ChaseR

Although his initial thought was that he genuinely remembered little of it, he waited a moment with his eyes closed and then it all came together. His face soured a bit as he looked to the side and sighed, feeling miffed at the idea of being in a dungeon with the scouting party he'd failed to gather.

"I'd tried forming a party to scout the floor labyrinth. Nobody really came, except for Zandra and someone else... I don't like Zandra though. So it worked out fine enough that we didn't go anywhere.", he shared his thoughts and nodded along NIGHT's explanation, crossing his arms quietly. It didn't sound like she were too pleased they had spared the boss yet again. Seemed to be a running theme with all of these enemies. Orgoth, now this... 'king'. "You're not very happy about it.", Chase pointed out before a cough slipped through, just giving a small smile to make sure NIGHT- no, Ren- wouldn't be worrying about him again. 

Unlike NIGHT, he didn't immediately try to repeat the name, knowing he'd have butchered the pronounciation otherwise. He took a deep breath and processed it a bit before nodding with a stupid grin from one ear to another. "Nice to meet you too, Ren Jun H-... Hui.", he almost stammered but managed to keep himself from fucking up with a short stop, shaking her hand enthusiastically. 

"I think the visit will probably help. But you're right. Maybe the hot spring would help me unwind, although I feel like a wet noodle as I am.", he said and cleared his throat to prevent another coughing fit, pulling his arm back into a hug with his knees. "You seemed like you had a lot on your mind when you came in.", he tried to change the topic of the discussion a bit, his sheepish smile growing a bit smaller but still staying on his expression. He was probably going to be making use of the hot springs all too soon, they were in the same safezone as his house after all. "What's up? Is DAY alright?"

As much as he wanted to go out, he knew doing so in his current state would just get him beaten and bruised all over. It wasn't that staying inside made him feel better, but he was safer so he preferred that to a whole lot of pain and a potential accident begging to happen. "... Thank you, NIGHT. Um... It's kind of late and all, but.", the sentence was cut short as he raised his head and turned to look at her again with a small smile.

"It's Chase Cressfield. I live in America, NYC. When we get out, let's meet up...", he formally introduced himself and stretched an arm out as if for a handshake, waiting to hear her own name. If she wanted to share it, that is. She wasn't the type to share a lot of information about herself after all, so she might as well be quiet about it and not say much or even outright deny it. But this had settled it regardless, he was going to get better and make it out of the game for someone other than Lily, too. As tired as he was, he had to pull through. "I'll do my best to get better."

The boy was treating it like a cold despite it having proven not to be one, but NIGHT's focus on it just made him worry a bit more about his condition. He cleared his throat and pressed his thumb on his forehead quietly, trying to remember. His head was fuzzy though, so no real date came to mind. "A-Aah... Er... I don't know. Ever since I stopped showing up for stuff, I guess.", he grumbled and turned his head back to her, looking quietly until she asked him for masks.

"Masks? Those aren't comfortable at all... Wh-Why would I want to wear one... They look stupid on top of it all...", he muttered lowly before he shook his head again. "If it was contagious, whoever was with me would be sick too. That includes you.", Chase shared his thoughts, pulling both of his legs on the couch and hugging them with his arms before he threw his head back, resting it on the couch's back. "... Do you think our real life condition can affect our... 'characters' too?", a worrysome thought that crossed his mind as he narrowed his eyes a little, a hint of fear in his voice. Blizz himself had jumped down to between the two and was purring, until Chase's foreboding question caused him to stop and look over at the guest.

With how concerned NIGHT seemed, the smile faded off of Chase's expression immediately as he looked down almost embarrassed and nervously shook his head. "N-No, I remember everything, I was pulling your leg. The whole thing with the uh... her and the cat ears and the greatsword and tracksuits? Here, I even-", he tried explaining himself as he fumbled through his menus to his equipment page, only to stop in a coughing fit.

"... You probably noticed already. I've been... I don't know, sick.", he quietly explained once he was done, rubbing his hands together as Blizz purred softly and rubbed his round body gently on Chase's head. "I've been trying to pull myself together and power through it, but it's no good.", he explained with a deep sigh of disappointment and turned his head to the other side of the living room. His eyes were fixated on what seemed like a weapon stand with his greatsword on it, and the padding he normally put under his clothes hanging with it too. "Moving's a chore and I was hoping it'd pass sooner. You're not the same, right?"

