Huginn

Huginn’s familiar danced around the red headed Brit, leaving him in the natural light. “I think it’s amazing out here.” His black outfit blending in with the night, save only for the dirt path lit by the silver strands dangling down gently. Her tone appeared to be that of someone who was in fear. He knew the tone all too well, it was the tone his voice carried every night when his father was working. “Guess we’ll hurry up then.” He launches out into the night, running as fast as he can. Like he was actually having fun an instinctive smile crosses his face. At this speed, the rays began to morph together and become a constant stream of bluish gray locked under the trees. His spear spins out and the flame of blue catches up to him and sits on the spear head as he slams it forward, narrowly missing the deltoid of the dark elf. Damn I missed. Why can’t I ever hit that attack? It seems like an easy attack to land, but I guess not.

Huginn: 80/80 HP | 6/8 EN | 6 DMG | Para: 1

Dark Elf: 12/12 HP | 9 DMG

@Kirbs

The word dead sparks a look of pure terror on the boy’s face. Does she even realize what she just said to me? Damn, I thought people were supposed to be nice. She couldn’t have known what she just said to the boy, so he decides not to give her an ear full. Not like he could if he wanted to. He gives her a fake smile and walks ahead of her. These woods are dark and eerie at night, so I don’t blame her for being in a rush, but slow down. Take in the scenery. “Wait...” the word comes out without him realizing he had said something until he feels his mouth shut. “This Forrest is dark and loomy, but when the moonlight shines through it can be beautiful.” He walks, trying not to rush through the Forest. The talk of nature had forced him to open his mouth so he might as well continue. “I heard that the silver strings of moonlight can make for one spooky evening... but I’ve also heard it’s ideal for romantic settings.” His behavior had changed, ever so slightly. Like he was more relaxed, though his emotions still hidden for the most part, even through that last bit, not a drop of embarrassment seeps out. Like he didn’t know what he had just said, his words don’t affect how he feels.

@Kirbs

Kirbs? As in... Kirby? He looks at her one more time... “Why would you name yourself after a puffball?” Genuine confusion in his eyes as he tilts his head and thinks for a moment. “Name’s Shiro.” He turns and walks into the shop, and the shop keep begins to explain the quest to the boy. I know, I’ve helped someone do this before. He waits for the window to pop up, but the moment it does he selects accept. He quickly rotated and starts walking out, sending Kirbs a party invite. “We’re gonna need this if we’re gonna fight together.” He walks out of the shop entirely and into the streets, the familiar still hanging back by the lady as the boy reads the news of the game. So they’re moving up again? Guess we can’t be stopped, can we? He examines the names of players allegedly involved, looking for his sister’s name. “Hey miss, if you were to be looking for someone, how would you go about finding them?” The question obviously deeply rooted in his personal experience even though no emotion bleeds through to the surface.

@Kirbs

The door was closed for no more than a few seconds before a loud thud ring out inches behind him. The hair on his neck would’ve stood up if they could, but luckily the other thing that happened was the whimpy cry that escaped his mouth as he jumped forward. “AAH! GOOD GOLLY!” He opens the door in a panic and instantly regrets the decision. Not knowing what to say he just opens his mouth and lets his mind run wild. “Would you like to accompany me?” He asks kindly and genuinely for a moment, hoping secretly that her answer would be no. That’s when Felli pops out and flies up quickly as if mocking him for what just happened. She settles around the player in front of Huginn and moves as if elated to meet someone new... she likely was to be entirely honest. His eyes scan over the woman in front of him in a discrete manner, not like checking her out, but more like determining if she is good enough to play with his familiar.

@Kirbs

Shiro thought back to the quest he did with the girl that has silver hair, and begins to think. That quest gave her something useful if I recall correctly, but I don’t know. He walks through the town, avoiding people and taking his time, making sure not to draw too much attention to himself as his familiar dances around his body. Felli was the only will-o-wisp familiar he had ever seen, maybe it was one of a kind. Why would I be the one to get the one of a kind familiar and not anyone important? His eyes follow the creature until it moves behind him and follows him as he walks. “Felli, what are you doing?” His words carry a bite as he spins quickly and smiles, pointing at the blue flame as if he were scolding it.

