Vincent Cain

"Grape juice it is then."

Vince [censored] her a grin and placed his order with the barmaid with practiced ease, potentially betraying the notion that this wasn't the first time he'd been here.  In fact, one might be able to infer that this was a frequent haunt of his.  That would perhaps be the best description of his relationship with this place, given he'd spent the majority of this whole Aincrad debacle simply existing in a existential nightmare, but that was neither here nor there.  He settled into his seat, casually placing one arm on the table as he propped his chin into his upturned palm.  "Where to start...god it's been ages."  His sapphire eyes darted to look over the crowd that had gathered this evening, absentmindedly people watching while the gears turned in his head.  "For starters...I learned how to play Trombone..."  his eyes shot back to hers as he began to speak.  "Did marching band in highschool, wish I had the pictures to show you how dorky I looked in the uniform...."  the memories flooded over him absently as he spoke, busy Friday nights rushing out to get food and then sprinting back to the band hall to eat and get changed before call time.  The friends he'd made those four years, how it had changed him...

How he'd wished she was there with him.  

A frown flickered across his lips, but was banished the moment his glass was set before him and he took an idle sip.  "Dad still has the bookstore, insists that E-readers won't drive him out of business.  Mom still practices law and spends way too much time fussing over my extracurriculars..." She also fussed about how he'd never dated in highschool, but he was not about to go giving Ray any fuel to bust his balls over.  "Graduated in the top twenty of my class if you could believe it, and Im not talking like...small town graduating class either, Im talking class of 600 people..."  he trailed off, his eyes occasionally meeting hers, getting lost for a couple seconds, and then breaking away to find something else to look at so he could actually focus.  "What have you been up to?"  

Vince turned to the other two, grin vanishing the moment he realized how rude he'd been.  He frowned a bit, his right hand shooting to scratch his head as he shook his head.  "My bad, I uh-" he paused to catch his words, his sapphire eyes darting away from their direct gaze and off to the distance as if to search for the right words to say off in the horizon.  "Got a little carried awa- oh would you look at that."  He might not have found words over in the distance, but he had found something cool to pick.  He took a handful of steps, bent over, and plucked a brilliant red flower.  He scanned a handful of tooltips and then nodded.  "Found one!"  He beamed and turned to the other two to display his prize before banishing it to the aether that was his inventory.  

"That being said, if I ever get too wound up you can always tell me to calm down...or give me a light punch"  his eyes shot to Ray as he resisted the urge to rub his arm from the phantom pain of her constant arm slugging.  A light breeze blew through, causing the grass to dance and rustle playfully.  He found himself brushing errant locks of blonde hair back into place as he spoke again.  "Should we spread out to cover more ground?  Or perhaps stay together to have many eyes look over one spot so we cannot possibly miss something?"  

"I am approximately thirty percent more handsome," 

Vince would be lying if he said he hadn't missed her.  Ten years had passed with nary a word from her, which is like...four or five whole generations of pokemon.  That was at least three fire fighting starters he had to endure all while she had been ignoring his emails and skype messages.  A myriad of emotions welled up inside him as all of these things processed in his head.  She had been one of his best friends, and honestly the only woman who would deal with his constant prattling as he went off on odd tangents about the nerdiest topics or weird esoteric hypothetical.  

He shot her another goofy grin that spanned from ear to ear as he looked her over.  "You also look very different..." his words were accompanied with a sagelike nod as he rubbed his chin.  His hug had quickly made him aware of a pair of boobs that she hadn't gotten around to growing the last time they'd met.  "But how about instead of us standing here awkwardly catching up in front of a door, we relocate to awkwardly catching up at a table?  Perhaps I can buy you a drink?  Not sure if you're aware but we can't get drunk, so its all the shitty taste without any of the fun loss on inhibition.  Don't let people full you, they're super into the roleplay."  His eyes quickly shot across the bar, scanning the bar and back walls for a nice private spot for him to gush about how much he'd missed her.  Spotting one, he quickly grabbed her hand without waiting for a reply and gave it a tug along as he pointed it out.  "I've got so much to tell you."  

Ah yes, this is definitely how I saw this going...

Vince staggered back one, two...two and a half steps, maybe three if you were feeling super generous about that lil half step.  His eyes watered, not necessarily from pain since the game didn't really let you feel that much pain aside from the mild rumble and recoil, but more the sensation around those really sensitive nerves.  He blinked, trying to register what had happened just in time for Ray to [censored] at his face as she realized exactly who's incredibly charming and handsome face she'd just falcon punched.

