Noctua

Noctua

She shrugged lightly at his comment. "I mean, they respawn right next to us at times, so they have to be somewhat willing." She chuckled lightly, at least this was turning into a good conversation and not just some silent quest to find things. But there was still something in the back of her mind that she figured she should ask, but at the same time, wouldn't that be best to be asked while staring a boar in the face? Either way, she thought on the thing that she wanted to as, when she saw him smile at her.

She returned the smile lightly and nodded. ""Anytime, and I wholeheartedly agree. This is getting boring, and more of the 'i hate walking around aimlessly' boring and not 'my company is boring'." Okay, now she was hoping that he took that the right way, because in her mind, that sounded a lot better than her actually saying it. But she wanted to change that little subject quickly. "So, do you have any tips for a new person like me? Mainly on staying alive?" There you go Noctua, change the subject.

@Koga

Noctua

She knew that she couldn't force Koga to go out of the town with her all of the time, nor really ask it of him. So perhaps she should just go out and attempt some material hunting alone? At least, this was the thought process that got her out of bed for the morning, but now, here she stood. At the exit of the Town of Beginnings, doubting if she was really up to do this alone. Honestly, with how little she still knew, she was sure to be killed after all. Of course, Koga was trying, but there was a feeling in the back of her mind that she was making his patience run low. So, yeah, perhaps going out and attempting this without him was going to beneficial right? She sighed lightly as she opened her inventory and looked between the two rapiers that she had.

That was when she decided to equip Jack's Graceful Repose, the pure silver rapier with the owl wings that would wrap around her hands. Yeah, that was going to be the best bet for her, especially if she planned on doing this alone. Taking a deep breath, she started to walk out of the town, before immediately turning around and walking the other direction. "Nope, I can't do it. I'm just going to go back and wait for this to be over..."

@Yukiro

Hey y'all. So as can probably be seen, I'm not much of a talker at first. Kind of a social recluse and tend to gravitate towards silence to be comfortable until I officially feel like I'm golden where I'm at. Y'all can thank @Koga for me being here. But um, I am a stay at home mother of a two year old and I have a three year old pug.

I honestly can't think of much else, so please feel free to ask questions (now y'all know where Noctua gets her actual social interaction issues).

Noctua

"Well, it's mainly with how you are. Blacksmithing seems to better fit the personality that I see you having." He was more social, for the most part, while she just wanted to get work done. She sighed though and continued to look for something to pick up. She thought that the first time that they did a fetch quest was bad, but at least that time she had already found something. Right now, it feels like she has been out here for eternity and she hasn't found a single thing. "His ultimate end goal. To kill us from boredom of hunting down items."

Truthfully, she would take a monster right now to whack around with her rapier. She kind of figured that Koga was getting bored now too, and the instant regret and horrible feeling that she just dragged Koga into something boring came to mind. "And now, I want to apologize. I didn't mean to drag you into the perpetual boredom of this. But, um, I also didn't want to go out alone?" Either way, she was finding a big fat nothing.

@Koga

Name: Jack's Graceful Repose

Item Type: Rapier

Tier: 1

Quality: Perfect

Enhancements: Burn - Blight - Cursed

Description: A blade made of pure silver, it has the normal style of a rapier, until you reach the hilt. There it has an elegant design of an owl's wings wrapping around the hilt while leaving room for her hand to be able to hold it. These wings look like they are holding her hand to the hilt when she is wielding it.

Link: http://www.sao-rpg.com/topic/18213-event-f1halloween-event-19-something-wicked-this-way-comes/?page=4&tab=comments#comment-584665

She knew that the event was going on. She hadn't been sure that she wanted to do it though. Why would she want to risk it? Wasn't that going to end up killing her? She sighed and was about to call it a night, early at that, when she heard a ding. The same ding that told her she got a message. Looking at it, she sighed and equipped her Rapier. She was going to go if Koga wanted her, it wouldn't be nice of her to not only ignore it, but leave him alone to possibly die. So, late as always, she made her way to the event. When she got there she was handed things, because the living were already winning. She looked around and found Koga, and immediately, they went to the concessions stand.