As he approaches the blacksmith shop his body begins to tense up. This was a quest area meaning people would be around here and he might end up being dragged along on another mission with some random person. They were always incredibly loud too, which was unfortunate. I swear to god this whole world is like the tall grass in Pokémon... his eyes land on the door as he quickly enters and closes the door behind himself.

@Kirbs

At this point Shiro’s shoulders were relaxed, his voice steady, his eyes open and aware. He was interested in something other than music for the first time in a long time. That’s not really true, I’ve met a few people who don’t like doing something they’re good at. Even if they are absolutely amazing. He had listened to her first statement and the information revealed did nothing more than hold his interest for a second. Is that all she likes to do? I mean it’s understandable, drawing can be fun. That’s when she brings up her other favorite pastime. Walking? “I’ve never actually gone on just a walk in this game.” He begins to think. “This game is beautiful, so I assume a walk through the field is what you mean. Huh. Guess I’ll have to try that someday.” Faces pop through his mind, people he might want to take on a walk if he ever gets the chance. One of them sticks out among the rest, mostly because she was sitting right across from him, but also for another reason. The reason not entirely known to the boy, but it was there, and it would be easy to figure out if he cared to.

@Mishiro

Huginn’s spear materialized in his hands, as he jumped up and slammed his spear into the monster’s stomach. The tip sets itself in it’s stomach right above the the belly button. His legs come up and pull the spear from the hole in its abdomen. “I’m not gonna let you fight on your own.” He twirls his spear and holds it like he had used a spear so many times before. His eyes lock on the Minotaur as he stands next to the girl who had saved his life. This was a huge mistake. I should’ve let her do this on her own, from the way she spoke she could probably handle it. His legs spread out as he leans forwards ever so slightly, holding his spear out behind him, the head pointed down towards the ground as the counterweight floats above his head. “Be honest, could you have handled this on your own?” He wanted to figure out if he was wasting his time helping her or not. Her HP was probably much higher than his, and her Damage was definitely higher than his. He was going for a different build from the look of things, but he was definitely behind her by quite a bit.

[1] Huginn: 40/40 HP | 3/4 EN | 2 DMG | 1 Para

[0] @Kooh: 400/400 HP | 18/20 EN | 7 DMG | 2 ACC | 2 EVA

Hoya: 43/45 HP | 30 DMG

And just like that, the moment was gone. Huginn’s common sense came flooding back like a dam had been broken. Mishiro’s arm was in front of him when he realized what he was doing. What is she doing? Is she trying to stop me? He just stares at her arm, her question tickles his ear as he looks entranced. He wasn’t. He was moreso thinking of what to say. “I’m sorry, won’t happen again.” He went to turn and heard the cat lady yell, of course. He looked at Mishiro, not concerned, not intimidation, this was a face he had worn since he knew what it meant. Annoyance. Of course she would try to convince him to come along. But if I were him I’d just leave and not come back. Not because I threatened him, but because the lady... wait... is he loud too? His face looks pained for a moment as he begins to feel the weight of his decision. I need to get my emotions in check. He turns and walks, following the party. His feet tread slowly as he stays a meter or two behind the rest, Felli trying to distract him from what just happened. 

Then the girl, the cool one, dropped back and started playing with Felli. “Careful, she bites...” he chuckles. He hadn’t done that in a long time, forgot how it felt.