" 'S fine, really, I am aware of the effect I have on women."  Like magic, his trademark goofy grin was plastered across his face as if it had never been rudely socked off in the first place, his eyes twinkling in the light.  "Pretty sure that was meant for some poor schmuck, in which case I am glad it was my stupid face and not his, he would be a lot less understanding..." Without warning he regained those three steps back, the same three steps that she probably took to reach out to him, and in one fell swoop snaked his arms around her in a brutal bear hug.

"That all being said...i'm not losing my mind and it is you...right?"

"Alright then, LETS [censored] GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO" 

Vince took what could only be considered a power stance as he boldly pointed towards the town exit and grinned.  Any doubt or hesitation gone, not even an echo of it playing across his face.  Instead it'd been blasted to oblivion with a smile that could blind if you looked at it for too long.  He took one exaggerated strut forward, untangling himself from Ray with the practiced grace of a man who knew how to navigate the most wholesome of sidehugs before his hands shot out like snakes, one snagging Ray's hand and the other Cordelia's as the second strut came with a practiced speed.  The third strut was way too fast for his own good, and soon he was barreling off into the distance like a Labrador after the most pristine of tennis balls.  His arms dangled behind him in perhaps the friendlies of "Naruto" runs as he dragged his two female compatriots alone with extreme speed.  

This is it. He thought to himself.  This is the start of my story, how Vincent Cain became the coolest man to ever grace an MMO ever.  

It took a matter of moments, but soon they were out of the town of beginnings, and just after that they were the farthest Vince had ever set foot outside of a town, and all he could do is pause and turn to look back to his companions, and back at the town in distance.  This was it, one more step and he really was on his way...

"Come here often?"

SMACK

Vince winced as the mild buzzing of pain feedback rang through his systems.  He'd made a habit of trying to practice "his art" of wooing women, not because he was particularly interested in getting any virtual action, but because the idea of clever wordplay was an art.  He was not a good artist, nor was he particularly bad, he was just some schmuck who liked to dabble, perhaps paint alongside a Bob Ross video every now and again.  Still, as the woman trotted off, her skirt swishing with each step, Vince couldn't even bother to look at her, his eyes were scanning for the next person to talk to.  Perhaps he would lay on his laurels, maybe get some fresh air and chill a bit.  Maybe he would pop over to another floor and get some good ass grub instead, he wouldn't know until the cards had been dealt to him, that was how life rolled.  

So, imagine his shock when a very familiar looking face stomped off through the crowd like a bull heading back to a fine china shop with a mile long receipt and one of those exaggerated soccer-mom haircuts.  He hadn't seen Ray in a hot minute, not since middle school...but he could tell it was her, like how Mrs. Frankleberry recognized him ten years after kindergarten even when he had that god awful mustache he swore would come in and look dashing.  This was fate, everything coming up Aces for him.  If it was Ray, he'd found an old friend, if it wasn't?  Well she was cute enough to pass for his old middle school crush and maybe he'd put some effort into hitting on her.  With hardly a care to his cheek, he danced through the crowd with practiced ease and found himself gliding up to her like a graceful...graceful thing.  Resting a hand on her shoulder he threw out his golden goose of an opener.

"Hey, come here often?"

"Wow, I didn't even see the bird if I'm being honest."  Vince exclaimed as hooked an arm around Ray's shoulders in a good ole fashioned christian side-hug.  If he had noticed any of the one sided tension between the two he ignored it as he began to spin his yarn with a practiced level of showmanship to it.  "Okay, so picture this right?  I wake up and I have my breakfast, you know, the usual.  Shitty ass oatmeal and buttered toast because I'm broke, so I'm thinking to myself that I need to go mosey on up to the higher floors and see if someone needs a gopher to do some grunt work or something, and then it hits me!  We're in an MMO!  The game PRINTS money!  All I have to do is grow the balls to actually play the darn thing.  So I decide to put my ear to the ground and sniff out how exactly one manages to get started in this game without getting killed and lo and behold I find the HOLY GRAIL!  A beginners quest that supposedly has no combat, teaches you the basics of some crafting, AND GIVES SICK STARTING LOOT!"  Vince's grin grew wider with each little bullet point on his list.  "So I go talk to this pleasant old man and all we have to go do for the first step is gather up some materials in the forest, I need uh..."  his eyes shot down to the quest log.

"Five T1 materials?  Whatever that means."  He shook his head and shot Ray a grin.  "Comeon!  With you here we can both get our start at the same time!  Vince and Ray!  The new power duo that'll SHOOT to the top and start chopping down floor bosses like Logging companies chop trees in the amazon!  We'll be LEGENDARY."

Vince yelped slightly as the roar filled the air.  Monsters?  Already?  This far in town?  Nope, it was even worse.  Ray.

