Koga

The first thing to strike Koga's senses was the sensation of warm desert air. The sun above so hot that even the light breeze gently scalded the exposed skin of his face and hands. The second was the alarming sound of a horn blaring as a truck sped at his face towards him. The man leapt to the side out of pure instinct, his body moving on its on, desperate to get out of the way of what would have been certain death.

"Watch where you're going!" a voice called out from the truck as it sped by the bewildered man.

"What in the hell..." Koga muttered to himself, as he looked around. "This is..." Home. The one in the real world. Koga looked around himself. Everything was there. The beige buildings, the mountains in the distance, a small thin peak standing in the valley between it's neighbors. The tall palm trees, not native to this place, merely taken up and transplanted. Even the faint smell of desert dust in the hot air.

Every blood vessel in Koga's boody seemed to constrict, every muscle tensing, a weight sinking into his chest as anxiety began to seep into his mind. He should have been happy, right? Relieved? Everything, the last however many years, had he just conjured them up so convincingly in his mind? No, that thought only provided more food for the gnawing sense that everything here was wrong. Everything was wrong.

There was several moments of awkward staring after Koga had called out to Ghost. Eye contact. No words (or sign, in Ghost's case). A cat somewhere meowed angrily as the sound of a platter breaking came from down the street.

The awkward tension was so thick, you could cut it with a butter knife.

Then Ghost took off, but only after some frantic nodding (was it supposed to be bowing?) which left Koga both confused and concerned. "Oooookay..." Koga looked down at Okami, who was looking up at him with an equal measure of confusion. The wolf chuffed, the sound of moving on with no answers, and not being too concerned by that, before moving ahead of Koga towards the Taft teleporter.

---

Bright blue light signaled Koga's arrival to the Floor 27. Dimly lit by crystals only, as always, but lively, full of NPCs and players prepared to take on the floor's challenges (and some not prepared, poor sods). Looking around though, Koga couldn't see either Nari or NIGHT around. Opening his messenger, the man sent a quick message to them both.

Well, nothing to do now but wait.

Corvo clearly remembered more about their first meeting than Koga did. He could hardly recall who had been there and who hadn't...was the girl he'd been talking about Blueberry? It sounded like it might be her...In any case, Corvo's comments in general forced Koga to mask his momentary surprise (shock?) behind a singular blink.

An slight amused, and perhaps even a tad bit cocky grin snuck it's way onto Koga's face as he heard Corvo's proposal, looking back over his shoulder at the wood log, now resembling an oversized pincushion with the number of daggers sticking out from it. "And what do I get if I win? A loyal paying customer?" Ha, that was funny. Koga couldn't remember the last time he'd actually charged anyone anything for his wares. Of course, that didn't stop them from leaving him a hefty 'tip' sometimes, but those were just the stubborn ones. Still, in the spirit of competitiveness (and potential advertisement) the man was more than willing to throw the offer up as a stake.

Before Koga had a chance to put his shirt back on, the other two had already charged towards their quarry, leaving the dark haired man behind calling after them. "Hey! Guys, wait up!" he shouted before swearing to himself and re-equipping his still soaked coat, and chasing after them, drawing his sword, wet shirt still in hand.

Arriving just as Jomei's familiar swooped down, Koga was just quick enough to fill the space in time with an attack. Rushing past the other two, Okami at his side, knowing well what to do at this point, the two struck the mobs together. Koga's sword flashed black for a moment as he dashed through the four mobs, his speed undiminished and leaving behind angry glowing red marks on the quartet. An angry snarl followed soon after as Okami leapt at the third's throat, tackling it to the ground as his jaw crushing whatever he could sink his teeth into.

The third burst into tell-tale fragments, soon followed by the first and the second, leaving only one more for the others to contend with.

"Hardy har har," Koga dryly drawled, rolling his eyes at Nari's joke. Bold of her, to assume she could safely make such jokes at the moment. Only the questions he had for both her and NIGHT stayed his tongue and made him withhold a deadly glare.