@Elouviana Zashira 

Shiro watched the end of the scene unfold, the masked man turn to walk away. Why should I care who you are? It’s not like I’ll ever see you again... The loud girl was dealing with Mishiro, but then the girl Huginn had learned to tolerate moved, like she was going to stop the kitsune freak. He wanted to ignore it and just let the guy go, but it was obvious Mishiro wanted to talk more, so Huginn walked past Mishiro and Elou, being careful not to bump them as best he could, though a little bump was considered collateral damage compared to the headache he was about to give himself with this top notch stupid move from the genius in black. His familiar cuts off the man in the cloak as Shiro sighs and grabs his shoulder. “I don’t care who you are, but be nice to her and you can come along.” His words come with a bite, but they remain quiet enough that Mishiro and Elou can’t hear him. “Or kill me and run away, it’s your call. But I’d suggest you pick fast.” His emotionless face shifts back to The two girls, he had already decided to come along. I knew today was gonna be hell. I should’ve just gone to the 2nd floor and stayed in bed this morning. His attitude wasn’t that of someone who wanted to act tough, but more so of someone who wanted to help someone else. It was a genuine moment of kindness and if not taken advantage of, more like it would likely never come.

[OOC: don’t worry about it Elou, I stopped him for ya.]

@Elouviana Zashira

And just like that, Shiro was alone with a woman. The only person he didn’t hate had disappeared even faster than she got here, and now Shiro was trapped. It didn’t help that this girl was so energetic, more so than he remembers his sister ever being. The boy begins to think, I’ve already broken the silence, but that doesn’t mean I was talking to her necessarily. He looks dead serious, makes eye contact, and squints. Then he opens his mouth, a pained look on his face. “Who are you?” The question forced out and obviously so. He turns to walk towards the blacksmith shop, hoping that she’d say her name and just shut up, but it doesn’t take a genius to know he’s not that lucky. The next best thing would be for her to talk the whole time so he didn’t have to. That’s also unlikely. Conversations have to be two sided, or else they’re pointless. Plus, the loud people like other loud people, that’s the problem. The flock together. He waves Felli back over to him and pulls his hood up over his messy mop of a head. The familiar follows him, looking disappointed in the boy for not making new friends.

Shiro had been watching the crowds of people swim by like schools of fish. They looked so meaningless from where he stood. They all had lives, goals, dreams, but to Shiro, they were just blobs without faces. Like extras in an anime, he just ignored them. Every now and then one would say something that sounded like his sister’s name, but nothing more than noise. That’s when he heard a girl shouting in the distance. He got up to move towards where he heard the voice when suddenly a new person appeared, this one not faceless or passing by like a bug in the breeze. This one was one that was rather important to him. Of course, him being the antisocial idiot he wanted to ignore the urge to talk to her and hide for the rest of his life, but Felli had different plans. Felli had already floated over to the girl and started dancing around her by the time he was trying to get away. So he was officially trapped. Great, might as well speak to the crazy blacksmith lady as well. He scoffs as he appears next to Mishiro, “Sorry about Felli, she can be so annoying.” He chuckles, hoping she won’t mind.

@Mishiro

The boy’s attention flips towards the girl as she tells her story. Why is she telling me this? She must really want to know about the girl. He looks down at his familiar, poking it with a playfuly smile on his face as he thinks about whether he should tell her or not. “I guess I can tell you... but on one condition.” He looks back up towards the girl. “You tell me why you want to know.” His hands move down into his pockets, unsure of how to phrase it, so he stopped thinking about it. “This girl, the one that has caught my interest, I met her on the second floor. The cold weather harmonized with her cold tone perfectly.” He begins to blush, the words just flowing at this point, but his tone had changed. “She was drawing a picture. Don’t remember what it was, but it looked like my sister, so I asked if it was. Of course, the odds of that being low, I didn’t expect much, but I had to know. It wasn’t. So I asked the girl to draw my sister. She did. And that brings us to here.” He says, completely cutting out the part with the christmas party. Part of him wanted to say more, but what was the point, he wanted that time to himself anyways. That was his second favorite memory of all time, so why should he share it with a random girl?