What had he done this time?  His mind raced through all of the past interactions he'd had with her in the past twenty four hours, searching frantically for what could have possibly set her off, completely ignoring the blinking icon tucked away at the bottom of his HUD.  "Is this about what I said about that one pair of pants?  Because I swear it was with a PH, not an F."  An age old adage rang through his head, something about shovels...? And how you could beat them over the head with it?  "But where are my manners!  This is Rayleigh Aston, my best friend in the whole world!"  Vince motioned to the rather angry looking brunette across the street.  "And this is Cordelia!"  Vince absentmindedly grabbed Cordelia's hand and dragged her along with him as he strut across the street to join the Brunette, taking her hand and quickly matching them together in a handshake.  

"And we're now a party!" He added with a flourish as he worked through his HUD at a breakneck speed to shoot them both a party invite.  "Because we're going on an adventure!"  Any trace of doubt that had once been lingering in his heart had melted away in a matter of seconds, all that remained was a sunshiney ball of charisma of humor.  

Vince's eyes shot to the silver haired woman like sapphire bullets, a slight frown forming on his lips.  He'd been so caught up in his own pity party and self loathing to realize he'd been putting on a show for all to see, Emperor's New Groove memes and all.  Something about her looked familiar, but he couldn't quite place it.  Perhaps he'd seen her before?  Vince had made a habit of people watching so chances are he might have seen her somewhere, after all he had a thing for pretty girls.

"More like an end of life crisis, but yeah."  he quipped back coolly.  "Figured I'd give this whole uh, questing thing a shot, but the whole uh...monster thing is a little scary..." He nervously ran his right hand through his blonde mane and assessed the woman casually.  Looking at stats was kinda tricky since the whole frickin HUD moved with your vision, but he was pretty sure he could see her level...oh.

Oh my.

"I don't suppose I could...convince you to help me out a bit?  I'm a super low level but I swear I'll pay back the favor with dividends when I catch up." He paused, realizing he had perhaps broken the most sacred of social faux pas, "Oh, but where are my manners.  My name is Vincent Cain, a pleasure to meet you ma'am."  He didn't care if their names might be hovering over their heads or whatever, manners were manners.  

Closed to Cordelia and Ray

"Alrighty now Vinnie..."  The young blonde mused to himself as he stood in the center of town.  "Where to get started on our graaaaaand adventure..."  He chewed his lower lip somewhat anxiously as he scanned the crowd.  Things had started to slow down around these parts, and a great deal of people had moved on to higher level floors.  Not Vincent, the pale skinned, blonde haired prettyboy had waited very patiently and watched from afar.  He'd been wary of the whole "Die in the game and you're dead for good" thing going on.  He couldn't PROVE it was true, but he also couldn't DISPROVE it either, and with his life on the line he didn't really care to find that one out.  So when a bunch of idiots went running out to the boar slaughter only to end up being boar fodder, well...Vince was glad he'd stayed his hand.  But now...

Well, Vince had perhaps stayed his hand too long.  He'd gotten complacent to just sit around and bullshit with people, relying on handouts from other people and running the occasional oddjob on higher floors as a gopher for other people.  He'd let himself get caught up in watching their stories unfold, and not his own.  But that was all going to change!  Right Now in fact!  He held his head up high and donned his oh so usual cocksure grin as he cracked his neck.  

"Oh right" A though dons on him as he quickly opened up his menu. "The old man's quest" he muttered with a sagelike nod. "The Quest given to me by the old man" He paused for a moment, hovering his finger over the UI to look over the details again.  "The Old man gave me that quest so that I...could do it for him."  He glared down at his stubborn fingers that refused to press the button.   "I guess...that is as good as a place to start as any unless...oh damn look at the time!  It's almost noon!  I should get lunch first before I go out to the woods and look for those quest materials, for that quest, the one the old man gave me..."

He grimaced a bit as he stared uselessly at his feet.  To be honest, the idea of taking this leap out there terrified him, and he'd seen the monument of life.  Countless people had died to boars, okay maybe not THAT many but there were at least two!  He didn't want to make a third....

"Common Vince, it's just a fetch quest..." he slapped his face as he looked to the town outskirts.  "How hard can it be?"

Closed to Bahr

Starting Stats
 

The tavern was rather busy that night, which Vince supposed he found odd.  Not that it was busy on that night in particular, but that it was busy at all even.  He'd quickly learned that alcohol had no effect on his mind, and most people who staggered around "Drunk" were either NPCs or merely incredibly into the "Role Playing" part of VRMMMORPG.  Not that he could blame them, in a situation like this most people would seek to take to drinking, which only made it all the more sad that noone could truly drown their sorrows.  Not that Vince cared, he didn't come to the bar to get drunk, he disliked the taste of most alcohol having never acquired a taste for it IRL.  He came to the tavern for the scene's that would unfold.  

