Cordelia

Cordelia sniffed as she followed after Oscar. Sweet honey iced tea, the desert wind hit her like a slap to the face. "Gosh darn it," she mumbled, hugging her jacket tighter. 

The endless streams of sand barely let Cordelia see five feet in front of her, which kind of sucked, because she nearly tripped over Oscar himself. She yelped out loud and almost immediately, sand flew in her mouth. She quickly spat it out and internally face palmed herself. 

Cordelia let out a small sigh and gave a thumbs up to Oscar. She stumbled over to the crate and stuffed it into her inventory. 

"Alright, let's get out of here!" She yelled over the blaring wind, her eye twitching a few times because of all the sand that was currently slapping her in the face. 

Really hoping that Oscar was following her, she started 'walking' to the closest town, whatever that was, anyway. She really hoped she was going in the right direction.

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123178

CD: 5

"Why don't we go get something to eat to cheer us up?" She asked, giving Pacco a close eyed smile. She had physically hurt from looking at all of those crossed out names, but she had to look perfect. She had to be perfect. 

Pacco cooed lowly as he gave a small nod. So he does understand her!

-It was an odd sight. Seeing someone look so happy near the Monument of Life. Usually people were having complete breakdowns or sobbing their eyes out when they looked at the memorial. Seeing someone look so carefree when walking away from the stone slab looked almost unnatural and suspicious. 

She knew she was being watched as she walked away from the slab. Maybe she could get angry, maybe she could get infuriated, but no one was allowed to see her sad. That was a weakness.

A weakness she wasn't going to let anybody know about.

She shrugged Kityuisa's hand off of her shoulders and sighed. "Alright. It's not like I'm ever really doing anything, anyway," she mumbled, ignoring the 'pure' part. "Thanks," she uttered, opening her own inventory to make sure the transaction was actually done.

She was anything but that.

"Probably go back home, I guess?" She shrugged, "or get a cup of coffee. I don't know."

Really anywhere where you aren't.

"I'm not a total doofus," the blonde mumbled, scratching the side of her cheek with a deadpan. Does she think that Cordelia was a total idiot?

"I guess I'll see you later, Kityuisa," she nodded her head to the girl one last time before shoving her hands into her pockets rather harshly and leaving the area. 

"... and try not to piss someone off far enough for them to kill you," she called, giving her a backhand wave as she walked towards the nearest town.

Cordelia stretched her back as she entered the shop. She was in need of a new weapon! She hasn't been dealing the... greatest damage she was really hoping for. She had spent a couple hours browsing other blacksmiths so far. But none of them had the type of weapon she needed. Like, come on! 

Maybe this shop had what she was looking for? If not, she was just about ready to go home and call it a day. 

The blonde scratched her chin as she examined each of the weapons one by one, but one of them specifically caught her eye. It was so... pretty!

"What do you think, Pacco?" She asked, turning her head to look at her familiar. The raven let out a tiny squawk, and that was good enough for her! She turned to the shopkeeper and grinned. "I'll be taking this one, thank you!"

-Star Saber

-700 Col

"Sharks?" She gaped, her eyes widening. "I think I hate this floor just quite a bit more now," she shuddered, feeling a large chill go down her spine. What was Kayaba thinking? She was okay if there were some giant hole digging worms, but seriously, land sharks?! Did he really have to make it that bad?

She nodded in understanding and also giving him a brief thumb-up and grin. "I definitely understand. I wish I had your kind of willpower," she joked, her gaze falling down to her crossed legs. "I could barely leave floor one without having a panic attack a year ago," she murmured, smiling sadly to herself. "But I'm back and better than ever!" 

Cordelia blinked and turned to look out. "You're right," she huffed, wobbly getting back on her feet. 

"Let me just..." She trailed off, tucking her hair back into her coat as well as softly putting Pacco back into one of her pockets. "Alright, I'm all ready to go!"

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123173

CD: 9

Cordelia let out small sigh as she turned away from the two. "I guess I'll see you two later, toodles, I guess," she mumbled, giving them a backhand wave as she searched for anyone she knew-- which was practically no one because she's been doing anything but socializing for the past two years.

