned it over in his hands. It had the appearance of the typical store-bought recording crystal, with the only difference being the engraving of a black phoenix on one of its sides. He hovered over the option to unmute it. Seconds ticked by. Then he tore his gaze from the options and dropped the crystal in his shared inventory with Mira where it would hopefully be buried underneath his candle collection, never to be seen again.

The melody still lingers.