Cordelia

Cordelia popped her head into the artisan's shop before she broke into a grin. "Ah, NIGHT! Thank you so much!" She exclaimed, giving the girl a brief double thumbs-up before she collected the wrapped piece of jewelry that she had ordered. "Right, here's the money that I owe you," she mumbled, fishing through her inventory before sending the amount needed to the player. "Thanks again. This is totally going to help me in the future boss fight!" She said excitedly, transfering the item into her inventory. 

"Anyway, it was good seeing you. Come by my shop soon," Cordelia said,  giving the girl a brief bow before rushing out of the shop in a hurry.

-850 Col
+Empress' Kanzashi

Day 15:

+42 EXP

Cordelia poured herself a cup of coffee as she listened on to Mari. "Hotdog place you say?" She hummed, bringing the mug up to her lips. Sounds like a certain person she knew--

"-what was it. . . it was named after that muppet. . . oh. Oscar."

Cordelia nearly spit out her drink. 

"Muppet?" She echoed, her brain slowly putting two pieces together, "th-the one that--" She wheezed, setting down her cup as she let out a laugh, "t-the one that lives-- in the trash can?" She cackled, her hands clutching her stomach. "I-I can't breath. . !" She gasped, propping one hand on the counter as she went into another fit of laughter. "I thi-- I think I'm going to die," Cordelia exclaimed. A wave of coughs ran over her body as the laughing seemed to die down-- which really wasn't for like, another two minutes. 

"My lungs won't ever be the same again," she rasped, pulling herself up to the counter before Mari an exhausted smile. "That was the biggest laugh I've had in a while though, thanks for that."

Cordelia tilted her head. "Well, you're always welcome here." Cordelia sipped on her coffee again as she raised a brow. "Baldur, huh?" She mused, smiling into the cup. "Well, I'm sure they're a bit warmer now but they're a little bit cold," Cordelia noted. "It is nice here, but I wouldn't live here. Even with the Survival Skill, I still get cold easily," she shuddered, a shiver running down her spine. 

"Oh, hey, NIGHT," she sniffed, flashing a smile to the girl. "Ah, alright. Coming right up!" She exclaimed, setting down her mug on the counter before she retreated to the stove in the back of the shop. 

Cordelia nodded her head. "Yeah, same with Mari. Just been preparing and stuff like that. I want to start preparing buffs for the frontlines soon. Oscar shouldn't be handling all of that by himself," she murmured, grabbing a few bowls from the shelf beside her. 

"I feel like people take it more to the heart if you're more emotional," Cordelia reasoned. "It doesn't really matter how you're expressing it, it just matters that you're doing it genuinely," she shrugged. "That's my point of view on it anyway."

"I suppose that would make sense. . . but there's thousands of players still in the game. Do you think they could find a space big enough for that?" She pondered, unclipping her capelet before laying it on the ground. "The last thing I want to be is another lab rat," she muttered, shaking her head. She plopped herself down on the fabric before sighing. "I totally get that though. Of course they'd want to gather information about it. The NerveGear was a breakthrough in technology after all."

Cordelia hummed, drumming her fingers on her leg. "Where do you think Kayaba is right now?" She asked. "He must be in hiding somewhere, but he must be surveilling us from somewhere, right?"

"You have a way with words, don't you?" Cordelia mused softly, giving Mari a genuine smile as she nodded her head.

"God, I sure hope so, though. I'm not even sure if the people I've met live in the same area as me," she murmured, scratching her chin. Real life subjects were something people weren't too keen on talking about nowadays, and it can even be considered room to be asking someone about their life in the real world, which Cordelia thought was completely bullshit. Sure, it can give you a bit of homesickness but it was honestly stupid to just flat out ignore what you have going on back in the real world, not matter how much you hated it.

Something about the conversation seemed to have sparked a question inside her, though. What was going to happen to Mari once she had gotten out? People knew her in here as. . . a murderer, but what about the people outside? She was sure that people were going to come and find her for her crimes but still, she wondered exactly how it was going to happen.