Someone familiar had caught her eye, though, well, she guess it would catch anyone's eye, really. 

"Hey, Alec," she chirped, bounding over to him cheerfully. "How's it been?" She asked, tilting her head. Oh, that reminded her-

@Alec

"Wait, where is Pacco?" She muttered under her breath. She was sure she had brung him... right? As if on cue, Pacco came in from really no where. "Ah, there you are," she sighed in relief, glad to know she didn't accidentally lose her familiar in the endless crowds of people. 

Cordelia sweat dropped when she realized she had practically butted in on their conversation. "Ah, I'm sorry for interrupting you guys," she giggled nervously, scratching the back of her neck sheepishly. "My name is Cordelia," she introduced, bowing her head slightly.

@Bahr

"Thank you," Cordelia chirped, taking the cup of coffee. Hallelujah, the lord has answered her plea! She lifted the cup up and changed it all down like an absolute beast, literally. 

"That would make the two of us," she sighed, leaning her head back on to the wall tiredly. "The hatred for the floor, I mean," she said, laughing softly to herself as she stretched her arms above her head. "I don't get why anyone would willingly choose to live here," Cordelia uttered, frowning for a few seconds before laughing it off. "Well, I guess there are all types of people in Aincrad."

"But that's pretty cool. Doing all of the quests on this floor, I mean," Cordelia said with a small grin. "I think I'm too lazy to do any of that, really," she sighed, deadpanning. "I've always been a real kind of couch potato. For as long as I can remember, really," she chuckled sheepishly, scratching her knuckles. 

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123170

CD: 11

"It really is, huh," she sighed, the corners of her lips tugging downward for a few seconds. "Can't believe people actually live on this floor. I mean, I'm all for extreme but this is too much," she shuddered. 

Plus, it wasn't even a pretty sight to begin with! Who wanted to wake up, look out a window, and just see straight sand? She would rather freeze her feet off!

"So," she pipped, sniffing. "What brings you to do this quest?" She asked, hoping to start some conversation with the guy. Might as well make a friend throughout this whole thing.

"I was going to plan to live on the more extreme weather floors, so I thought that this skill might come in handy one day," Cordelia chuckled, fumbling with her fingers. It was true! She was planning to live on floor floor, but she couldn't really do that without almost freezing to death.

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123168

CD: 2

Cordelia scrambled into the small cave, letting out a big sigh of relief when her back hit a stony wall. "No more wind in my ear," she said happily, already beginning to take her hair out of her jacket. 

Almost forgetting about Pacco, she unzipped her coat and grinned. "Why hello there, bud," she cooed, poking him on the head slightly. "I'm sorry for stuffing you in there," she deadpanned, hoping that her familiar won't hate her forever after this. Oh, no, no. That would be super bad. 

The blonde crossed her legs and sighed happily. "Thank the stars we're out of that sandstorm. I don't know how much longer my ears could take if we were still there," she gasped, covering her ears. "I hope my hearing is permanently damaged or something! That would be really bad. What if it's like that when I get out of here, too? Oh, that's even worse!"

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123158

CD: 9

Cordelia sighed and slapped her cheeks lightly. She had to be strong! She couldn't live off of coffee forever! 

She suddenly felt very irritated. Her hair was all over the place! She knew she should've cut it before she went into the game! Now it was long... forever! She didn't even have a hair tie or anything on her right now. She mumbled under her breath as held her hair down with her hands. 

"Oh wait, I'm a genius!" She exclaimed to really no one but herself.

She tucked her hair in her coat and grinned happily. No more hair in her mouth! This discovery was revolutionary. Why hadn't she thought of this before?! This... this was life changing! Well-- you still had the problem with her --also, pretty long-- bangs and everything but at least her waist long hair wasn't an issue anymore! Lord, that was going to become a problem later on in her life.

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123156

CD: 10

Cordelia nodded her head stiffly as she followed after him. Well, this really... kind of sucked, really. She knew the skill from this quest would be worth it in the end, though. 