She watched as Koga grabbed a katana that was there and she smirked lightly. She figured that he would go for that. But once it was her turn, she walked over and looked at the table. "I'll, um, take the Ghost Treat and the Rapier please." Okay, so she just mentally joked about Koga taking the katana, but here she was, taking the rapier. It was a perfect weapon, she wasn't about to pass that down. Especially while she listened to Jack talk about it. She smiled weakly as she took her items and turned to Koga, "Whelp, let's go kill some skeletons?" That was when she equipped the new weapon, and nodded lightly at the boost that it gave.

Obtained

Noctua

She laughed at his declaration. Just the fact that he was still going to attempt to make the game better was kind of amusing to her. She thought on it though, and if it were for the fact that they got stuck in a death game, literally, she would probably try this again as well. But right now, she didn't even know if she wanted to attempt to do any kind of gaming after this, or even if her father would allow it under his roof. Eh, those were thoughts for when this was done and over with. Right now though, she felt like [censored]. She had way more materials than he did, and she might feel like she might have accidentally bragged.

Well, this was starting off wonderfully wasn't it. "There has to be something willing to die for you to be able to finish this as well." Willing might not have been the best choice of words, but right now, she was just starting to get impatient with this damned quest. It was pointless, or at least that is what she thought. "Don't worry about me getting things. Let's worry about getting you either caught up on the search or finished with it." She looked over at him and smiled. At least this was getting some good old fashioned social interaction time.

@Koga

Noctua

Blacksmith huh? Well, then they might have a busy shop after all. Weapons and trinkets, two things to make someone stronger. She shook her head with a smile though and chuckled. "For some reason, I pegged you as a blacksmith." She didn't know that actual reason, just that she had a feeling that he would have chose to be a blacksmith. Perhaps it was because he seemed to know so much on the Sword Arts already, that it just seemed to fit? But, it was his look that made her sigh and shake her head.

"Trust me, I wish I was attempting a horrible joke." Opening her quest information, she read it off to him, "Gather five tier one crafting materials, non-combat recommended and then use those materials to successfully craft a tier one trinket." She closed the quest and looked at him and shook her head. "This fetch quest stuff is starting to get annoying. But at least we know what to expect for your's as well."

Okay, that probably wasn't something that he would want to hear, but there it was. Walking, she kept an eye out, a hand on her rapier and her eyes glancing, looking for materials and anything that might want to attack them.

@Koga

Noctua

So perhaps turning the question around to Koga wasn't the best of ideas. She could tell that he was holding something back, but she didn't know him well enough to pry for more information. Nor did she want to possibly know that information. But it as basically a sad story meeting a sad story, but she had a dark feeling that his might be just a bit darker. It was time to stop thinking on that. "I don't think anyone's stories here are going to be interesting sadly." She honestly didn't know what else to say without giving away that she felt like there was more that he wasn't saying. Her face was probably giving that away as it was.

Instead of thinking more on their stories, she just took the silence a little bit to look around some more, hoping to find something sooner or later. She chuckled though when Koga talked about writing a strongly worded letter. "When we get out of here, I honestly think that is going to be the last thing on everyone's mind." That was even if the game was allowed to exist afterwards too. For all anyone could know they could close thi- What was that? Something caught Noctua's eye and she carefully walked over and picked up another ingot.

But what surprised her when she put it in her inventory, was seeing that her crafting material had extras. "Huh, maybe next time you should get the killing blow on a monster. I apparently had gotten two more materials off of that boar." That settled that, she was going to let him kill the next one, because then maybe this quest will be done and over with. The feth quests were something that she was starting to hate with a passion.

@Koga

Obtained This Thread

Tier 1 Materials (4)

Noctua

"Eh, maybe to most names like those are good. To me, it's just plain dumb." But it was the question next that made her nearly stop in her tracks. She sighed and shook her head. "Growing up, I never got to sit in one place, and any time I'd get something game-wise, I'd never be able to play it. Not until just before this one came out at least." What a way to start that gaming adventure. "When we finally got to a place where my dad wasn't going to be transferred again, I was surprised with the game really. Apparently he had stood in line waiting to get it and the nerve gear."

And now, her father was probably regretting that decision. But, now, there was nothing to do about it, except for try to find these items, that seemed to be so damned hard to find, and beat the 100th floor. Noctua shook her head then to be rid of the thoughts and she looked at Koga. "So, ignoring my failed life. How did you come to be here?" She just wanted to be out of the spotlight, it didn't work for her at all, and it was making her nervous. At least here, her hands wouldn't sweat.