ID: 138247
CD: 4+1=5, Fail

“Perhaps,” she trailed off. Pacco had never been the type of bird to collect shiny things-- much less collect things at all. “He does have a particular fondness for. . . crackers, weirdly enough. Ever since he was given them, it was the only thing he would eat,” Cordelia said with a laugh. “I suppose a balanced diet doesn’t really matter in here but it’s still funny to think about sometimes, I guess.”

Cordelia’s eyes downcasted to the floor. “I suppose things in here won’t last forever, huh,” she echoed, a small tinge of sadness seeping out of her voice. She wondered if she would ever get to see anyone in SAO out in the real world once they beat the game and got out of here. 

“Ah, don’t worry about it.” Cordelia cracked a smile as she returned back to the conversation too. “You think so? That’s one way to see it, I suppose.”

“Oh, he’s just mean to everyone,” Cordelia sighed, shrugging it off. “He still snaps at me half of the time I try to interact with, which is really why I just let him-- or them do whatever they want."

“Oh, no, no,” Cordelia fretted, a sheepish smile forming on her face. “It was partially my fault, too. I shouldn’t have been so blunt with my thoughts. I’m still trying to work on that a little bit.” Cordelia gave Mari a ghost of a smile. “Yeah, I hope that, too.”

The platinum-haired player let out a laugh. “Abnormality is the new normality, I suppose,” she exclaimed. “I’d be more surprised if someone had an animal that made sense to have, like a dog that doesn’t have two heads or a cat that isn’t completely made out of fire or something like that,” she mused, chuckling to herself. “I guess that’d be rarer than finding something like our familiars.”

“I see. . . that makes sense, I guess. I wouldn’t want to be walking through a snow covered floor in the middle of the night either,” Cordelia mused, shuddering. “Well, I wish you the best of luck. May you find a very homey cave,” she said, cracking a small grin. 

Cordelia looked between the two Paccos before she let out a sigh. “So you get it?” She asked, her expression slowly sweat-dropping. “I think it’s something like that. . . frankly, I don’t even know if Pacco is a bird at all. I swear, he’s like some kind of supernatural entity or something,” she murmured, shaking her head.

She looked over to her familiars. Pacco was a strange being. She was still convinced that it was some kind of supernatural ghost, demon, thing that was playing hand puppets with crows. It sounded like she was crazy but they were in a world where fighting giant bugs was a daily occurance, come on, people!

ID: 138246
CD: 1+1=2, Fail

Cordelia stopped abruptly in her tracks as she heard someone call out to her. Her face went blank for a second before she smiled at the familiar ginger. “Oh, hey Mari.”  She sniffed. “Yeah-- yeah, I guess, I did. I guess I have to deal with two birds now. . . but they’re pretty much the same. . .” she trailed off, shaking her head. “You know what, it’s complicated. I’ll just have to explain it later,” she said sheepishly, shrugging her shoulders. It was complicated. It was still confusing even to Cordelia, so how was she going to explain that to a person when it didn’t even make sense to her?

“So, what brings you around here?” She asked, eager to change the conversation. It’s not often that she usually saw Mari just out and about by herself. In fact, the only times she actually ever saw her was either at her shop or doing a quest.

Pacco Pacarro the Third and Fourth. Maybe she was just terrible with names. Maybe she was just really good with names. You never know.

Cordelia wasn’t sure what to expect with this new one. He was much more. . . friendlier than Pacco. Of course, it was nice but she wasn’t sure if she would ever get used to it. They both looked exactly the same. The only difference between the two was that-- well, one looked depressed twenty-four seven and then other looked like he was on something. That-- that was really it. 

Cordelia sighed. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to start training Pacco right after she had caught him. He was unruly, so maybe it was a better idea to just let him. . . chill out for a few days. . ? Though she really needed all the stats she could really get at the moment, so perhaps it was better to just get on with it?

