Oscar

"You're not my dad!" Oscar screamed, parroting a meme from the early 2000's. He swung his blade with mighty force, wind cleaving through the Golem and carving deep ruts in its hide. The creature attempted to crush Oscar beneath its mighty fists, but failed spectacularly. Oscar had dashed behind it, dealing a slice to its legs as it drove its fist deep into the earth. It struggled for a moment to pry itself loose, but by that time, Oscar had already dis-armed it. The golem stumbled back as Oscar cleaved right on through its arm, leaving it with one remaining punching appendage. Oscar's look of triumph quickly faded as the golem lifted up its removed arm and yeeted it at the Azure Crusader. He dipped out of the way in the nick of time, dodging the oncoming arm and putting himself in position to end this fight. Next turn, Avalanche's pretender would face Oscar's swift and brutal justice.

Alas, Oscar's focus wasn't the greatest, even after attempting to use conscious effort to make up for the fact his heart longed for an epic confrontation. As he drew his blade back to strike, visions of the greatest fight known to Aincrad flashed before him. It threw him off his game. And it threw his aim off. Haku Senpu hit nothing but air, dealing zero damage to the rocky enemy in front of him. It was a tragedy that a generic, run-of-the-mill Golem was putting up more of a fight than Avalanche had. And that was mostly due to the fact that Oscar simply couldn't focus well enough to hit the thing. The golem threw a punch and Oscar half-heartedly dodged it. Nothing could replace Avalanche. This was a pretender. A pale imitation of His icy glory. And it must be crushed. Seething with impromptu zealotry, Oscar went into the next round angry. How dare he stand where He stood!

Focused on the battle at hand, Oscar planted his feet and delivered a whirlwind of slashes to the enemy golem. The wind carved deep gashes into the stone creature, sending dust and dirt flying in all directions. The golem reared back and threw a mighty punch at Oscar. But the Azure Crusader was too quick for it and nimbly spun out of the way. This maneuver activated Oscar's Savvy enhancement, which would boost his accuracy on his next attack. He corrected his posture and faced down the Golem again. Leeroy & Jenkins barked loudly at the creature, as if the sounds of their voices would damage the creature. It was absolutely adorable. But Oscar couldn't afford to lose focus now. As cute as his beast of a familiar was, he had to stay zeroed-in on the target. Otherwise, he could get seriously hurt. So, he turned his full attention back to the golem and made ready to deal another heavy blow.

With his epic battle so thoroughly ruined by the cliff, Oscar had originally decided to head home and drown his sorrows in hot dogs. But, then he encountered a Greater Golem. Deciding it was probably a better idea to get something done today instead of wallowing, he rushed in and attacked the creature. Bloody Howl gleamed in the sunlight as he used Haku Senpu to whip up a powerful whirlwind that would carve into the creature. But his thoughts were of Avalanche and the fight that could have been. Thus, he missed. Thankfully, so did the Golem. Oscar collected his focus and faced the Golem head-on. It was time to let the past be the past. His epic confrontation with Avalanche was never meant to be. As much as it hurt to think of such a thing, Oscar had an enemy in front of him. A pale stand-in for Avalanche, but an enemy nonetheless. If he wasn't careful, he would join Avalanche in the grave.

And then he found it. A giant icy Golem loomed tall above him. Truly, this was the mightiest of foes. It must have been 20 feet tall. 20 feet and several hundred tons of stone and ice. Oscar drew Bloody Howl and prepared to do battle with the beast. The bards would sing of this duel for ages. Truly, their bout would shake the earth and shape the landscape. They would dance with one another, locked in a deadly ballet of wills. Oscar, as he was smaller, and nimbler, got the first strike. This David & Goliath story would be the talk of Aincrad! He struck, Haku Senpu whipping up a deadly whirlwind. A fine alpha strike. The golem fell backwards. And off the edge of a cliff. The time it took to hear the loud thud when the Golem reached the bottom told him that the creature was dead. Oscar sighed, disappointed. He sheathed his sword, too depressed to even enjoy the cold weather.

"That was anticlimactic."