As NIGHT asked for Chase's adress, he typed it out as best as he could. He wasn't really sure how or what to put in as he just knew where his home was by heart, from the teleporter all the way to this safezone slightly farther from the main settlement, but his instructions seemed to have been enough. He heard a knock on his door shortly after and quietly opened it up, seeing the black-haired rouge right out his door.

"Aah, NIGHT. Come in.", he greeted her and opened the door wider for her to come inside, waiting to see if anybody else was with her but it seemed not. With a sigh, he closed the door and lead her to his living room, sitting by the couch quietly and waiting until she was sat alongside him before he coughed and weaved his fingers together. He seemed somewhat more pale than usual and circles were under his eyes, as though he'd been sleep deprived. "So... Who are you?", he asked with a small smile, almost a smirk. His voice was completely clueless, and the delivery was rather serious. "You're on my friends list but I don't remember.", he completed, the smile growing a bit more.

How many days had it been since Chase last got off of bed and did anything? He didn't know, and hell if anybody else would at this point. He looked to the side and as always, Blizz was there. He'd just woken up a while earlier and was stretching, before looking at his owner. The bluehead reached a hand out and pet the pangolin, sliding down his menu quietly and coughing softly as he headed straight to the messaging menu. It didn't take long before he pulled his other hand back from petting Blizz in order to type out a message.

Quote

ChaseR: Hey, NIGHT? Can you come to my house next to the hot springs at F21? I wanna talk.
ChaseR: I'll be waiting, just knock the door when you're here.

And there the messages went, straight to who had become his duo partner whenever he wanted to clear quests, dungeon crawl or do anything with a trustworthy partner by his side. He let out a deep sigh and pulled himself out of the comfort of his warm bedsheets, picking up Blizz in the process and putting him on his shoulder. He threw his cozzy blue jacket and a uniform rather than shorts as he went downstairs, and waited quietly by the door with his eyes fixed on the knob. A small sad smile on his face, and silence took over.

@NIGHT

8 minutes ago, Ariel - The Crowned Lion said:

► Meikyo Shisui
Cost: 10 SP
Passive
Debuff: +(Player)Tier*EN to all SAs / -3 ACC [Permanent]
Effect: During combat, allows the user to store up to 3 [II] or charges of any combination.

• [II] charges may be gained by using ST-I or AoE-I.
• charges may be gained by rolling CD9+ on any SA that isn't ST-B.
• [II] charges may be used to activate either ST-II or AoE-II without their necessary preconditions, while charges may be used to activate ST-B without its necessary preconditions.

A charge is expended when used. All charges are lost upon a fight's completion. If the user already has 3 charges and gains another, their additional charge will be lost.
Example:
• On a stat bar, the three slots should be represented as such: [ - - - ]
• As the slots are filled, each slot should be indicated with the type of charge it is carrying: [ II B - ]

Description: Through training and meditation, Ariel managed to distillate her battle experience into a skill that allows her to creatively use all Sword Arts at her disposal. 

"Everything here looks about right, yup."

YOUR EVALUATION HAS BEEN APPROVED BY CHASER.

Once Lucky was done with the quest, Chase expected her to hype over everything a bit, but she seemed to slow down for a more... friendly, so to speak, approach. He looked at her with a small, soft smile and gave her a nod. "Yeah, sure thing. If you want to keep going today, I can. Just let me bring Blizz first. We can go look for... whatever fire thing you have in mind.", he offered her and grinned, opening up his friends list and sending her a request quickly.

He didn't expect things to roll around so well, but it seemed to do him good to hang around (different) people every now and then. Not to go help every newbie in sight, although that definitely wouldn't do anyone bad, but to at least stick to people after meeting them. Although, he wasn't sure if it was his fault or everybody just liked to disappear after the first few introductory quests... Maybe they got overworked and threw in the towel again after seeing they're not cut out for it... something like that. "It might do him good to see more people here and there too. I try to take him out more often, but things have been very stagnant now lately.", he continued and laughed awkwardly, trying not to dwell too much on how few, near none, adventures he'd had since defeating the Shadow.

Her compliments did make him blush, zipping his jacket a bit and just smiling once he'd stuffed his face somewhere in the upright collar. "... Thank you.", he quietly said. It wasn't every day someone complimented him despite quite literally putting his life on the line on the daily, but he definitely loved the feeling of being cheered on after doing something good. And looking back, this was beyond good, this was an actual accomplishment worthy of praise too.