"To make out lives miserable is more like it..."

@Koga

Obtained This Thread

>> Tier One Materials (3)

Noctua

Well, at least her panic was amusing, even as she thought on it, it made her laugh as well. "Then we shall be wonderful. Especially if the shop is kept clean." She might be a bit of a clean freak when it comes to work places, but that was something that she could deal with when at the shop alone after all. His agreement to the nickname was sweet and simple. Quite frankly, she didn't mind having just that small group of close friends or people who can call her Noct. It made her feel like she was actually breaking the old Christelle and turning Noctua into her own person. Maybe that was what she needed to do to be able to get through this entire debacle with the game.

His compliment brought her back from thinking and she chuckled as he accepted the party invite. "I try to. Some things come easier than others." This was exciting, a new adventure with someone who didn't seem to care that she was still technically new. For some reason, his approval of her profession choice seemed to calm down the nerves that she didn't know she had about picking Artisan. Really, she had been worried that there would have been too many Artisans out there. But now, she didn't worry about that, and instead, looked out at the plains.

"Right, time to go. So the first thing I have to do is...," she sighed then when she remembered the first part of the quest, "gather five tier one crafting materials." Not wanting to really wait for him to laugh at that fact, she started ahead, and already, she knew that this was going to take forever with the lacking amount of crafting materials right outside the gates of town.

@Koga

Noctua

At least he didn't have something horrible to say about her username. She has been told that it was dumb just because it was meaningful to her. She wouldn't say it aloud, but that did bug her at times. It was something that she didn't like to be told, but people weren't nice. It was something that she needed to learn to just ignore them. Though it was still hard at times. "I think that's pretty cool. It's way better than ninety percent of the names out there after all." But, they were continuing with their search, and it was still coming up with a big fat nothing. She sighed lightly as she thought she saw something, for it to only be another blade of grass. At this point, her brain was just messing with her.

"Why must finding things be so difficult?" The sentence was said softly, as if questioning herself, but she wouldn't be surprised if he had heard her. Either way, things were being difficult and slow, and well, she was getting impatient with it.

@Koga

Her talking about this fetch quest being done and over with seemed to resonate with him in a good way, it got him to laugh. "One could hope really." She chuckled lightly and started to walk a pace behind him. Not out of anything bad, more just to keep a better eye out now that they have already encountered one boar. She didn't want another one to chance having a sneak attack. So, she walked right behind him slightly, watching for materials and monsters, whichever came first.

He wanted to know about her username. She couldn't blame him, most of the ones that she has seen have been...horrid. "Yeah, I have seen a few questionable ones so to say." She shook her head a bit before she looked at him a bit, still making sure that she could see her surroundings as well. "I actually love owls, and Noctua is one of the scientific names for them. More for Little Owls, but still an owl." She trailed off for a bit, if he was to actually pay attention to that and how she has been acting, he might realize that she is more like an owl than just the name.

But the personality as well, shy and nervous, that sort of thing. "How about you? How did you come up with Koga?" Retaliation time.

@Koga

Noctua

Did she agree to that business proposition too quickly, perhaps. Slight panic hit her when he mentioned being some million col in the whole, but it was soon gone. She figured that he had to be joking. That wasn't going to happen right? The whole point of gaining a profession was to not be in debt. But, it was a done deal, and something that she figured she could work with. At least this way, they open up shop together, then they could go material hunting together. It would make things easier after all. One extra person to fight monsters with, and one extra person to explore with to not get bored and go crazy in this world. "I'm sure we won't be going in the hole." She tried to make that sound convincing as she smiled and nodded. "Sure, Noct is good."

She was proud of herself though, this has been the first person that she has talked to more than once, and hasn't fumbled over her words with, yet. There was still time for that. But as he explained that it wouldn't after she accepted it, she chuckled. "Well then, I guess it's a good thing I already grabbed the quest." She moved her hand out to invite Koga to her party, it felt odd her being the leader this time, but it only seemed fair since it was her quest after all. "I am taking up Artisan. Everything else just didn't seem...me." She waited for him to accept the party invite then, excited to not only start this new adventure of looking for materials, again, but possibly getting to know another human being better.