The man got up to his feet, taking off his coat and shaking it out, dismayed at the fact that it would probably be some time before it, or even himself, would be dry. One of the few things he actually missed about that old dry desert air.

"Not too much luck. I think I found just one so far."

"Well, that's one more than I've got," Koga replied before looking in the direction that Nari was pointing, the tip of her spear gleaming sharply for a moment. "Up to you guys," the man said with a shrug, before grunting with effort, his wet tee shirt sticking to his skin as he tried to pull it over his head. "Not like I miss an opportunity to hit something very often." The sound of water dripping into the grass as the man twisted his garment, doing his best to wring the water from it. It was probably hopeless.

| 208107, CD nat1, +4Exp
    > Total Exp Gain: 16

k o g a the elder wolf Spoiler notes: none   Koga, Lvl 32/55 | HP: 900 | EN: 124 | DMG: 23 | EVA: 3 | MIT: 30 | ACC: 5 | LD: 3 | BRN: 56 | FALN: 16 | VD: 99 | B.HEALING: 49/99 equipped battle-ready inventory Tsuki no Hikari | Demonic T4 Katana [ CRSD // FALN II // BRN ] Shuku-ro Coat | Demonic T4 Light Armor [ EVA II // VAMP-D. II ] lupine. | Demonic T4 Trinket [ ACC III // EVA ] none skills Spoiler | UTILITY Gathering: Fishing I | Successfully forage for materials on a LD 14+ | 0/49 EXP  Searching III | +1 LD per rank. +1 to Stealth Detection per rank. | 14 SP Night Vision | Ignores any penalties from low light or darkness. Negates the bonus Stealth Rating from low light or darkness. | 3 SP | COMBAT Combat Shift: Single Target | For the following Sword Arts, +3 to multipliers and +2 to EN cost; ST-I, ST-II, ST-B. No other Shifts may be taken. | 10 SP Mastery: Damage III | Gain 1 * Tier Damage per rank | 13 SP Battle Healing V | Recover 5% (rounded down) of your maximum HP at the start of your turn | 30 SP Emergency Recovery | When non-fatal damage would leave you with 25% or less of your maximum HP, recover 10% of your maximum HP after the attack resolves. Effect cannot occur more than once per thread.  When activated if the player has lower than 10 energy remaining, simply reduce the player's energy to 0. | 6 SP EN Cost: 10 Energist | Increase Base Energy by 5 * Tier | 8 SP Charge | Perform a single attack/Sword Art with +5 base damage. Charge attacks have a -1 Accuracy debuff and cannot be affected by any auto-hit effects. | 10 SP Cooldown: 3 Posts Howl | Adds +2 Hate each against up to 4 targets. | 10 SP EN Cost: 2, Cooldown: 2 posts | WEAPON Katana V | +7 DMG when equipped with a Katana | 30 SP Stamina | Reduces the energy of all Katana attacks by 2 EN | 4 SP Precision | Gain +1 ACC. | 2 SP Ferocity | +2 DMG when using Katana Sword Arts | 4 SP | ARMOR Light Armor V | +30 MIT when equipped with Light Armor, -2 Stealth | 30 SP Meticulous | +1 DMG when equipped with Light Armor | 4 SP Resolve | +1 ACC and +10 * Tier HP when equipped with Light Armor | 6 SP | EXTRAS Familiar Master: Rending | You and your familiar attack in tandem, applying Rend [7*tier unmitigatable damage] to the target that lasts for two turns. | 10 SP Cooldown: 5 Turns Survival | Increases Healing effects received from all sources by 10%. Grants immunity to all damage dealing environmental attacks/effects. | 0 SP Parry | Apply the energy cost upon proc, not activation. Reduces the final damage of the next successful attack against you by 50% (rounded down) and negates stun/paralysis effects of that attack. If hit by multiple attacks, only apply parry to the first attack against you. Parry lasts for three turns. Cooldown starts when the player activates the Skill. If the player is hit when using Parry, the cooldown is reset to 3 turns. | 10 SP 9 EN, Cooldown: 3 Turns Vengeful Riposte | A successful Parry also returns 50% (rounded down) of the raw damage that would be dealt to you back to your opponent. The reflected damage can be mitigated by the opponent. | 6 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Justified Riposte | A successful Parry also stuns the target for 1 turn. | 5 SP Cooldown: 4 Turns Frozen Hide | As a free action, apply one slot of Frost Aura and one slot of Frost Thorns equal to your tier to yourself until the start of your next turn. | 0 SP 5 EN, Cooldown: 4 Turns buffs Spoiler | PARAGON REWARDS Lv. 5 | Earn Col equivalent to 15% of player’s EXP earned in thread. Lv. 10 | +1 LD to Looting | BUFFS <<Well Rested>> | -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat. <<Squeaky Clean>> | The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down). <<Filling>> | Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. <<Item Stash>> | +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot <<Tasty>> | Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. <<Relaxed>> | Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts. <<Multipurpose>> | Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll. <<Practiced Angler>> | +2 Fishing EXP per Attempt and additional +1 LD & CD to fishing attempts.