By the time that he was comfortable enough and not with visibly red cheeks again, he looked over at her to see whether he could give her any more info on a flaming familiar or not, but before he even got the chance to, Zackariah was already tending to the newbie's quest progress. That made sense, honestly. And so, he watched her try to mix the materials she had just gotten, and just on the first try she managed to get a rare result. Was that beginner's luck, or did she just have a thing for crafting? He pulled both of his hands out of his pockets and clapped for her from the entrance of the store, smiling as Zackariah did too. "You did very well, quite quickly too. Now then... that's all I can teach you. Let me have the materials you picked up, youngster. I've some that would be of more use to you that I can let you keep.", the elder extended his offer along with his hand, allowing her to keep the potion she got out of it though.

23 hours ago, Macradon said:

Was poked on edits yo my CS, so here's the old one

  Reveal hidden contents

► Aerial Ace
Cost: 10 SP
Action: Free Action
Requirement: ----
Effect: Stacks with Combat Skill [Charge]. As a free action, change the player's stance from [Standard] to [Aerial]. While in [Aerial] stance, on a [Sword Art]'s execution, the following changes are applied until the start of the next turn:

• Damage is increased by (Sword Art Rank -1); Damage increased cannot dip below 0,
• Energy cost of the Sword Art performed is increased by (Sword Art Rank),
• Evasion is decreased by (Sword Art Rank),
• Mitigation is decreased by (3 * Sword Art Rank * Player's Tier).

Description: With experience comes tinkering, and with tinkering comes innovation. Through rigorous training, Macradon had found a way for him to enhance his sword arts by adding momentum to his attacks by executing them mid-air. Aerial strikes hinders his basic dexterity while airbound, but provides more than enough power in return. The Aerial Ace style always has the sword in one hand when initiating a Sword Art to aide the user in nimbleness to jump into the air, while in the air the user presumes the sword art stance and activates their Sword Art.
Created by: Macradon
Creation Details: [here]

And updating it to

  Reveal hidden contents

► Aerial Ace
Cost: 10 SP
Action: Free Action
Requirement: ----
Effect: Stacks with Combat Skill [Charge]. As a free action, change the player's stance from [Standard] to [Aerial]. While in [Aerial] stance, on a [Sword Art]'s execution, the following changes are applied until the start of the next turn:

• Damage is increased by Player's Tier.
• Energy cost of the Sword Art performed is increased by (Sword Art Rank),
• Evasion is decreased by (Sword Art Rank),
• Mitigation is decreased by (2 * Sword Art Rank * Player's Tier).

Description: With experience comes tinkering, and with tinkering comes innovation. Through rigorous training, Macradon had found a way for him to enhance his sword arts by adding momentum to his attacks by executing them mid-air. Aerial strikes hinders his basic defensive dexterity while airbound, but provides more than enough power in return. The Aerial Ace style always has the sword in one hand when initiating a Sword Art to aide the user in nimbleness to jump into the air, while in the air the user presumes the sword art stance and activates their Sword Art.
Created by: Macradon
Creation Details: [here]

 

"Everything here looks about right, yup."

YOUR EVALUATION HAS BEEN APPROVED BY CHASER.

Chase scratched his chin, certain that the previous quests used to reward damage and mitigation consumables. Maybe he just wasn't remembering correctly, but the boar ones should have gone that way... If they didn't, Kayaba definitely messed that up. By the time he could decide he just didn't remember though, the bluehead realised the elder was already holding the fishing rod firmly and preparing to get the swordfish out of the waters.

He would have handled the fishing himself, but the fisherman seemed to be ignoring him, as though he wasn't even present. That was definitely odd, as he remembered Shay having helped him cut the monster down, but he would put his hand in once the beast was out of the waters so the elder didn't have too much trouble exercising to reach it with his... "Aah, a one handed straight sword? I guess that makes sense.", he commented as kindly as he could, but it probably sounded like a comment on his age. He really just wouldn't go for the shorter alternative, but it's not like his stone-made two handed sword of choice was any better itself. After all, it was probably much easier to use and swing around, even if it couldn't block as well. With how ironclad the grandpa was though, he'd probably pick a shield to match it with- or maybe not.

"So... Try to pull it out of the water and if you do, the fight will begin. If it's giving you trouble, I'll slash it out of the way and you should have finished the quest, alright?", he tried to reassure his fellow party member and just gave a small smile, curious to see how this was going to go. Although it wasn't the same form of prepared as Chase, Marius appeared to have a slower and more well mannered, almost gentleman-like behavior of preparing himself. Slow and steady does the trick, as he remembered his own grandfather tell him. 