During the whole thing, she couldn't really think of anything other than coffee. She didn't even remember if she had her morning cup today. Oh lord, what was she going to do tomorrow? This thing lasted more than a day, right? What about her coffee?! She couldn't live without her coffee!

Her face almost went white at the thought of not getting her daily dose of coffee. She consumed that thing night and day! How was she going to live without it?! 

If you were looking from another point of view, you'd honestly probably think she was thinking of something horrifying, and she was. Horrifying is right, ladies and gentlemen! You did not want to see good ol' Cordelia without her daily dose of coffee! 

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123154

CD: 11

Cordelia scratched her chin, quickly noticing how Kityuisa had not yet sheathed her dagger. Well, so be it. If she was going to be like, then Cordelia was, too!

She crossed her arms together, rapier still firmly grasped in her right hand. 

"Like I said," she continued, "it doesn't really seem that you would be the type to even need an item like this... but yes, I'll agree to your terms," she agreed stubbornly. "If you ever need me to repay... my favor owed to you, then so be it," Cordelia sighed, already unsure if this was the right choice or not. She didn't seem like the type to actually kill, but Cordelia knew she definitely had potential to be hostile. Who knows, maybe if she pushed the right buttons, her name could be on the Monument of Life. Even if they didn't seem like it, everyone had the potential to kill if the right procedures were taken.

She had almost asked him to repeat himself, but decided against it. 

"Uhm, alright?!" She said rather loudly, not really sure what she was even agreeing to. 

"I'm Cordelia, by the way!" She said, holding out her hand to him in a friendly gesture. "It's a pleasure!"

She had barely been able to catch the soft coo of Pacco through the sandstorm. She slowly opened up her jacket, to which Pacco quickly stuck his pitch black head out. "O-oh yeah, and this is Pacco! He's my familiar," she introduced, poking Pacco's head one last time before closing up her coat again. She didn't want him to get hurt in this sandstorm... he was like, her best pal!

Her throat had already felt pretty raspy due to... y'know, all the frekin' screaming. She pointed in the direction in which she was pretty sure where the cargo was, hoping that- that alone would be able to tell him that they should probably start traveling The less time they spent out in the sandstorm, the better.

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123150

CD: 12

Cordelia smiled softly, finally glad that this girl had an actual range of emotions other than just anger and annoyance.  

"Alright, I'm going to hit it this time!" She said with determination. 

With her blonde hair whipping wildly behind her, Cordelia charged right into the Snow Beast. White hot sparks emitted from her weapon as she repeatedly stabbed the mob over and over again. By the time she was finished with her attack, four small but relatively deep gaping holes were left in the Snow Beast's chest. 

The player landed softly on to the snow, learning her head up as she watched the the bolts of electricity from After Current surround the mob, and in no time, the Snow Beast was immobilized.

"Yes!" She exclaimed, giving herself a mental fist bump as she realized her paralysis effect had actually worked. 

"Alright, he won't be like that for long, so see what you can do!"

ID: 123149

BD: 8, [PARALYZE]

[1] Kityuisa | 462/580 HP | 58/58 EN | 10 DMG | 44 MIT | 3 ACC | 1 EVA | 12 BLD | RESTED (-1 EN for two actions) | Relaxed | Multipurpose +1 LD (Stealth, Stealth Detection, Prosperity to one post) | Filling
[1] Cordelia | HP: 280/280 | EN: 19/28 | 5 DMG | 2 PAR | 1 BLD | 2 EVA

Frost Beast | 80/250 HP | 160 DMG [PARALYZED]

"I know that," she hissed, crossing her arms with a rare scowl. "I'm not completely oblivious to this game. I'm no tank but I specifically designed my build so that I wouldn't get hit in the first place, so it doesn't even matter when I get attack or not!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air for emphasis. 

Sure, he build might not really be there at the moment, but it was good enough to evade a couple of attacks!

Well, she also designed her build so that she hit but apparently that wasn't working too well, either. 

The blonde stabbed her rapier into the frosty ground in frustration. She had missed, again. The girl was going to rub it all into her face, too, she was sure of it.

"I need better gear," she muttered to herself hotly, her cheeks tinting pink with both cold and embarrassment.