@Koga

Noctua

She was looking at the items that she received when Koga approached her to give her a high five. She returned the motion and looked at him. "To be honest, I'm still shaking, but it felt good." She laughed a little before she looked over the loot once more. "No materials, but I did get an Unidentified T1 Rare Weapon and an Unidentified T1 Uncommon Consumable." She read over the item for a moment before she sighed. "Guess I have to take them to a Merchant to have the identified. Oh well, that can wait." Truth be told, now that she has finally killed a monster and actually seen first hand that they could be killed, she was less scared than she had been before.

The question of continuing their quest now or going back to town came up and she looked at Koga, closing her inventory menu finally. "If you're up for it, I say we continue hunting right now." It wasn't that she wanted away from him so to say, but she wanted this dreaded quest over. It seemed to be taking too long already in her opinion. "The way I am looking at this quest, the sooner we finish it, the sooner we can take on another one. And hopefully not another fetch quest." She put her rapier back on her hip as she looked at Koga, waiting to see what he thought.

@Koga

Noctua

She patiently stood at the town's exit, staring across the fields that were awaiting her to go and hunt down these materials. She didn't know how she was going to do this alone, and then, there was the ding. Looking at the message, she sighed in relief when Koga agreed to come and help her. The wait from there, seemed effortless and less horrifying. It only seemed to take him a few minutes to reach the meeting spot, and once he did, she smiled at him and waved in return. He got straight to business with things too. He was willing to open a shop with her? That was an offer she would happily take honestly, because then she wouldn't have to worry about anything on her own with it. Plus, depending on what he did, they could get more customers than a normal shop.

"Deal. Opening a shop with you is a great idea." She thought for a moment, she was just about to invite him to a party when she thought on it. "Um, if I invite you to a party, it's not going to force you to take this quest right? I mean, I don't want to force you to become an Artisan too." There was a bit of a nervous chuckle with the end of her question, more because she felt more and more like she was using him as a crutch for some reason.

@Koga

Noctua

Boar

Final Kill Loot

The entire time that Koga took his turn against the boar, she was in her mind mentally gearing herself up. She knew that she needed to relax and not over think things, but that was hard with her first fight after all. In fact, she was so far in her mind, that she hadn't even noticed that Koga brought the boar down to a one hit death as well as dodged yet another attack. She nearly jumped out of her virtual skin though when he spoke but she nodded. He was going to leave the boar to her? Wasn't that a little reckless of him?

She didn't get much of a choice, for the moment that the boar noticed that Koga was by her, the boar was gearing up, ready to hit him. She didn't want to give him the chance, and instead, rushed the boar and slashed it once with her rapier. She watched as the last of the boar's health disappeared, and she smiled for a moment. Turning around, she looked at Koga and sighed, the smile still there. "I finally managed to hit it."

@Koga

Noctua

She knew that it was going to be hard to buy gear for upgrades without Col, and with how horribly she has been doing lately with these quests that she has been picking up, she figured that a profession was going to be the way to go. But which one? She didn't have the strength nor the patience to want to deal with blacksmithing. She was far from social enough to be a performer. She couldn't sew to save her life to be a tailor, and chemistry just didn't compute in her mind. So, she decided to hunt down the artisan person instead. She knew that trinkets and things like that were going to sell, everyone could use those buffs.

After she accepted the quest from Malachi, she looked at the quest log. Gather (5) Tier one crafting materials from the wild, non-combat recommended and successfully craft a tier one trinket. She nodded lightly, but she really didn't want to chance being out in the wild without some kind of back up. Not after her last time collecting items. Thankfully, she had a friend who would be willing to go with her, or so she hoped. Opening her messages, she clicked on a name and sent a quick message: Grabbed a profession quest. Was wondering if you wanted to come along? I would be willing you with one afterwards. And now, she waits for the response. With the message, she also gave a meeting place, mainly just before leaving the Town of Beginnings. There she waited, and if he didn't show after a few minutes, she would just attempt it on her own.