Consumed (CD) Item: +1 CD

@Mari

As they walked to the house, Cordelia couldn't help but feel a tad bit concerned for her new familiar. Would he be even more grouchier now that he was actually helping her deal damage? She sure hoped not. He was already angry and grouchy as is! She didn't need him to be even more snappy with her! Or else she was going to have to straighten him up. Is there some kind of familiar training center in Aincrad? Maybe she could even send him there in hopes of teaching him to behave better!

Although, she serious doubted there was one. Who wanted to take care of a bunch of wild animals? Not to mention most of them were animals that didn't even exist naturally in the real world. Elemental cats-- three headed dogs, fish that swim in the air? No sir, she did not want to be the type of person to be taking care of those kinds of animals. Not any day.

SUMMARY:

-2 SP [SP EVENT/THREAD]
-400 Col

Cordelia yawned. Whatever. She was honestly too pooped to even care at the moment. "Alright, Pacco," she huffed, standing from her seat before she let out another yawn. "Let's go ahead and go home. I don't know how much longer I can stay here without passing out," she sniffed, gesturing her head to her familiar before the two grudgingly hopped on her shoulder.

"Oh, hush. You're getting a free ride. I don't get why you're always so angry to get on my shoulder. Like, I'm practically a walking taxi for you!" She exclaimed under her breath, pushing open the door of the cafe. 

Cordelia groaned silently as she shook her head. Pacco had always confused her. He was perfectly normal before, but he's just been getting more and more like an old man for the past few months. She had no idea what had sparked this new personality but it wasn't exactly the greatest thing ever.

How would she die in this game if that happened? Would she just suddenly be gone in a snap? Or would she feel the effects of it in here, too? The girl frowned. Now wasn’t the time to be thinking about that. She was in a time where she was happier than she had ever been. No need to be spoiling it with thoughts about her inevitable death. . . all she hoped was that this dream like reality would last forever.

Cordelia chuckled bitterly to herself. What was her life coming to? She needed to push these depressing thoughts away! She couldn't think like this just yet! She had to make it to the front lines! She had to be stronger. Not like this. 

No! She wasn't going to be depressed before the floor boss raid! She refused to do so! She had to be strong not just for her but for everybody else, too!

It had been two to four years since the game had started. . . and they weren’t even halfway there? They were less than a quarter done, how were they going to finish the game? How long will it take at the pace they were going at? Five years? A decade? Longer than that? How long would it be before her real life body would start giving up on her? Before everyone’s real life body starts giving up on them?

Was she dying? At this very moment? Her body was already unhealthily underweight before this. . . how was it doing now? Cordelia sucked in a sharp breath. She was barely above the hundred pound mark when she first came here. She must be less than that. A dozen or two pounds, at least. . . Cordelia shivered. She wondered how much time she had left before her internal organs would start failing. 

"I can't drink coffee for the rest of the day," she exclaimed, running her hands down her face as she sighed in exasperation.

At least she'll be already ready for the floor boss after she trains Pacco. Well, she'll have to get a couple of new things including gear but other than that, she was all set for the next floor boss!

God, the floor boss, huh? She wasn’t even there for the last floor boss. Heck, she was still a tier one player on the last floor boss! How she had managed to climb her way all the up here was still remarkable to her. It had only been a few months since the last boss was cleared and yet they were already on their way to making it to a checkpoint vital in the clearing of Aincrad. . . almost three years. Or four? She can't remember. . . 

Cordelia sniffed as she took a sip of her coffee. "It doesn't taste the same. . . but it's still good," Cordelia mumbled, shaking her head. 

"How are you doing over there. . . Pacco?" Cordelia asked, watching as her familiars pecked away at a few crackers. She sighed. Ever since Oscar had served him that plate of crackers, it was the only thing he would eat. She wasn't totally against it, but his diet was basically just dry wheat. Dry, salty wheat.

"I guess you're enjoying it?" She muttered, phrasing it more like a question than an actual statement. 

