Koga

Already the two others of his party were quick to set to work. DAY set off towards the trees, presumably to help clear out the perimeter and prevent the blaze becoming an unmanageable wildfire, assuming Cardinal would even allow that. NIGHT, for her part, did not hesitate to walk into the burning building. Koga nearly shouted at her that she was crazy, but he doubted she'd hear him even if he did. He other things he needed to do if he wanted to make sure she didn't burn to a crisp while inside. The man was quick to join the line of NPCs tossing buckets of water onto the fire, doing t

In the dark behind shut eyelids, Koga could hear NIGHT's teasing remark, followed by DAY's retort. The man grinned, letting out an amused scoff aimed at the pair of...people. Players, AIs constructed by Cardinal, in a simple moment like this, it hardly seemed to matter. To Koga, they were just people. Sleep overtook the man for the rest of the day long journey. The first real rest he'd had in ages. Though it wasn't filled with pleasant things, like sunshine or flower blossoms or such others. But it was devoid of the usual terrors sleep had brought with them. Long gone faces he'd not

At Nari's request, Koga nodded. "Alright. Let's go." Before either had a chance to move, the battered and beaten form of Nemo began to rise, on shaky legs. Despite his bloodied form, the NPC smiled at the two players anyways. "My, it's been a while since I found myself so entertained," he said with a grin, dusting off his clothing from the dirt and loose blade of grass that clung to him. "It's a shame you can't stay longer. Do come by again though, I would love to speak to you both more. I take great pleasure in learning more about those who visit my garden." With that the NPC moved

It was only a short trek back to the river, which would have been made much longer had Koga actually need to drag back two whole boar carcasses. But, SAO was a video game, which meant that the pieces of meat were already cut, cleaned and packed tightly away in his inventory, mercifully with no affect on the man's speed. When Koga broke through the brush, he lifted a hand in greeting towards Oji. "Yo, I'm back. Something smells good." The scents of whatever was boiling in the pot over the fire Oji had set up was beginning to smell divine. Or that was just the fact that Koga was really hung

There was a surprising amount of shouting and clambering over boxes and crates as the three player's landed on the dreadnaught Ifrit and took stock of their situation. Imperial soldiers, apparently not as stalwart as their regent would have them believe practically ran over each other to escape impending death-by-player. Koga watched them go, with a disappointed look on his face as the dark flames around his sputtered, flickered and died. "Man, I was really hoping for a good fight..." the man muttered forlornly as the taller woman landed behind him with a heavy thud. "It's obviously this

Astreya swept in like some sort of guardian angel, ferrying Nari away, taking the danger away from Koga...unfortunately, she may have been too late. Koga chuckled nervously and rubbed the back of his neck as watched the two walk off before glancing over at Kasumi. Was she going to be mad at him? When Blueberry answered the man's rather tired inquiry the man just took a moment to stare at the pink-haired girl. Then at the engorged slime squished between his sink and stove. Then back to Blueberry. "Ya know what, fair...thanks..." he replied to the girl before looking at the slime again. "Wi

For whatever reason, the part of Koga that craved conflict wanted to argue with NIGHT more, but was thankfully interrupted by DAY. Koga nodded along with NIGHT. Even if it was his first raid, it figured that most would be ran in a similar manner, both by the players and by Cardinal. And the whole thing with being given the spare/kill choices and the whole sky-battle afterwards, Koga got the distinct feeling those were very uncommon. Koga sighed as NIGHT wound up binging up a question he hadn't ever considered before. Yeah, he didn't really like people in the general sense of the term. He

Even as Koga dodged out of the way of another barrage of attacks from the mobs, their sights locked on him, he could hear Nari giggle and call him - "Kogies!?" the man shouted back at the woman. "What the hell did you just call me!?" What kind of nickname was that!? Kogies, was he a puppy? The man was so caught up in the nickname that Nari had given him he hardly noticed how she'd managed to cleave one of the Knights in two. Or maybe he was just willfully ignoring her at this point out of spite, who really knew. All Koga did know was that the two remaining were on their last legs. Ko