@Arabelle

The boy realizes what happens as the girl calls him dummy and bring up what she said before. She’s right. But she’s also wrong. I don’t like her. Women are so confusing. He backs away from her, not knowing what to do about What he was thinking. Do I like her? He looks up at the girl with purple hair and tilts his head. “Fine, I’ll tell you.” He spins and starts to walk with her as he begins to talk again. “There is a girl, but I’m not sure if I like her.” He keeps walking his familiar floating by him like it’s trying to annoy him. So he waves the small flame away and he begins to think for a moment. “I definitely don’t...” his hands fidget together as he continues, “not like her.” The poor explanation was the best he could come up with as he isn’t able to emote as well as everyone else in the world.

The small flame moves over to the girl and looks back at Huginn, he had forgotten the familiar is a Will-o-wisp, which were like sprites. Plus, the familiar’s name is Felicity, so it was obviously a girl. “You’re right, I’m sorry Felli. Human girls are gross.” He says, looking over at @Arabelle, “You’re not so bad. Still, you should keep your distance.” He spins and walks out further into the woods, a few steps ahead of the girl. His eyes land on a rock, as he bends down and picks it up, getting another material.

He watches her expression not change at all. In the anime in the real world, a small cartoony Shiro would’ve popped up looking drained behind him, but this was real, for all intents and purposes. Well that expression wasn’t very helpful. All she did was bring up talking to me as a change of pace. His blushing disappeared entirely as he shifts his body, looking at the girl. “So...” He recomposes himself as he thinks on what to ask her. His mind begins to race, flipping between hot, topical questions like “what’s your favorite mathematical equation?” And “what’s your favorite paradox?” Almost like time hadn’t Passed at all, but was really an eternity for the boy, he follows up with, “What do you do for fun?” His tone falling back to emotionless, but inside he genuinely wanted to know. Something was different about her, she wasn’t too loud, she wasn’t too callous, she was dense but so is he. Her presence almost put him at ease, and his attention was drawn to her. Is this what being friends is like? Because this is weird. Next she’ll ask why I decided to join Aincrad. Then my bank account number, or even worse, my birthday. He slides his hands into his pockets despite being more comfortable with them out and looks down, avoiding her gaze even if it wasn’t on him.

@Mishiro

Shiro looks at the girl confused for a moment when she brings up taking a class and calls herself “the best” at Piano. “Well sharing my music is something I only do every once and a while. Only offered it to one girl.” He looks down at the ground and speaks softly. “And I’ve taken several classes, parents wanted their genius son to do more then just follow his sister around and cause trouble.” His tone as he speaks changing for a moment. She was getting to him. He looks up at her and tilts his head as she apologizes and then tells him to ignore something. “No need to justify the lecture. I rather enjoyed it. Gave me a new perspective.” He smiles to her, this smile looking genuine as it is. Innocent and full of life, unlike any smile anyone has seen from him before.

Then she asks if he was sure there were no relationships in his life. Even widening the playing field by asking if there was anyone he liked. Normally a quick “No, end of discussion.” Would’ve cut her off and he would’ve walked away, which would’ve been much better than what actually happened. “Wha- no way... girls are gross. Eww. Cooties and stuff? Stay away.” A blush covers the boy’s entire face, and his eyes read clear as day he was lying. It obviously wasn’t the girl in front of him, he’s too calm otherwise. Do I like anyone? I don’t think I do. Of course there is this girl who is nice to me. And she even took me around the Christmas party, but... I don’t like her do I? His face reverts to normal, scrunches up and he thinks really hard. “No! Girls are gross. She’s gross.” He smiles as he says this, not knowing why.

His eyes quickly glance around the new area he moved to as he leans his back against a tree and looks out into the distance for something out of place. Nada. “anyways, If you’d like, I’ll play a song for you. But the problem is, it’d be a waste of time, I couldn’t compare to the best.” He tried to use flattery and an entirely different thing to change the subject from anything remotely related to liking some girl he totally hates.

@Arabelle

Shiro’s attention is grabbed by a word he knew very well. So she plays piano? Doesn’t seem like the type to me, but who am I to judge? “I tried piano once, the playful tunes and the light dancing of notes. It was beautiful until I messed it up.” His words carry a light in his eyes, like he was actually interested. “I instead chose to play Violin.” A brown shape appears with a black blob close to the bottom and strings to the top. A violin falls into his hands as the bow appears in the other. His eyes move up towards her. “I play it on my own because I don’t like people hearing when I mess up, it makes me want to quit.” He slips the violin into his inventory as he scans the area underneath him and manages to come up empty handed once again.