@Koga

Noctua

Boar

She anxiously watched as the boar missed Koga, that was something that made her happy. When he dodge the blow and stood next to her, she nodded lightly. At least he wasn't mad at her for missing or moving too soon. She watched the boar though and took a moment to decide what it was that she wanted to do. He had a point, she didn't have the energy to use her sword art again, but she could just do a basic. Right now, the boar's health was low, so she could kill it with one blow, if she manged to get it to hit that it. So, she took a deep breath and ran at the boar, attempting to just hit it. But her rapier glanced off the boar doing no damage once more. This was starting to make her feel like she couldn't do anything at all.

Spinning around to be able to watch the boar, her face was starting to show some of the defeat that she was feeling. Perhaps she should just stay in town and wait for the assault teams to finish the floors. Watching the boar, it's attention was still on Koga, this still worried her, but once again, the boar missed. Well, at least that is going over for us well enough. She sighed and looked at her rapier for a moment, trying to figure out what it was that she was going to be able to actually do.

@Koga

Noctua

Boar

She would have kept walking if it weren't for the fact that she ran right into Koga's outstretched arm. A look of confusion was on her face, until she was the boar. She would being lying if she said that she wasn't scared, because, right at this moment, she was freaked. She didn't know what to do, and well, she didn't want to die either. But she also didn't want to be the reason that Koga died. Dilemmas. Her focus trained on Koga as he told her how to use Sword Arts. This was a useful bit of information, that much was for sure to her. She watched him as he used his sword art and even did a lot of damage to the boar.

Thinking that it was easy enough, she tried to mimic him, but the moment that she saw the boar moving, she attacked too early. She hadn't given the sword art time to officially prime, and so when she went to hit the boar, she missed. Thankfully, she didn't miss horribly, but it was still a miss. So much so that the boar seemed to ignore her as it stared right at Koga. But as the boar went to attack Koga, it missed the player, allowing for a sigh of relief to leave Noctua's lips. She looked at Koga to see what his next course of action was going to be, because hers was a giant mistake apparently.

@Koga

Noctua

Well, at least she made a good choice in something. She smiled lightly and looked at the Rapier. "It was the only thing that seemed to appeal to me when I was able to choose." She watched the area around her as she looked for materials. But his response to her thanks for being in the party wasn't the one she was really expecting. She honestly thought that it was just going to be a simple "it's just for now" response. Instead, it was one that made her feel better about even deciding to do any of this. "Company is always good. I'm slowly relearning this." In fact, this is the first time she's had a true long conversation or even human interaction in years. She was barely starting to talk to others back in the real world.

But nothing dawned on her until after she grabbed her ingot that a monster could have jumped out at her. Well, that would have sucked wouldn't it. Making a mental note to not run off so far she looked at him and smiled sheepishly. "Right, no jinxing. I keep forgetting that games can hate the player." Especially this game. But even still, she kept looking, right now, finding nothing.

Obtained So Far

>> Tier 1 Materials (1)

@Koga

Noctua

Okay, so it was a bit annoying, but that was something that they were just going to have to deal with while doing this. They both wanted the experience after all. She ignored the NPCs though as they walked through the town. She wasn't in the mood to buy anything, but she still liked how they tried to make things seem normal. Of course, for the NPCs it was normal. But she looked at Koga as he chuckled. Was that a good thing? She was certain that it was, but it also brought up the question on if she was being laughed at , or if he was laughing at her. She wasn't going to ask though, and instead, just walked out of town with him.

The moment that they left the safe zone of the town, she paused for a moment to equip her rapier. She looked at Koga to see that he had a curved sword. So, they both decided to go dps, that meant things were going to be easy to kill right? Eh, probably best to not think on that, and just focus on finding the materials that they needed. "Okay," she nodded for a moment, "Thank you, for agreeing to stay in a party with me. I know this isn't going to be easy." She looked around for a moment before she started to follow him into the grassy plains.

At least it wasn't a horrible day out for this quest. She watched as he found one of the materials that they needed and she smiled. "Awesome! Now I just hope that my luck is as good." She was starting to hate this quest the more she searched the trails and grass. After a few minutes, something shiny caught her attention and when she picked it up, it was an ingot of her own. She smiled and held back a cheer of excitement. They hadn't run into anything yet, she wasn't about to catch the attention of anything that might be lurking around them.

"So, that leaves us both with just needing to find four more. This doesn't seem like it will be too horrible after all." He might want to smack her if their luck changes because of that statement, but it was something that she said without even thinking on it.