Koga almost laughed at the thought of NIGHT not being known, at the very least throughout the Front. It felt kinda like a football team who didn't know who one of their star players were, it just didn't make sense. "NIGHT, I'm pretty sure you're the resident 'strong, silent type' of the Front. I'd be more surprised if someone didn't know your name," Koga said to his friend. "Remember, you stood to defend Gabrandr, no one batted an eye outta respect. Me, pretty sure half of them still wanna stick my head on a pike." "Mm, I guess you're right," he then hummed in response. He had heard vague

Koga didn't notice the blinking indicator that he had a message till he shut the door of his small home behind him with a sigh. The white light was most obvious in the pitch black of his living room, undulating as if it were some tiny heart beat. Koga swiped down, opening the interface and tapped to view the message. Surprisingly, it was Freyd. Asking about if he and NIGHT were okay. The man practically slammed his head back into the door as he leaned against it and groaned. God, how was he gonna explain any of this to anyone. Hell, should he even? It wasn't exactly his place to do s

Koga practically snorted at the way Riker acted around with his owner. If only Okami were so affectionate. Maybe one day the boy would find it more fun to just get head scratches as opposed to stealing all of Koga's things and making him chase him everywhere to get them back. Sadly, today probably wasn't the day. Koga started laughing and gave Lessa a cocksure grin when she implied that the man might not know the way to the giant skeleton. "Ha! My dearest Lessa, let me tell you I absolutely never know where the fuck anything is or where I'm going. We're gonna get so lost." Well...Kog

This was it. Just a few short moments between them and a hot tasty meal. Koga couldn't wait. But his eagerness would have to be controlled until the food was cooked on the table. For now, he and Okami would have to sate themselves on the kills alone. The Boars didn't stand a chance. If blood effects were present in the game, there would have been a whirlwind of it, splattering across the ground, the trees, droplets flying off into the distance. But, because this game was supposed to be 'family-friendly' and since blood was not considered such, but trapping and killing said family in

It wasn't much longer before Nari was also ready to start fighting Nemo. Koga wasn't exactly sure why Cardinal seemed insistent on players beating up the poor guy, but Koga wasn't going to complain. At least not right now. Moral ambiguities could always be addressed later. The two stepped towards the NPC, drawing their weapons. The image of Nemo began to warp and distort, the his name plate glitching in and out until the man transformed into a huge, spindly, green dragon, with an epithet attached to his identifier. 'The Wind of Gaia'. Nemo was not alone though. From the corner of the

Koga hadn't really thought too much about the implications of DAY's existence, but now that the construct mentioned it, he was actually somewhat surprised that Cardinal hadn't taken some sort of action to remove her from the game. As far as Koga knew, Gemini's didn't exist outside their quest. From a systems standpoint, he imagined that they were destroyed upon the quest's completion, regardless of whether or not the player chose to spare them. But, for whatever reason, DAY had been spared...a glitch perhaps? "Actually, NIGHT's right, you are pretty unusual," Koga commented, lacking any t

The swordsman rolled his eyes at Nari's teasing, as he turned to go examine another set of flowers while he waited for their stamina to finish regenerating. Koga suspected that his would be a mite faster than Nari's, so even though his bar was almost finished restoring, he contented himself with the picking of flowers. The time was quick to pass, stamina thankfully being a plentiful and easy to obtain resource (seriously, it was like they could just stand there and photosynthesize it) and Koga's bar was already full by the time that Nari called out to him. The man didn't even glance in th

It wasn't much longer before Nari eliminated the last of their enemies. She slammed her shield forcefully into the wolf's face, am echoing clang like that of a bell resounding from the equipment before the wolf shattered and joined it's pals in the respawn queue. With an exuberant tone, Nari turned to Koga and asked if they should go deal with Nemo next, to which Koga nodded. "Yeah, but let's wait a minute or two to let our stamina bars to fill back up. Not keen on standing there like an idiot if he scales harder than I think he will." Yeah, Koga remembered his days as a lowly single

k o g a the elder wolf Despite the fact that Koga was still less than enthused by their treatment by the mayor, Koga managed to let out a wry chuckle at DAY's antic before she asked how long it might take to get their next destination. "Beats me," Koga said with a shrug as he settled into his seat, the wood creaking as he shifted slightly and crossed his arms. "Hopefully not too long though." Who knew what the scale of this floor was anyways? They may have been graced with a map by Cardinal, but it didn't really give much of a scale to jud