Nari somehow continued to find ways to both amaze and infuriate Koga. While this completely paled in comparison to the entire strange murder?-love arc that had, and still was, occurring with NIGHT, sending him a message while he was in his forge trying not to set himself on fire was up there. And not for any other reason than the small little pinging sound drew his attention away enough that he slammed the hammer onto his own thumb.

It's probably best to omit the long string of expletives that occurred during this whole ordeal.

Fast forward to collecting his gear and grabbing an icepack, Koga steps out the door with Okami at his side, turning around to lock it. Once done, the man turned once more to start walking towards the teleporter when he found his way blocked. "Uh...Ghost?" the man asked confused, looking at the girl. "W-what are you doing here?"

It was around now that Ghost had started to act...awkward. Although Koga gave no indication of it, question marks began to pop up in his mind, wondering for what reason the girl had suddenly lost her composure.

When she turned her UI towards him, Koga leaned forward slightly to read the small text scribbled across. He immediately cringed. Oh no. Not that quest. He remembered it well. It had been painful, torturous, utter hell at the hands of a mere lump of stone. Whoever had designed that particular quest was the spawn of Satan themselves.

When the man glanced up at Ghost again though, she didn't appear to be looking at him, only nervously making vague symbols with her hands. Symbols the man was thankful he didn't need to understand...although...was there something that just didn't translate well?

The man gave Ghost a simultaneously confused and concerned look. Had...had he been giving her the wrong impression this whole time?...DID SHE KNOW WHAT BEING SOMEONE'S FIRST MEAN- Oh...oh thank God...Koga breathed a sigh of relief as the girl frantically recovered from her signing blunder.

"I'll take that as a compliment," the man chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck. "You're doin' fine, if that's what you're worried about." The man's gaze shifted from her face, to the quest page, and back again. "I will warn you though," he began to say, "not even a masochist can enjoy that quest. I can help, but we should pick up some things from my house first, we're gonna need them."

There was an audible chuckle and a smile of amusement as Koga read the words that appeared before him. "I mean, I guess. It's pretty common in most RPGs and stuff," he commented, her excitement at what he took to be a basic fact of the world of Aincrad being almost refreshing.

Moments later though, Koga was afeared. Eyes grew and he instinctively pressed himself further into the back of his seat, while Riley, standing beside him took on a look of horror and physically recoiled from the sight of whatever monster the silent Ghost had suddenly become, devouring her food like aa blackhole. Not a trace of the massacre was left behind in the bowl as she handed it back to Riley, who took it with shaking hands and scurried back to the kitchen.

"Ahem," Koga coughed into a balled fist, processing and then setting aside the carnage he'd just witnessed. "Anyways, none of that raw vs crit vs DoT stuff matters too much right off the bat. Have you thought about what kinda weapon you wanna use?"