“Relationship issues?” He tilts his head at her and his voice slips back into the emotionless and empty sound from before. His quiet nature takes over as he slumps up against the tree and just watches the sky through the pin holes between the leaves. “I don’t have any relationship to have problems with.” He mumbles to himself as he thinks on whether she was talking to him or to herself.

@Arabelle

Shiro watches the girl for a moment as she speaks. His timid nature had seeped into the game and it always made him wonder if people were calling him weird behind his back. I’m probably not important enough to be spoken about. His emotionless expression changes for a brief moment, almost like he was disappointed. “Almost expected something more. Guess this isn’t that type of game.” A brief smile and chuckle can be heard from the boy as his familiar floats down next to him and then dances over to a plant on the ground. “So, I’m guessing by how much you talk you don’t do a lot of things alone.” He picks the flower up and looks at it, then at her.

His eyes bounce between her and the flower a few times before he squints and dismisses the item into his inventory. It’s time I start gathering for myself. He looks over to the girl and thinks for a moment. What would Misako say? Think Shiro, think. His eyes light up and he looks genuinely excited to ask, “So what do you like to do for fun?” He slumps down by a tree and pulls himself tight into a ball.

@Arabelle

Shiro stands up straight after coming up empty handed once again. The scythe caught him off guard, yet he stands completely still. Not out of lack of fear, he was afraid, but he knew even if he tried, nothing could keep her from killing him right there. She then sheathes the weapon after making a remark.“I guess we could head deeper into the woods, even though technically the odds are exactly the same.” He says. He begins to think about what the girl was saying before and then comes to a realization. “They day the best adventures are taken with friends, but the best journeys are taken alone.” He remarks, his tone a little more open than before, but his face immediately shows a regression into a more emotionless state as she finally asks what she should call him. His head tilts, as he squints his eyes. “Doesn’t bother me either way.” He says, his words carrying no emotion. He looks on the ground, sitting and leaning up against a tree, as he turns to the girl and looks around. This place would be nice to practice violin, but it appears that other people could be showing up here from time to time, so the need to move would be on my mind constantly. He looks up to the girl and tilts his head, “Why’d you ask me to come along? There’s a few thousand players in this world, all of which are probably better suited for this than me, and yet, here we are.” He looks towards her but not at her, more like through her, or behind her. “It could be because of what you said earlier, and I was the closest faceless blob you could have help you then never talk to again, but I think there’s another reason. Then again, I’m not good with emotions and deeper thought processes, I’m only good at what can be measured.” His vision focuses in as he realizes how much he just said, he looks embarrassed then to the ground. “Sorry, I won’t talk anymore.” He adds quietly.

ID: 112333

LD: 5 + 1 = 6

0 total

@Arabelle

Huginn’s ball of blue inconvenience comes drifting back towards him as he stands nervously around two players he had already met, one he was fairly certain was a maniac, the other was a true lady from what he could tell. “I’m just here for a drink.” He answers quietly and then hears her statement about a “Shiro-Chan” hmm, wonder who that is. It’s one of 10,000 names so it could be anyone. Except for the people in this little watering hole of course, but let’s not get into philosophy. His hands encapsulate the familiar as he hold it close, almost like it’s protecting him instead of him protecting it. Like the security blanket of a little child, he holds that glow close to him. He throws his hand up towards the person who stands behind the bar and asks for a water. “Who is Shiro-Chan and what do they have to do with me?” He asks himself quietly.

The other player, the one he didn’t recognize, asked another question, something about who all is coming along and Shiro draws in his brows, tilts his head then looks up at the ceiling. He couldn’t decide, last time he fought with the colorful girl he had a decent time, but the other girl was loud and the boy drinking at such an early time, sad, was shaping up to follow the latter. Then he hears a name he recognized. A name that would make this trip more worth while than before. Mishiro will be there? Gotta wait do you don’t seem... “I’ll go.” 