@Koga

Obtained:

>> Tier 1 Material (1)

Noctua

No matter what she did, he didn't seem to be impressed. She really hoped that it was just because of the quest that they were being sent on. Though that wasn't going to stop her from thinking that she was bugging him. Because frankly, that was probably the issue right now. She was a complete and total new person to this, and she is probably going to be loathed by many others. She held back a sigh as Koga started to explain things. He seemed to be agitated enough by her own question, she didn't need to sigh on top of that. She pulled her mind out of the self pity that it seemed to be creating and she nodded when he explained fetch quests.

"Okay, that seems simple enough. Dumb, but simple." She was curious as to why he was so determined to get all of the experience that he could, but just asking that aloud would be stupid. She knew the answer, it was more than likely the same as her own. Just so that she can feel like she is able to help. So that was probably a question that could just be ignored completely as she went over things in her mind. "Okay, so we go and find things. That doesn't sound horrible, just really slow and pointless." But there was one thing that did cross her mind, the monsters. "What are the odds of us having to battle? I'm ready to learn, I just also don't want you to feel like you have to carry me or anything."

She was probably starting to over think things at this point. In fact, that was basically guaranteed. But she meant what she said, and the stubborn yet determined look in her eyes would even prove that she meant it. "I might just need some pointers, but I will get it and be useful, I promise."

@Koga

Noctua

On the surface, she remained calm and collected, in her mind, well, that was a different story. She was frantically trying to find a way to salvage all of this. She really didn't want to just be thrown to the wolves, literally, only to die. Most people would say this, but she wasn't ready to be permanently dead. She still had things to figure out in the real life. But it was getting back that she was determined to do. But there was utter silence after she admitted that she hasn't played a game like this before. It was true, and she was truly worried that she was about to be dropped. But it was the rapid eye blinking that had her sighing lightly as she shook her head. "Never. It's kind of a long story." A story that she wasn't about to get into with someone who might drop her from the party at any given moment.

But her reminder of him grabbing the quest seemed to jog him back to the present. At least he was accepting the quest. She really didn't want to be the thing that slows someone down, and she had a feeling that she was about to do just that. She looked at Zakariah and she wondered what it was that he was even talking about. Crafting materials? You could do that in the game? If so, that was something that she was going to look into. She missed cooking, and she figured that learning something to help when she goes up in levels would be nice to. Perhaps there was someone out there who cou- wait, fetch quest?

"Fetch quest?" She had to voice that one aloud. She looked at Koga, with confusion in her eyes. But behind that was the determination that she wanted to show. The determination to be able to do whatever it took to not have to worry about dying on a daily basis just from walking outside. But wait, shouldn't that fear still stay there? "Okay, so crafting materials. Where would one normally find those laying around?" Determined to not look like she was going to be dead weight, she was going to start trying to show that she wanted to learn and to help. Now if he believed it, that would be a different story.

@Koga

Wait, this woman wanted to be her friend right away? That was oddly nice, and yet it also made her flags flare up in her mind. She ignored them though, knowing that she needed to break out of her lack of social skills self. Once her hand was let go of, it fell to her side as Noctua listened to what Ruby was saying. How could there be drama on the higher floors? Wasn't that the opposite of what was wanted? Drama wasn't going to help them get out of this situation, not at all. "Easy?" For some reason, her mind didn't want to exactly wrap around the fact that things were easy up there. That seemed like the opposite of why they would still be stuck in this virtual hell. But Ruby seemed to be confident, so Noctua chose to believe her on that factor. She would just have to wait to find out for herself one day.

But the talk of what she wanted to do came up. She knew that she wasn't going to be good as a damage taker, that just seemed to be out of her comfort zone. But then so did being a supportive class. That would involve her being willing to actually talk to others more wouldn't it? "I was going to learn to do damage. At least, that is what I chose when I first turned the game on." The slowly motioned to the rapier that was connected to her hip. She knew that she didn't need to have it equipped in the town, but it made her feel better really. Like she was going to be prepared for anything that could happen to her. "Sure, perhaps some food and drink will help things make a bit more sense. I'm still marveled at the fact that you say it's easy on the higher floors." A small, yet nervous chuckle came from her as she started to look for a decent cafe to go to.

@Ruby