Item Name: Tsuki no Hikari
Profession: Blacksmith
Rank: 7
Roll ID: 207955
Roll Result: N/A
Item Type: Katana
Tier: 4
Quality: Demonic
Enhancements: Cursed, Burn, Fallen II
Description: A beautifully crafted katana with a blooming plum branch engraved into the blade. A midnight blue ito embraces black rayskin. A tassel, the same color as the ito, hangs silver and black beads from the pommel. 'A blade of moonlight and a weary traveler who learns forgiveness.'
Post Link:

Walking into his shop that morning, Koga was met with a peculiar sight. Or perhaps not that peculiar since it had happened at least once before...although it did bring up the question of how she was getting into his shop in the dead of night...

In any case, Koga walked over to his counter and picked up the blade left behind to examine it. It only too a moment before a small smile tugged at the corners of his lips. This was exactly what he needed.

Taking the weapon into the back of the shop, and retrieving that plain blade from yesterday, Koga began his work...

Item Fusion

Item Name: Unfurnished Blade
Profession: Blacksmith
Rank: 7
Roll ID: 207940
Roll Result: nat10 +1
Item Type: Katana
Tier: 4
Quality: Rare
Enhancements: DMG II
Description: An unfurnished blade, raw, unpolished. Nothing spectacular, but the makings of something great.
Post Link: https://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18382-f01-r7-blacksmith-the-ring-and-sword/?do=findComment&comment=651924

It was on a whim that the man walked into his forge this evening and began to strike his hammer against hot metal. The usual bouts of insomnia kept him awake, so he'd figured he may as well try to be productive for once in his life. Sadly, that motivation lasted only about as long as a single craft. Not that it was even a very impressive craft, just about anyone could have made it. But, hey, it was something at least.

Still...he felt way too awake right now...Maybe eating something would help him sleep? Probably not, but it was worth a shot.

"Mm, that's a matter of opinion," the man answered back with another shrug. "Fact is, your average damage output is roughly the same. Raw wins out by like, two or three percent, and that's about it. But that's only over the duration of a longer fight. In terms of one shot potential, DoT does well, but you have to wait for all the effects to tick down. Crit, on the other hand, takes the cake. Some people like nuking something in one hit, some people prefer the consistency and certainty of a raw build. Personal preference at that point."

It was no question that a single lucky strike from a Crit player could lay out just about anyone they came across, but that was just the thing. Koga wasn't willing to rely on luck and RNG to determine the outcome of his fights. To put his fate, and the fate of those beside him into the palms of Chance? Fat chance.

Riley returned to their table soon after, with more orange juice for Ghost and even a refill of tea for Koga. Clearing away the plate, she gave the two a pretty smile as she asked. "Anything I can get you guys for dessert?"

"That's up to you," Koga said, looking over at Ghost, "I'm good either way."

Koga took the time he had while Ghost worked through her own comparisons of builds to dig into his food a little. Almost as good as the real thing. Almost. It was a little bit harder though, to eat and also constantly glance up to try and catch the flitting script that passed from Ghost to himself. A lot like trying to read subtitles moving too quickly. Still, he caught enough to understand what was being said.

'Like the difference between Judo and Jiu Jitsu.'

"Yeah, pretty much," Koga nodded, having taught Judo in his past life, and recognizing Jiu Jutsu as another grappling based art. "Same concepts, different executions and techniques." Don't die, beat up the other person. That about summed it all up.

 "There's a pretty large influx of DPS and Tanks, yeah," the man then went on to explain, pausing to drink some tea. "Every one wants to hit be the guy to get the last hit in, or just score big numbers, and somehow there are enough masochists that got trapped in here to build up a decent amount of Tanks. Supports, I dunno, harder to find I guess." Koga shrugged a little, before bringing some more food to his mouth. The only reason he'd become a DPS was because it was one of the only things he was any good at. Sure, he could've become a tank too, but even then, he had a habit of hitting things about as hard as a DPS would. Just seemed like a waste of skill points at the time to invest in tanking. Now though? Maybe it was time to add that into his repertoire.

And then came the line that nearly made Koga choke on his food.

'What is an MIT?'