Koga sighed and ran a hand through his hair, strands falling out of place as opposed to sitting where they should, when he heard NIGHT's answer. For some reason he'd expected her to say she would at least try. She was always so...fearless. But not this time. Where had the woman he'd come to know gone? Was there a way to find her and help bring her back? "I won't tell you what to do, NIGHT, but I will say it might be a good idea...It could help you both. Help you guys understand each other. Others." Perhaps it was a little bit of a request on Koga's behalf as well. Maybe she alre

Nari made a sudden lung forward, catching the wolf off-guard and scoring another strike against it, another angry red mark appearing on it's hide as Nari retreated and called for a switch. Not that she'd need one. Another quick dash forward, and Koga lashed out at the two wolves, irrespective of the reach of his blade. The man's katana bit into the wolf's legs taking them out from underneath the beast, which toppled onto it's side before bursting into countless shards. The second wolf fared far better than it's companion, suffering no more than some misplaced strands of fur as i

At first, Koga was going to decline the boy's request. Follow a sketchy looking guy into a dark cave? Yeah, that seemed like a great way to get himself stabbed in the back, but before the man could say, 'no', the kid started to say something that interested the Wolf. He wanted to get stronger... Koga's eyes narrowed imperceptibly as he inspected the boy carefully, investigating his face as if searching for something. That spark, just behind the boy's eyes. The man cocked his head to the side, and crossed his arms, a moment for thought. "Alright kid," he said finally. Even if thi

The Boars seemed unhappy with Koga's aggression, and took turns charging at the man. Side step to side step, Koga danced around them, until he saw his opening. They both charged at the same time, heads down, blindly rushing the man as he brought his blade around to strike. One boar was faster than the other though, and managed to sneak ahead of Koga's attack, avoiding it, even as the sharp edge of Tsuki no Hikari bit viciously into it's friend's hide. Undeterred by the fact that his companion was injured, the feral beast rammed it's tusks into Koga's chest, forcing him backwards, one step

Before Blue even had the chance to respond for herself, Astreya leapt to her defense. And the slime's. Mostly the slime's as she got up from her seat and walked right up to the bloated ball of a gelatin and gently poked it as she asked it if it was doing okay. That girl...confused Koga... Nari too had stood up from her seat and walked over to Koga, as if to ask him something. Too tired to put up the kind front, the man simply cocked his brow, as if to ask in a very confused tone if she needed anything. And he immediately wished she hadn't asked what she had just asked. "Eh-heh, n-no,

Mina did her best to be vague as possible about herself, and Oji followed suit. Which, to be fair, Koga couldn't fault either of them for. He sure as hell wasn't about to dump his life's story on either of them. It wasn't exactly a joyous one. So, Koga simply mimicked their response, molded to his own experiences. "Can't say I'm that much more interesting. I just work my forge, and walk around and kill stuff and level. I guess now that we're actually on the Front," Koga looked at Mina then, "maybe I'll start helping with the Labyrinth searches and stuff? Other than that, I don't really kn

What more was there to do but listen with rapt attention. Listen to what parts of NIGHT she rarely spoke of, of what she'd done in his long absence. It was difficult for the man to admit that he knew painfully little about the person who he claimed to be his closest friend. How much she knew in comparison. In truth, if it wasn't for the familiarity they shared, one might have considered them strangers, perhaps acquaintances at best. The truth was that Koga knew the woman best by name and name alone. Koga shook his head when the woman wondered if she'd mentioned Yuki before. Though sh

There was nothing left to say as the two walked down to the docks, NIGHT's hand in Koga's as he guided her. The crowds were not dense so far from the main event, it was easy to weave between the pockets of scattered attendees. Snippets of conversation mingled with the sounds of leaves rustling in the wind, and soon enough, the sound of water gently splashing against the docks. The pair got into the boat, and left Baldur's island. Tomorrow they'd return, different than when they'd arrived today. The short trip back was quiet. The moon reflected off the water, casting them all in a sil