Floor 3 was crazy cold. It was weird that he had never been here before. Had he known that, he probably would have set up his house here instead of on Floor 7. He absolutely loved the cold. He trudged through the snow, happy as a lark. The biting chill caused him to shiver, a sensation he loved. His Survival skill took the edge off, so it was just cold enough to be pleasant for him. He looked behind him at his familiar. The Twin-Headed Cerberus was not enjoying this as much as Oscar was. Both Leeroy and Jenkins were shooting daggers at him for bringing them to this god-forsaken place. Oscar had worked up quite a sweat training at his newly-upgraded Slime Farm, so he was thankful for the cool-down. He shattered a Yui's Grace in his hand and scarfed down a Chili Dog with Chili Fries and chased it with a Steel-Infused Hot Dog as they walked. Oscar was pleased when the buffs appeared on his bar, boosting his damage and giving him an experience boost for this outing.

MEGA SLIME FARM USED +2 SP
YUI'S GRACE USED +1 SP
CHILI DOG WITH CHILI FRIES CONSUMED +2 DMG -10 MIT
STEEL-INFUSED HOT DOG CONSUMED +10 MIT

Oscar took a deep breath. He hadn't really talked about why it took him so long to actually start playing with anyone. He supposed that anyone would do and, even though they had just met, there wasn't much harm in telling his story. At the very least, it was tit-for-tat for Dustin sharing his own. "In the real world, I was a social worker for at-risk youth. One of my clients - his name was Tyson - had gotten me to try out this game. He died on day one before the announcement. Moments before, in fact. I went to a pretty dark place. It took me two years to get over that. Then, I just woke up one morning and decided to give it my best shot." Oscar shrugged. "I suppose I just decided that I'd mourned Tyson for long enough. I had to practice what I preached and get myself out of the slump I was in."

Oscar watched as he awkwardly attempted to backpedal. He supposed it was prying a bit to as for such intimate details of someone's life, but he also didn't see any harm about learning more about a new friend. He merely smiled and shook his head, placing a hand on Dustin's shoulder to placate him. "Don't sweat it man. I appreciate the help and the offer. It was good to talk about it all. It was therapeutic."

Oscar regarded Bahr with a wave and then crossed the room to look at the order. His eyes widened in shock. He had just crafted these exact items - descriptions and all. Was he psychic? Perhaps. He would test his newfound mystical powers at a later date. For now, he had hot dogs to sell. Oscar headed into the back and gathered the requested dishes. A few moments later, he had returned. He opened the trade menu with Bahr and plopped them in. In exchange, he got some Col and Materials. He accepted the trade and then went back to cleaning. "Good luck out there man. Come back if you need more food."

Today hadn't been a terrible day for cooking. He'd made a couple perfect crafts. However, for some odd reason, something struck him. He decided to hang on to a couple of uncommon crafts. He had an odd feeling that someone would want them eventually. After he was done with his work, he started cleaning up. Leeroy & Jenkins curled up under one of the booths, both heads slumbering peacefully. Once he was he finished cleaning, he sat down in one of the booths and ate some lunch. With that done, he decided to do more cleaning around the shop. Then he cleaned some more.

Thread Summary
Cordelia
2 SP
700 Col

Oscar
1 SP
200 Col

Oscar bade her farewell for the evening. He could tell when pressing the issue just wasn't going to work. Instead of being in her face about it, he would merely offer encouragement until such time that she could see how far she came for herself. It bothered him that she had to go back to the inn, but again, pressure wasn't what she needed. Clearly she needed the freedom to make her own decisions. To learn her own way. Oscar could get behind that. So, with his guest gone and no more customers chomping at the bit for some food, Oscar boxed up the cookies and cleaned up before heading home for the night. As he walked out the door, Oscar whistled sharply, calling his familiar to his side. Then he locked up and headed for the teleport platform. A half hour later, he was walking through the front door of his home. The expansive structure was incredibly lonely to live in by oneself. There wasn't much else to do besides go to bed. So he did just that.

Honestly, he was happy when he heard her laugh. It had a way of defusing awkward situations, such as the one Oscar had landed himself in. He laughed along, at his own expense. It wasn't the first time he'd gotten the taste of a foot in his mouth. It certainly wouldn't be the last. "I can't say it's ever worked this quickly either. You musta been swept off your feet with how I dealt with that shark." He stuck out the tip of his tongue and gave her a playful smirk. It was nice to find someone who could find humor in themselves. It was the first step to self-awareness, which was a really powerful weapon to have in your arsenal. He stepped onto the platform, waiting on Lessa to join him. When he did, his voice rang out loudly, "Deepedge!"