The size that familiars could take up was honestly very up for debate, as he himself had never seen one exceeding Chase's, certainly not by a lot if any. They tended to be around the size of a puppy, so she would be disappointed with how 'big' it could become, but such is life in the flying castle. "Mm... They get friendly as you stay with them. We could find something in the 9th Floor, probably.", he thought aloud and started heading into the Town of Beginnings again, back to where Zackariah was originally. 

"The 9th floor is like a hot, barren wasteland. But it has a lot of rock creatures and ashfoxes. There used to be a volcano somewhere around there, so you might find something around those lines. Canine or something like that.", he explained as if reading out an encyclopedia off of all he could remember from all his trips to there. And then she asked a more personal question. He knew that he didn't look too good with it, it certainly felt like it went his more small-sized and friendly aesthetic and made him look much more menacing than he was, but the fact even she could tell was worrysome. "Ah, yeah. It's been... a few months since I last had this big a sword. I always used two handeds, but it was broken. The one on my back right now is three swords combined into one. One was the broken stone one I used to hang on my hip and fought with, the other I'd found when clearing mobs further up, and the last one was the 25th Floor Boss' drop. I couldn't make anything close to this again if I tried. Once the floor boss dies, it's gone."

It should have been decided by now. Chase couldn't understand girls- specifically Lucky. "Ah? N-No, don't worry, anything that's out of house is resting. I've slept so hard the last few weeks that I feel even just sitting here is productive. You're scared of the boars anyways, for good reason. If it helps, then I'm fine with it.", he tried to comfort her and make her feel like less of a burden, because he really didn't get why she felt so insistent on blaming herself for everything.

"You apologize too much. That's why I feel tense around you, probably.", he huffed and shook his head, stretching his arms up to the sky and yawning before he tried doing the same for his neck to shake off that cramped feeling. "If I wanted to do something else, I'd be in the 22nd farming some stupid mobs or something like that. I'm here cause I want to help, trust me.", he repeated himself once more, looking back at the entrance of the town. Now to do something different for a change, he signalled her to come over with him. "Come on, let's head back. Do you know what you want for a familiar? I might know where you can find one.", he suggested as he removed his blade from the soil once again, sheathing it on his back awkwardly. After he'd gotten his stone sword upgraded and lengthened in the process, it felt so weird having it strapped to his back rather than his hip. 

The age of my grandson? Well Erebus is about twenty five now, if I recall correctly?". Ah, so he was a wimp. The very idea of Chase leaving his own grandpa to do something like quite literally go around slashing things in his stead made him shake to the very core, but he wasn't one to comment on others behaviors' when his was just barely fixed as of recent. "Uuh, thank you, thank you.", he accepted the congratulatory words from the elder, smiling awkwardly at him. The whole scenario still felt rather unrealistic, but it was happening alright.

He knew he recognised that company name somewhere, but it took him until they'd reached the fisherman to fully process it all. He hadn't figured the old man worked right next to Kayaba basically, and it hit kinda hard. Just who was this guy? All he knew was that whoever he was, he'd fallen victim to the game master's plans all the same. And that surely had to sting some more for him than it did for the blueberry. "Oh no, sure. Let's.", he turned to Marius as he broke out of his train of thought and gave him a nod, before heading closer to Larkin. "Is that two of ye I see? Normally I don't see plenty comin' in pairs, but if I've to guess it's about Dorian's dirty work, eh?", the fisherman was quick to start talking to the duo, getting a brief nod out of Chase who tried to stay quiet and let the grandpa take over for a change. It was his levelling quest after all, not blue's.

"Gah, that'll do. So, in case ye weren't aware, there's a fish out 'ere I've been trying to catch for god knows how long now. Take any potion ye want and as soon as I fish it outta the waters, make sure to give it all y'got. She'll make a beautiful meal, trust me when I say that! Any minute now, I can already tell she's nearby...", Pete slowly averted his gaze back to the waters, looking at them like a bird scanning for pray with its sharp vision. "You should take some consumable.", he advised his companion and gave him a small smile, waiting to see how he'd react to the situation.

[ChaseR hands over a Creme Brulee [RARE/TIERLESS/ACC II] to Marius.]

Ah... Safe, sound and 'fed'. Fed, huh? "W-Well, actually familiars in SAO don't need to be fed, that's mostly a vanity effect and they can sustain themselves off of no food from the minute that they're tamed, even if they can also eat food normally...", he grumbled under his breath, unsure if Lucky would hear it or not. The last thing he wanted was to be outed as a god horrible pet owner though, he really did feed it from time to time, but that was mostly to reassure himself he was doing an acceptably okay job.