Most people had stories, their lives like little plays unfolding before anyone who would pay attention.  For example, a red-haired woman in the corner came to this one such tavern every night with a different man.  The bard in the corner was awful and could hardly carry a tune, but he still played every...Wednesday?  Was it Wednesday?  Vince could hardly trust his sense of time anymore, but that wasn't the point.  The bard only had the job because he was the barkeeper's nephew or something, he'd begged for it apparently despite the constant boos he would get every night.

And Vince?  He sat in the corner most nights, a glass of juice that was purple and smelled ever so slightly of grapes so he assumed it was grape juice.  His long blond hair brushed neatly, parting to either side of his face to leave his pale skin framed with gold.  His blue eyes scanned the crowd, darting between patrons looking for the next big story to happen.  What would tonight be? A brawl over a game of cards?  Perhaps a lover quarrel?  

No, today his eyes set upon an NPC who he'd never seen before, seemingly lost in the bottom of his cup.  He bit his lip for a moment, cracking his neck as he pondered what was happening.  Npc's in this world were incredibly complex, but they often didn't deviate their plans and schedules too drastically.  He could feel the hair raising on the back of his neck, a rather odd sensation given he KNEW it wasn't real, but yet all the same here he was, two drinks in and a raging clue.  He downed the rest of his vaguely grape drink and rose to his feet, dusting off his purple jacket and trousers before sauntering over to the bar, past the seven timing redhead, past the awful bard, and finally past the cluster of rowdy NPC's that were threatening to boil over into a fistfight over a game of cards.  They weren't today's story, this man was.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

The words cut through the noise of the crowd in just the right volume level.  Not to loud as to be shouting, but loud enough that the man wouldn't have to strain his ears to catch his words over the screeching of the bard.

"Oh dear sir, I wouldn't trouble you with this sad man's tale..."  

Vince frowned, and with a practiced ease clapped the man on the shoulder.  

"Why don't you try me?  I'm rather fond of all sorts of tales, and frankly it looks like you have the most interesting yarn to spin." He will turn to the barkeeper.  "Barkeep, next rounds on me."

And so, Vince learned his tale, of wondrous treasures being guarded by bandits, their attempts to get at the loot, and the loss of his brother.  Before Vince knew it, he had a quest marker in front of him, and a choice to make.  

Profile
Username: Vincent Cain
Real name: Vincent Cain
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Height: Six Foot Two

About: 

Son of Victor Cain and Abeline Cromwelle, Vince was born into a rather wealthy household and lived a relatively comfortable life.  His mother was a corporate lawyer who brought home the big bucks, his father owned a bookstore.  Growing up, he was constantly being held to his mother’s strict standards so he developed a taste for perfection, but inherited the same aloof humor his father tended to carry.

The end result is the paradoxical man that is Vincent Cain.  Equal parts goofball and workaholic.  Everything is done just the right way, be it his plans or his famous punchlines.  His tongue is as sharp as his wit, and he tends to crack jokes freely.  When he got trapped in SAO, he had a rather bizarre reaction to it.  Instead of seeing it as a trap, it was simply a grand opening chapter for the adventures of Vincent Cain.  

Virtues:

Studious- Vincent has spent his entire life studying in order to meet his mother’s expectations.  Because of this, not only is he smart, but he’s developed the discipline required to walk the path of a scholar.  Because of this, he will often hit the books when faced with a challenge he doesn’t have the skills for.

Kind- The Cain family has a history of being gentle and loving human beings.  Due to the nature of how he was raised, Vince tends to treat others in the same way he wished to be treated.  This isn’t something he lets be abused however, accidents in his younger years taught him how to sniff out rotten eggs.

Loyal- Once you have earned the trust and affection of Vincent Cain, it is rather hard to lose it.  He will fight to the death for you, and go out of his way in order to help you with anything you ask of him.   Those who harm an ally of Vince's will find themselves on his [censored] list. 

Flaws:

Snarky- Vincent can often come across as rude with some of his quips, especially when he perceives someone to have done something stupid or foolish.  While he might not mean to draw offense, he has a proclivity to end up doing so.  If sarcasm inflicted damage, Vince would be at the top of the DPS charts.

Vain/Proud- Inheriting his family’s good looks, Vince has a tendency to worry about his own appearance.  Furthermore, he hates failing in all regards and tends to always tackle things through the power of his own wit and discipline.  Taking shots at his looks or his skills is a quick way to earn his ire.  

Over the Top- When Vincent does things they tend to either be overplanned to the utmost precise details, or completely off the cuff.  However, they all tend to match the same broad level of scope.  Every little scheme is a bank heist waiting to happen, every bit of information he passes along turns into a lecture, every punchline delivered with flair.  He tends to be boisterous, loud, and errs on the side of obnoxious at times.  

Profession: 

Skills

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