The man sputtered, coughed, choked, and forced himself to swallow before downing the rest of his tea as he recovered, only to start chuckling as Ghost clarified she had been joking. "Christ, you were scarin' me for a second there," he managed to squeeze out between coughs as he pounded on his chest with a fist.

The man sipped at his water, soothing his throat as Ghost went on, trying to decide what might work for her build, before apologizing. "Don't worry about it," Koga said, for what felt like the twentieth time. "I told you I'd give you a hand, remember? Besides, this stuff is my bread and butter, I enjoy it," he said, pushing aside his now empty bowl.

"It's not so much average numbers, so much as it is damage type," Koga began to clarify. "Instead of tossing out elemental damage types with status effects attached, it's just the 'raw' damage from your attack itself. Some people have crit builds, which are like...uh, twenty percent chance of launching a nuke, versus a consistency build like mine, which is like some ICBMs thirty percent of the time. Not too different, and both hurt like hell, I just don't wanna have to pray that I hit that one in five chance to blow something up, as opposed to just taking two or three good chunks outta it's health bar, ya know?"

The man could only scoff at the shade. The damned thing made no move, of course, but to watch, and yet, for some reason Koga got the sensation that it was amused with him. "Yeah yeah, laugh it up." Koga scowled at it before looking at the door adjacent to them. This time, Koga was the one to tilt his head at the portal. "I suppose you want me to go through it again, huh?" he asked it. More staring. Koga looked at the door again as he sighed. "Any chance you can tell me what to expect?" More ominous silence.

"Hmph. Thanks. I guess," the man sighed before stepping towards the door. He didn't reach out and grab the handle right away, instead simply staring at the tarnished pewter. What was waiting for him on the other side? He looked over his shoulder at his silent observer once more, wishing that it would say something, anything. It would've been better than than the nothing he received.

A deep breath. "Alright." With a firm grip, Koga reached out and took the handle in hand, pushing open the door.

Wait, RPG classes in chess? Koga began to rub his temples with one hand, grimacing as he tried to wrap his head around this new notion. 'DPS, Tank, Support? What? What the hell were the pawns? Are Rooks tanks? But its not like any of them have HP to soak damage...' Thinking about how any of this made sense was certainly going to give Koga a head ache...probably why the man never played chess...At least the weapon classes bit made sense.

Putting his hand down, Koga reached for his glass of tea again, hoping that the beverage might serve as a coolant for his rapidly overheating CPU, just as Ghost tried to signal the waitress, before giving up and opting for water instead.

"A build is like...mm, I dunno, a sub-class, I guess?" Koga tried to explain as he pushed around the food on his plate absently. "Like, for example, I'm a DPS, right? And my build or 'sub-class' is Raw damage, so just whatever damage I can dish out from hitting things. My friend NIGHT, who's also a DPS, on the other hand, has a DoT build, where she get's most of her damage from her weapon's elemental effects and stuff like that." That was kind of a rough explanation, but hopefully it made more sense than Koga thought.

Catching sight of their waitress, Koga waved her over and pointed at Ghost's glass. "Mind if we get a refill?"
"Yeah, of course! I'll be right back."

The swordsman then turned back to Ghost again before going on. "Tanks might make a build out of being Evasion focused, while others might be MIT based. I'm not too sure about supports though, I don't actually know that many, now that I think about it." There was Hirru, who was more healing and buffs focused, but that kind of encompassed the entire Support role. Then there was Oji, who, though was just starting out, seemed to be putting most of his efforts into healing.

Had Nari not grabbed Koga by the ankle, whatever had snagged his fishing rod would have likely pulled him further and further into the pull, and perhaps deeper too, like those stories of sirens dragging their victims down to the deep to drown them.

With Jomei's help, the two managed to pull Koga from the drink and throw him back on land. "Ptui," Koga spat out a fish, which flopped onto the dry land for a few moments before leaping back into it's native habitat. "Ya know, what I think you may be right," Koga coughed as he sat up, covering his mouth. "Thanks guys," he said looking between the two.

Crimson eyes lingered on violet ones for a second longer than they should have, as if scrutinizing them.