The words are followed by a look of surprise from the boy. He didn’t usually make such impulsive decisions like this, but he had no idea what he was doing anyways. It’s not about Mishiro, is it? No. It couldn’t be. No girl is gonna change my decision, especially not her. She’s gross. He shakes his head and grabs his water, sitting down and drinking it like if he finished it that second he’d wake up in his bed the next morening and this awkward situation would just be a horrible dream.

@Bell @Arabelle

The boy’s eyes scan across the field again, and the girl behind him talks as he does this. This is true, if she is an info broker then I guess I’ll have an enemy. An awkward chuckle comes from the boy. “Then I’d have to disappear again.” He says, realizing he isn’t gonna find anything this time around. “It’s not like I don’t see you as a threat, it’s more like I don’t care.” He adds, sliding his hands in his pockets and standing around, his familiar just above his shoulder. Gathering is always boring, and even worse I have someone who’s always trying to make conversation. Should I cave and give her a conversation? Or should I just stay to myself?

”It’s not like I could do anything about it anyways.” His eyes still on the ground despite not having found anything. This game makes abusing power so much easier than in real life. In this game you get power just by doing small things like gathering, in the real world everything takes so much more work. He smirks a little, knowing he didn’t have to trust this girl who he was starting to question where she stood on the sanity scale, because it’s either she sells his info and he has people bugging him all the time, or she doesn’t and he has another person to avoid. 

ID: 111915

LD: 3 + 1 = 4

no mats found 

0 total

@Arabelle

Shiro was hiding in a tavern trying to keep to himself because that’s what he does. Hoping no one will talk to him or bump into him or anything, and to do that, drawing attention was the last thing he wanted to do, so having a glowing blue familiar unlike any other was a bad idea, but Huginn loves his little Felli, just not everything she did. He had heard a familiar voice and was fighting the urge to look behind him to see who it was, but he was curious about who it was. Why does that voice sound so familiar? I’ve never done anything with anyone more than once. But before he could talk himself into turning around and looking his blue ball of glowing whatever it was made of floated away towards the girl with purple hair, son of a gun, why’d it have to be her? He calmly stands up and walks over to his familiar who is checking everyone out at the little group. Come on Felli, don’t do this, spare me the trouble and just execute me instead. His emotionless face drops into a slight frown for a moment as he reaches the side of the room with the small group. “Excuse me, could you hand me that glowy ball of annoyance?” He asks the girl who had done the tutorial quests with the boy.

Shiro was minding his own business when he got an invite to a party from the girl who had just tried to list off a few nicknames for the boy. But Shiro is already a nickname because Misako hated saying Yamashiro. He sits in silence then decides to weigh in on the subject. A quiet “I don’t do nicknames.” Falls from his mouth. Maybe she heard, maybe she didn’t, what did he care? His eyes scan across the ground as he looks for something out of the ordinary. It’d Be best if after this I never interact with her again, that’s how this usually goes right? Meet them, do something and never see them again. Kind of makes these things stupid.

 His familiar floats down and hangs above a small flower, Delicately the young boy walks over as he grabs it and breaks the stem. “Do you want this one miss?” He never forgot his manners. Even trapped in such a hell as this one, he always felt like the people who spoke to him deserved the respect of manners. Sometimes he refused to treat people with such respect, but only if they deserve it.

His emotionless eyes move up towards the girl, the only change from before is the tilt of his brow as he looks at her. It’s probably a weird thing to do, but it’s definitely the nicer route. And as she said, I am the one holding her back. He looks back down towards the flower and stands up. It’s a material, probably used for potions. It’s the most common use of plants, especially when chemistry was still called Alchemy. I wonder what effect this potion would have on a player. He pulls the flower up to smell it, maybe that would give him a hint. Nothing, never even smelled this before. How can a game give me this much information, yet skew it just enough so I’m lost? It’s kind of unfair. He stands and walks over towards the girl.