In a flash of light they were off. The change in climate was immediate. The cool breeze of the mountains fell upon his sweat-laded skin, cooling and refreshing him. He let out a contented sigh. The first thing he did was make a beeline to a stream he passed nearly every day. Once there, he splashed water in his face and rinsed his mouth out before scooping multiple handfuls of water to soothe his parched throat. He assumed Lessa would be appreciative of the opportunity to get rid of at least some of the sand. Then it they were homeward bound. Oscar's boots stepped upon the grey stone path to his front door. He turned and gave Lessa a bright smile, the expansive manor towering over him in the background. "Welcome to my home! Mi casa, es su casa. Please feel free to make yourself at home here. I'll be insulted if you don't."

"Hey now. None of that. I'm sure you'd be great at it. But then again, you gotta remember. Behind every great achievement is a stream of countless failures. You can't be afraid to fail, otherwise you'll never succeed."

Here he was, giving the same uplifting speech he gave his clients in the real world. But he could tell that she loathed the idea of failing at something. He ate the cookie in front of him and took a sip of his coffee to wash it down. "Failing is a part of life. Failing is the most important part of life. It helps us define where our weaknesses are so that we can overcome them. It helps us know our limits so we can push them. As long as you persevere and never give up, you can do anything. You've got a lot of fire in you Cordelia. Don't be afraid to fail. I know you'll come back stronger than ever if you do."

Oscar cleared his throat and pointed to her weapon. "Case in point. Last time we did a quest together you couldn't hit the broad side of a barn with that thing. Now look at you. You took down a quest boss. You failed, but then you got better. Isn't that what life is? Just getting a little bit better every day?"

Transferring

Focused Elusive Hot Dog 2 ACC, 1 EVA
Hearty Meal 3 MIT

@Kityuisa

It was a good day to push the envelope. He'd been doing low-level quests for so long. He really wanted to sink his teeth into a real challenge. He climbed out of bed ready to take on the world. Oscar headed up to the 13th Floor to take on a quest he had heard about. <<Lord of the Seas>> was the name. Apparently the boss was supposed to be super tough. Maybe he could find someone else who wanted to help him out once he got there. He didn't want to have to keep relying on Bahr to carry him through everything, but he felt like a little help as he got his feet wet with these higher floors would be in order. Oscar stepped off the teleport platform and took a deep breath.

"Okay! Let's do this thing!"

And off he trotted to go accept the quest. He was trembling, both from nervousness and excitement. There was something about actually putting your life on the line that just got the blood pumping. 


@Kityuisa

Today had been a good day for crafting. He had successfully created three Focused Chili Dogs. All were Perfect crafts, all possessed Accuracy and Protein enhancements. The rest got tossed in favor of the good stuff. Oscar would add those three to his personal stores. He needed all the damage he could get. With that done, he cleaned up in the kitchen and then headed out for the night. It wasn't like he got a lot of customers being in the shady part of the town. But that was good because when he made things like this, he got to keep it!

 

Transferring:
Focused Elusive Hot Dog 2 ACC, 1 EVA
Ultra Lucky Hot Dog 3 LD
Ultra Prosperous Hot Dog 3 Prosperity
 

A few moment later, Oscar came out of the back of the shop carrying in his hands a piping hot pot of coffee. Without another word, he turned around and disappeared into the back after placing it on the table. When he returned it was with a large plate of Snickerdoodles and two mugs. Oscar placed it down on the table and then slid into the booth opposite Cordelia. He smiled warmly as he poured them both a cup of coffee and set a small platter in front of the blonde-haired woman. He was quite proud of his confection, if he said so himself. Oscar helped himself to one of the cookies, but waited patiently for Cordelia to give them a try. He had made this especially for her, after all. It would be quite rude to eat them first. Plus, he wasn't really a big fan of sweets. Not that he would let her know that. He didn't want her feeling self-conscious about her idea to eat sweets and coffee if she knew Oscar wasn't feeling it.

"Cookies and coffee. Got it. Let's go!"

Oscar nodded in agreement. That sounded really good. He hadn't really tried his hand at anything other than a churro, but he was sure he could make it work. He marched back to his shop, hoping that Cordelia was following along. The outside of the shop was extremely grungy, almost decrepit. But once she stepped inside, she would see the immaculate, modern furnishings of an actual restaurant. Oscar was the owner, after all. And his clients deserved nothing less than the best. "Go ahead and sit down anywhere, Cordelia. I'm gonna go see what I can do about those cookies and coffee." He disappeared into the kitchen and then reappeared with some crackers on a plate. He set them down on the table with a smile. "For Pacco," he said. Then, he turned on his heels and headed back into the back. Cordelia wanted cookies and coffee. She would get cookies and coffee.