The moment then passed, and Koga got to his feet, and rolled his shoulder. "Please tell me you guys are having more luck than I am," he asked. There would be time to speak to Nari again later.

| 207582, CD nat5, +4Exp
    > Total Exp Gain: 12

The food here was good. If this was what it was like to have a max level chef cook for you, Koga might've needed to level up his cooking skill as well. Picking up noodles with his chopsticks the man enjoyed the meal while he man awaited Ghost's answer.

When it came though, Koga paused mid chew and stared at the girl. 'Wait is she serious?' One glance at the slightly raised brow, the otherwise blank expression, and the answer was clear. 'Oh god, she's serious.' By some Herculean feat, Koga forced himself to swallow all the noodles he'd shoved in his mouth whole, in one go.

"No, I mean like DPS or - wait, hold on, you know what a class is, but not what builds are?" Why was this conversation getting more and more confusing by the second? And why was he the one getting confused, wasn't it supposed to be the other way around?

Apocalyptic level threat equals...annoyance? Koga made a slightly confused and concerned look as he tried to piece together how those two fit together before deciding to give up altogether and lifting his glass to his mouth to take a sip. He'd played Fallout. Somehow, after that, the apocalypse really did just seem like a mild annoyance.

"Mm, don't worry about it," he told Ghost, waving a hand in front of himself to indicate he wasn't bothered by Ghosts' unloading. "It's our reality now. No reason to hide it, not like we don't all have some kinda story." Some were worse than others, but he hadn't been lying when he said it was their reality now. All ten thousand of them. Or, at least, those still left alive from those original ten thousand. Each day their numbers dwindled. A distant look came over Koga as the thoughts drifted through his mind for a moment, only to be pulled back into the present by the rapid movement of Ghost's hands, and the words flashing into existence between them.

"Oh, right, I forgot about that," Koga said, before he spotted their server returning with their food. "Here you guys are!" she said cheerily before setting the food down before their respective devourers. "Enjoy!"

"Thank you," Koga said to her for the fifth time in an hour, before picking up his chopsticks and idly mixing the black bean sauce with the noodles. "I think you asked the last question, technically right? Favorite movie? I guess that would make it might turn." The man started eating some noodles as he thought of what would be a good question to ask before it dawned on him. Might as well make it a useful question.

Swallowing before speaking, "What kinda build do you wanna have?" he asked.

Koga exhaled quietly as the blue fragments of deleted code settled in the air around him. Silently, his katana slide back into it's scabbard. Another shuddering breath as the man's chest began to constrict, suffocating him, making it difficult to breath. "I'm sorry," he repeated, though the specter had already disappeared. "I...never wanted us to end up like this."

Not that it mattered what he said now. That wasn't the real Noct to begin with. That much was obvious. Even still, he'd meant every word he said. If he ever got out of this place, he would have to go find her and say those words to her in person.

If only he had that kind of courage.

"Fuck," the man swore quietly, under his breath before turning around to head towards the door he hoped was now unlocked.

Before he could take a step towards the door though, a peculiar, but familiar sight drew his attention. "You again." The shade sitting there in a chair, one leg swung over the other, his katana laid carefully across his lap, grinning as always. "So, you gonna tell me what the hell is going on here, or are you just gonna keep giving me that creepy smile." No response. Koga crossed his arms. "Creepy smile it is."

Koga blinked in surprise at how quickly Ghost had just managed to browse their entire menu. How fast could that woman read, he wondered, before realizing that the waitress was waiting on him now. "Oh, uh, I'll just have the jajangmyeon, thank you," he managed to get out, going with an old favorite he'd seen listed, before handing his menu to the waitress with a smile.

When he looked back at Ghost, she just stared back for a moment. Not in that awkward 'no one-knows-what-to-say' way. Just...getting acquainted for each other. It was then Ghost who was the first to begin to convey words. Some words, that, once read, Koga couldn't help himself from chuckling at. "Oh, just wait, I'm sure you'll start getting annoyed with me real soon," he joked, smiling back at the woman.