ID: 123146

BD: 2, Miss

[1] Kityuisa | 462/580 HP | 58/58 EN | 10 DMG | 44 MIT | 3 ACC | 1 EVA | 12 BLD | RESTED (-1 EN for two actions) | Relaxed | Multipurpose +1 LD (Stealth, Stealth Detection, Prosperity to one post) | Filling
[0] Cordelia | HP: 280/280 | EN: 26/28 | 5 DMG | 2 PAR | 1 BLD | 2 EVA

Frost Beast | 120/250 HP | 160 DMG

Cordelia mumbled fake curses under her breath as the bitter wind whipped her long hair around. "Maybe I should've tied it up before coming here," she sighed, her nose crunching up.

"Are you okay over there, Pacco?" She asked, turning her head to her four-eyed familiar. He didn't seem okay. In fact, it looked really rough for him. His red eyes were squinted and his feathers looked all ruffled up. "Oh, I'm sorry," she murmured, holding out her arm to him to which he cautiously hopped on to. "I didn't mean to drag you with me," Cordelia chuckled nervously using her free hand to scratch the back of her neck sheepishly.

"Oh, I have an idea!" She exclaimed, opening her black coat-- which was a pretty bad idea to bring to a desert. "Good thing I asked for pockets on the inside," she sighed in relief as she let Pacco hop into one of the two pockets inside her coat. "There you go, buddy. Just don't complain too much, okay? I'm going to be the one taking the damage," she said nervously, turning her head to look up again, but this time instead of just sand blowing, it was a person-- er, a player, at least.

"Oh, hello there!" She chimed, waving her hands energetically. 

A sudden gust of wind blew at her face, slightly damaging her health bar. Meh, it was barely anything to her.

HP: [ 320/340 ]

ID: 123145

CD: 1, -20 HP

"Ah, yes. No, I haven't forgotten," Cordelia said with a strained grin. "I've been very, very well," she replied, her eye twitching briefly. The girl didn't have to be so snarky about it. Like, dang, lady. I know that you basically two-shot it but dang, at least be mature about it, yeesh! 

Her onyx eyes traveled over to her intertwined hands with an unfamiliar player-- which really wasn't surprisingly at this point. Were they in a relationship? It seemed so. "Ah, sorry for not introducing myself sooner," she said with a small smile, bowing her head slightly. "As Kityuisa said, my name is Cordelia. Pleasure to meet you-" she was just about to offer hand to him... but she so rudely interrupted by a very certain someone. 

@Hikoru @Kityuisa

Her face twitched as she watched Kityuisa give an announcement from the corner of her eye. 

"Swimsuit competition?" Cordelia murmured confusingly. She looked down at herself and immediately panicked. Her body hasn't changed one bit since she had joined the game... and it was killing her. 

"You are perfect. You are perfect," she muttered to herself over and over, her hands balling into fists in front of her as they slowly went up and down as she chanted the same phrase again again. 

"I'll-" she cleared her throat, "I'll do the contest."

Cordelia enters the arena contest!

First stop: The Monument of Life.

Yes, she did have to admit that it was probably a strange place to explore or whatever, but she was going to have to visit this place somewhere sooner. She barely knew anyone, but she really hoped that none of them were on this wall. Well, she was conflicted about the Kityuisa girl and her intentions with her, but other than that, yeah! 

Her thin hands trailed over to engraved names. Each of these people must've died in a pretty gruesome way if it was enough to be killed... but she was sure that most of them probably died in the first week or two in the game, probably by some boar or wolf on floor one.

The blonde took a step back to look at the wall in whole. 

"So many names," she murmured to herself-- and well, to Pacco too, I guess. "I don't think I see anyone we know, but let's keep tabs on this wall every once and a while," she said, smiling to herself one last time before leaving the Monument of Life alone.

So there she was, a girl dressed in all black with her red raven with unusually red eyes-- oh yes, let's not forget the four eyes, too. What an odd bundle! 

Pacco was specifically rowdy, she couldn't really blame him, though. She had only gotten him a few days ago, so of course he would be jumpy around his surroundings. Poor thing probably never left that poor graveyard, too. 