ID: 111860

LD: 13 + 1 = 14

@Arabelle

Shiro thinks for a moment. Of course; I’ve already made a fool of myself; and then tried to pull it off as being a dick. He tilts his head and looks up at the sky then rubs the back of his head. His eyes obviously balancing the options, as he nods and his familiar floats up and towards the girl like it’s analyzing her to see if she’s trustworthy or not. Oh shoot, if Felli doesn’t approve I guess she can’t come. The girl, not Felli. He wraps his hands around the blue glow as he pulls it towards him and chuckles lightly. What would Misako say? Let’s see... nice, considerate, scape goat. He thinks when his mouth opens and the first words that come to mind pop out. “Sure, why not? But the thing is I’ve made a... fool of myself already.” He says, turning and letting go of his familiar as it dances up towards his shoulder. That works, I guess. Er at least, I hope.

He spins and begins to walk out towards the edge of town again, opening his menu and searching through the names of nearby players. “The name’s Shiro by the way.” He looks through towards the quest log as he reads up on the requirements, and he looks towards the glow above his shoulder. Don’t you have a helpful little enhancement for this? He plays with the flame as they reach the edge of town and step out into the field.

@Arabelle

The boy heard the girl walk past him, and he had no idea what to do. Damn it shiro, I’m sure she’s just gonna walk in and ask for the quest. Why can’t you do that? He sits in silence, playing with his familiar and watching the empty husks walking by, cause to him they were nothing, barely more than a distraction. So she goes in, asks for the quest and walks out, that seems reasonable. He hears the door start to move, so he drops his head back down to where it was before.

"Hey,"

Shiro was caught off guard by the word, most people would’ve just ignored him and carried on their business, which was what he was hoping for. His eyes move up, as he squints and moves sluggishly, like a boy who had just woken up. “Yeah?” He looks at her, she looks loud. All I wanted to do was wait until someone said something that made sense as the activation dialogue, then I would’ve gone in. But no, this game has a funny way of taking your plans and telling you to shove it. He stands up and turns, but then she speaks again. “Didn’t know what to say, so I came out here and listened for clues. These crowds of people may be annoying, but people talk, and that is helpful to me.” He steps up into the shop and looks at the NPC. “I’m looking to get some basic knowledge about this game, heard you were the person to talk to.” His false sense of bravado keeping him just aware enough to remember that isn’t a real person, “I heard you ran the tutorial quest, wanted to give it a go.” He asks, and a window pops up as the shopkeep replies and he hits “accept” as he turns to walk out.

”Have a nice day ma’am.” He says, walking backwards, “Oh, and thanks.” He begins to walk away, not knowing what to take away from that interaction other than curling up in a ball is not such a good idea after all.

@Arabelle

Shiro stands outside of the shop he has heard about from so many people. Not people he spoke to, but instead people he passed on the street. His eyes scan up the door as they land on a sign. This is the place. They all look the same here, so I guess the sign is helpful. He walks up some stairs and opens the door walking in and turning to make sure the NPC doesn’t start talking to him. I’m sure if I ignore him the quest will just activate. Some games do that, and it would make sense if this game did too. There’s no dialogue options, or rather infinite dialogue options. His familiar’s blue glow floats out from his pocket and starts to dance around his head. It was obvious she was trying to get the boy to look at the NPC. Felli flew up to his ear as he felt her warmth brushing up against his skin. “What do you want Felli? I’m busy.” He whispers, turning and looking up at her. But apparently the playful nature of his familiar would be his undoing as she floated above his head. His eyes locked with the shop owner as he quickly turned back down and walked out. It’s completely reasonable to walk away, you don’t know what to say to activate the quest, and it appears the vicinity activation isn’t a mechanic in this game. This game is gonna be much worse than I thought. He sits by the entrance to the shop on the ground in a ball by himself. Except for the blue light floating above his head like his own little rain cloud.

@Arabelle