She groaned, leaning back into her seat with a frown. "This isn't really helping. Maybe a tad bit, but it still isn't helping!" She exclaimed loudly, attracting a few glances in the cafe. She grumbled under her breath as she stirred that one tiny spoon around in her drink. "Well, what do you suggest we do Pacco?" She asked, tilting her head. 

"I need a cup of coffee!" She said immediately. Yes. She needed it to get out of whatever state she was in! Now that she thought about it, it's been ages since she's actually drank coffee. She's been so busy in the mornings that she rarely ever had time to ever get a cup made for herself. . . she supposed that was something that might be for the better. It was an unhealthy obsession. . . but it couldn't hurt to have a cup of it now, right? Just for the sake of it? 

"Alright, it's settled. We're going to go get coffee! Maybe a bit of cake or something too!" Cordelia exclaimed, untangling her legs from the sheets as she bounded up straight. "No time to waste, Pacco!" She said, gesturing to her shoulder at the two birds before they hopped on oh-so-quickly. "You just detest me don't you," she muttered, giving them a frown before she shook her head. "No matter, let's go!"

Her nails drummed against the wooden bedpost. "My mind is just going blank right now," she exclaimed, biting her lip in frustration. What was she going to do? What was she going to do? Not just with Pacco. What was she going to do in general? 

She was bored! What was she going to do now? She was pretty sure Oscar was off and about either preparing buffs in his shop or off grinding levels for the raid boss. Maybe she should go and do that or something! 

"But I'm lazy!" She drawled, face planting back into the pillows with a groan. Maybe it was just one of those days? She's rarely ever had days like this before. She was always out and about doing whatever she can to get stronger but. . . she just felt like a big ol' blob of jell-o that didn't want to go anywhere, well, anywhere but her bed.

Cordelia collapsed back on to her bed with a heave. Both Paccos fluttering off of her shoulder and onto the bedpost quietly as she planted her face into the the pillows of her really soft bed. "What are we going to do, Pacco?" She said, her voice muffled by the fabric. "How am I going to explain this to half of the people who already know you?" She asked, tilting her head to frown at the birds. "They're going to think I'm some kind of nutjob or something like that!" 

She didn't want to look like a complete idiot around people! The girl turned over to her backside. "Well, what do you think Pacco? Should we just shrug it off and explain it like a normal person would?" She asked, letting out a wry laugh. "No matter how long I stay in this world and no matter how much I like it, it will never cease to confuse me."

"Oh, hey Mari," Cordelia chimed, stopping what she was doing-- which just so happened to be cutting green onions-- as she watched a frequent customer enter her shop. "Are you here to get something again?" She asked, turning on the faucet behind the counter to wash her hands before she shook the water off of them. 

Strangely, Mari had been visiting her shop more than the average person probably should. . . though, Cordelia was sure that it had to involve being a PKer and all. Even though she was sure Pinball was still roaming out and about, Cordelia wanted to open her shop to Mari at the very least. Mari couldn't go into town to get any kinds of buffs, so she was sure that was the reason why she had come to her shop so often.  She really hoped that her ramen wasn't the only thing feeding Mari though. . .

"Goodness, you look cold," Cordelia sniffed, propping her elbows against the counter. "I can cook you something if you want? I feel guilty when I'm not usually here when you come by. You can consider it my treat if you want?"

@Mari

Used:

> Cerberus Etching (Unique Material) - Effect: Removes one enhancement on a weapon and replaces it with "Burn". (This effect cannot override its maximum cap. Consumed on use.)

Day 14:

+49 EXP

Used:

> Cerberus Etching (Unique Material) - Effect: Removes one enhancement on a weapon and replaces it with "Burn". (This effect cannot override its maximum cap. Consumed on use.)
> Christmas Voucher: Once Cordelia accepts the voucher, it binds to her. It cannot be transferred to anyone else for any reason. It is only valid to change Cursed to Phase in Haunted Verdict. Must be used immediately after Cordelia reaches T3, or it is rendered null and void.  
> Nametag [Special Consumable] - On use of a Weapon or Piece of Armor, it can change the name or description of the item.