"For real though," he went on, a slightly more serious, but admittedly still lighthearted tone, "I don't blame you. People are fucking sketch, and you never know." Koga shrugged as the waitress returned and set their drinks down in front of them, alongside two cups of water. "Your food will be out momentarily," she said politely, before leaving. Koga thanked her quietly again as she left before turning back to Ghost. "I'll be honest though, I'm a shit teacher, so don't worry, I'm used to the blank stares and look of zero understanding. If you want me to cut it out too, just say so. Or...sign it, whatever."

The musical chime of the shop's door opening drew Koga's attention, just as a distantly familiar voice joined it in song. Although that song...Koga didn't think those were the lyrics. Was he saying 'murder'? Looking over his shoulder Koga gave his customer a curious look before standing up to greet him.

A flash of recognition went through both of them as their eyes met. "Wait, I know you," Koga said as he tilted his head to the side, squinting as he thought. "Oh, right!" The man snapped his fingers as the light bulb suddenly went off in his head. "That tavern a while back. Lot's of people, piss poor drinks. I...think I threw a knife at you or something?" That...both sounded unlike Koga, and exactly the sort of thing he would do.

The man looked back over his shoulder again at the stump behind him, where indeed several knives were sticking out of it. "Yeah, not a living target this time though," he joked, crossing his arms. "Just killin' time. By the way, I don't think I ever caught your name. I'm Koga," he said, offering a hand to shake.

Cocking his head to the side slightly, Koga listened as Ghost told him, or rather signed to him, what it was that was bothering her. He let out a small sound of amusement in response. "Don't worry about that stuff too much," he replied, only the slightest of smiles on his lips. "We've all been there."

At that moment, a server approached them and left a couple menus for the two players before stating they had a special today in celebration of their staff maxing out their cooking skill. "Oh, that's great!" Koga remarked before deciding upon something to drink. "I'll take an iced tea, thank you," he'd order before starting to go over the menu as Ghost made her request.

Koga could remember all the time's he'd fucked up when he'd still been learning the ways of Aincrad. Well, not all of them, but quite a few. "If it makes you feel any better, I almost bit the bullet when I started too. Wasn't a much higher level than you," he said, as he flipped through the pages, trying to decide on meal. "Hmm, any idea what you're gonna get?" he asked as he glanced up at her. "I can't decide."

Whilst Nari and Jomei discussed the finer points of gathering, Koga was, on the other hand, being distracted by another message notification. NIGHT, of course. Opening the message, Koga couldn't help narrow his eyes, scrutinizing the words carefully.

Well, Koga wasn't sure if trying to kill a supposed friend counted as 'being human' but the man had the distinct feeling that pushing the topic any further with NIGHT was probably going to be a bad idea. The man paused a while, trying to figure out how best to respond before finally settling on a single, monosyllabic response.

The man went to close his messenger when one last message drifted in at the last second.

'...nani?...'

And then the message was deleted.

"WAIT, WHAAAAAAT!?"

Koga shouted a mixture of emotions all pointing towards general confusion ran through the man as he sprung to his feet, trying to comprehend what he was certain was there, but now wasn't.

At least, that was until a mighty tug on his fishing rod yanked the man into the water with a great splash.

| 207538, CD nat5, +4Exp
    > Total Exp Gain: 8

"Yo," Koga would greet the woman absently as he idly took another bit of pie, eyes fixed on the fight going on before them. He didn't so much as bother a glance at her though, almost entirely zoned out. From boredom? Tiredness? Who knew at this point, but if Koga had looked over at NIGHT for even an instant, he might've deduced the answer to his query. "What took ya so long?" After all, it wasn't like NIGHT to take any more time than necessary to do almost anything. At least, not as far as Koga knew.

The vampire lady cackled, the noise faint due to the space between them all, but even still the players would surely be able to note the joyous tone. That happy sound, however, is cut off quickly as one of the red cloaked guard slammed his axe into the woman's side. "Oof," Koga winced sympathetically, as he watched the scene play out. It was a wonder she didn't just get cleaved in half.