"Don't worry, Pacco! We're going to be doing a bunch of cool things today!" Cordelia exclaimed, a rare twinkle in her eyes as she bounded up and down excitedly. 

Pacco squawked as he dug his talons deeper into her shoulder, trying so desperately to not fall off this crazy lady's shoulder. Sure, he has grown attached to her, but this was still a huge difference from his relatively calm life back on floor nineteen. Though, Cordelia did really give him a spark of joy from time to time.

Cordelia internally sighed as she propped her cheek against her palm. Things were... bland, to sat the very least.

She traveled all the way back to the first floor to get a nice hot cup of coffee, but she didn't feel any different. It was quite amusing to her though, she had killed her own self. Should that have been an impressive feat? She wasn't quite sure anymore. 

Her blonde hair splayed out on her back, rolling onto the seat as well. What was she going to do now? Maybe she could go back to her inn room and see if Pacco is down to do anything. She hasn't been hanging out with him as much as she should be. She even forgot to bring him to do the quest with her! Oh, she felt super bad now. Maybe she should go back and get him. They could both explore the area just a tad bit before heading back to her room, too!

S U M M A R Y:

Cordelia:

-200 Col

-2 SP

-Pacco Pacarro III 

Alec:

-200 Col

-1 SP

Cordelia stared blankly at the ground until the window for her quest rewards had popped up. 

"Just lies," she murmured to herself as she stood up with wobbly legs. "She's lying," she uttered one last time, closing the window.

A new skill. 

She wasn't lying about that new skill at least.

Disguise, huh? Maybe she could go around pretending to be some people sometime. Cordelia chuckled to herself at the possible future of her doing that. Maybe some day. 

Her blonde hair fell past her shoulders as she let out a small yawn. This day wasn't already going as planned. That really did kind of suck just a tad bit. Oh well, she couldn't do anything about it. Might as well just go back to town, have a cup of coffee, and go on with the rest of her day. It was still relatively early in the morning, too. Who knows might happen later?

The raven simply let out a caw as her quickly traveled up Cordelia's arm, perching himself on her shoulder. "I- I think he likes!" She exclaimed, standing up feebly as she looked up at Alec with an excited grin. 

"Oh, this is going to be so awesome!" She said, balling her fists with excitement. "Me and Pacco are going to do so many exciting things, right Pacco?" She asked, tilting her head to look at her newfound familiar.

Well, let's just say Pacco wasn't as expressive as she wanted him to be, but she didn't judge, it's not like birds had a wide range of facial expressions anyway. 

Something strange caught her eye, and she kind of mentally face palmed for not getting it before. Her familiar's eyes were unusually red. "That's awfully odd. I've never seen a raven with such red eyes," she murmured, sniffing. "I'll look into it later." 

It wasn't too long before a window had showed up in front of her, displaying six words that would pretty much change her life'

You have tamed a(n) "Odin's Raven"!

"Why do I have to attack first?" She argued. She really felt like this lady was just trying to kill her at this point.

She wasn't even sure if she would be able to even attack it! She didn't put any enhancements into her weapon, and she was still waiting for that artisan to give her back her item that she had ordered. "I can't assure you that I'll be able to hit it," she murmured under her breath as she went in for a sword art. Her silver rapier glowed a bright yellow as she prepared her most fatal sword art, which, to be fair, wasn't even that strong.

And- she missed. Only by a hair. Her rapier had only cut through thin air as she practically dashed pass the Snow Beast. 

She sighed as she bounded back to Kityuisa. "I told you. I need a few more things before I'll be set for actually doing something in battle."

ID: 123107

BD: 4, Miss

[0] Kityuisa | 580/580 HP | 58/58 EN | 10 DMG | 44 MIT | 3 ACC | 1 EVA | 12 BLD | RESTED (-1 EN for two actions) | Relaxed | Multipurpose +1 LD (Stealth, Stealth Detection, Prosperity to one post) | Filling
[0] Cordelia | HP: 280/280 | EN: 27/28 | 5 DMG | 2 PAR | 1 BLD | 2 EVA

Frost Beast | 250/250 HP | 160 DMG