Oscar saw that Cordelia had landed the final blow. He smiled as the creature's health bar was depleted and it shattered, leaving only the emerald in its place. "It sure was," Oscar piped happily. He sheathed his blade and grabbed up Cordelia's coat and her hot dog. He walked over and draped the coat over her shoulder, keeping the hot dog for safekeeping. "You wanna go do some hunting? Or you can save that dog for later and I can go make you some real food. Your call Cordelia." He crossed his arms and smiled brightly. Either way, he was good. Hunting or food both sounded equally appealing. Though, if he had to pick one, he would lean more towards the food. He really wanted to put his culinary expertise to the test. Cooking for someone would make him work a bit harder at it. He had no idea what she would like, however. That was another challenge in and of itself.

Oscar beamed wildly and pointed to himself with his thumb. "Rank seven Cook, right here. Come on, we'll go back to my place. I don't feel like walking all the way back to my shop."

A gust of wind blasted him with even more sand. Some even got in his mouth. He sputtered and hacked, trying in vain to get the sand out. But his mouth was so dry that such an act was futile. He finally resigned himself to having sand stuck in his mouth for the foreseeable future and headed back to town. The prospect of the cool mountain air of Deepedge was invigorating enough that he was able to march back to town at a faster pace. He only slipped on the sand twice! Each time, he picked himself up, dusted himself off, and kept going. Once back in town, Oscar turned to Lessa and cocked his head to the side. The gravity of the words "we'll go back to my place" just dawned on him. He was absolutely mortified. Chalk it up to the desert heat, but he definitely didn't want Lessa to be uncomfortable or misread him. That would be the misunderstanding of the century.

"So, uh. I think the sun baked my brain a little bit. We can go back to my shop if you'd be more comfortable there. I was just thinking that Floor Seven would feel so nice after all of this arid, desert nonsense."

The fruit fell on his head and Oscar woke up from his power nap feeling refreshed and reinvigorated. He didn't even care that he had just been assaulted by a falling apple. He stretched out with a contented groan and popped his neck. Or, at least, he went through the motions of popping his neck. He didn't actually have bones so he couldn't adjust them. One of the many things he missed about having an actual body. But, such was life for the time being. He would make it out eventually and he would be able to pop his joints to his heart's content. Oscar noticed a shimmering spot on the ground beside his boot. So, he did what any reasonable person would do and gathered it on up. Then he rose from his spot and looked over at Astralin.

"Sorry about that. It's hard work balancing the grind with a shop down here. Wanted to catch a little shut-eye since you guys aren't in any real danger."

"Let's go then," Oscar exclaimed excitedly. He jumped off the bench and started leading them to where Rhaegal, the Emerald Hatchling spawned. Once they had arrived, Oscar saw that the Emerald Hatchling was waiting on them. So he decided to take the first strike. He rushed in, leaving Cordelia in the dust. He drew his blade and delivered a frenzied barrage of slices that whipped up strong wind shear. The wind bit into the Emerald Hatchling's hide, leaving jagged red gashes in the dragon's verdant scales. The dragon attacked Oscar with a fireball, which he nimbly dodged. "Alright, switch!" Oscar leaped backwards and tagged Cordelia on her shoulder. It wouldn't take much more now to finish this thing. Then, she could collect her Emerald and they could possibly do some hunting before dinner. Honestly, they could to practically anything they wanted if they finished the quest up early. They had plenty of daylight left.
 

Floor 21? Oscar had never been that high before. But he certainly wasn't going to turn down the opportunity to get some loot from the higher floor. Definitely not. But for now, though, he did need to warm up. But he figured he could warm up on the dragon. And instead of going all the way up to Floor 21, perhaps they could do something a little different. Oscar held up a trio of dungeon maps, each of varying difficulty. Each one of the items would point to the location of a dungeon. With Bahr there, they could probably do a lower-leveled dungeon and get some pretty good rewards.

"What do you think about doing a dungeon after the quest," he asked his crimson-clad confidante. He had a mischievous grin on his face as he put the maps back into his inventory. Personally, Oscar didn't mind which they did. He just wanted to make the offer.