"Uuuhhh left for right?"... Wh-What was that supposed to mean. The material? "Ah, uuh... Check to the left? I'm not sure, I just saw something shine and thought to tell you about it. If it's not left, check right?", he gave her some awfully specific advice, uncertain how much it really would be helping the newbie out. His mind was getting squished for ideas, what to talk about and other ways to help her, but it was really starting to come up dry no matter how hard he tried. He couldn't think of anything and even worse, he really did just stand there looking wide eyed right at her, obviously in a daze. By the time he snapped out of it, he almost lost his balance and yelped, managing to stay on his feet regardless. "Mmm... Sorry about that, I think the sleepiness is getting to me. Did you check left yet?"

There was something endearing about the way that Marius spoke, and then there was the more modern vocabulary even Chase himself wasn't used to. In a way, it made his soul crawl right up his spine and fly out of his body to the high heavens. It felt so wrong to see someone the elder's age speak like that and behave... well... more casually than he initially anticipated. Yeah, definitely that.

"Ah, good to meet you Mr. Marius. I'm ChaseR. Just Chase works.", he blurted out and shared an awkward laugh, stretching a hand out to shake his hand. "I'm Para-", hold on. He wouldn't even know what Paragon levels are, so there wasn't any point in confusing him like that. "Er... Around level 90.", he tried to put it more plainly, although this would probably create some form of confusion later down the line. "You started the game with your grandson?", he asked in a more relaxed fashion, looking around them in the safezone and letting out a small sigh (of relief). Thank goodness Marius wasn't stuck here alone, but with how wimpy his grandson sounded, maybe it wasn't that big of a difference after all. "Wait, how old is he?". That was the immediate question that came to mind when he rushed to think of the boy as a wimp. Maybe he was even younger than Chase himself, he didn't know quite yet.

And only now did he realise he was supposed to escort the man but he'd gotten sidelined by his own curiosity. Another sigh, a pinch of his nose and a few steps towards the docks as he put both of his hands in his jacket's pockets. "Over this way."

Now that she'd turned the quest in and had just a little bit more of Lyle's perfectly lovable attitude, Chase led her to the teleportation plaza and looked back to make sure she was still following along. He figured she wouldn't have used one in the past, so with a scratch of his chin he opened up his menu and looked through his inventory before closing it again. "So, this thing. You step on it, say a name, and it teleports you to that floor's settlement for free. So we can go straight to the 21st floor where my house is."

And so, he stepped on it and gestured her to come close. When she did, he just tapped her shoulder once or twice to make sure she was paying attention. "So just repeat after me. Tomoika.", he said clearly and as he did, his body was enveloped by a blue light. By the time it was gone, he was too, having disappeared from the first and reemerged from the same blue light way further up. The settlement looked like a huge, metallic city. Furnaces were left and right, and almost every step towards any direction just added to the amount of noise created by hammers swinging right down on conveyor belts keeping things moving. Dwarves and humans alike were moving coal and valuables around, and there just never seemed to be a break from action here.

In case she took too long, he thought he'd go back to the first and try helping repeat it again, but he was going to give her a moment or two. It had barely been a few seconds since he'd arrived, after all. He was just getting excited seeing the main settlement again. The crystals at the ceiling of the cave lighting it up brightly with various colours, as if sunlight was shining right through tinted glass.

Chase shook his head at her, laughing awkwardly as he rubbed the back of his neck. "W-Well, don't worry about it. I'm not a very good pet owner, so I've kinda... kept him at home for a large part since picking him up. I'm horrible at watching out for the little guy and I don't want him getting hurt. So most of the time when I'm home I'm with him, and when I go run errands he's waiting for me. I do bring him out when others have familiars too, but... I don't want him getting hurt, so~..."

In his mind, all he was doing was admitting to having neglected his (thankfully virtual) pet. If he needed constant management and caretaking, he'd have done in the poor little critter by now. Sometimes, he'd gone on trips with others that laste a day or two, a fair while just to go out there and finish a quest or so. "I've used excuses here and there. They're there and at the same time they aren't, don't overthink it.", the bluehead tried to advise her, laughing and just finishing it off with a small sigh. He noticed how quick she was to switch up attitudes, but it wasn't like she suddenly soured in on him. He understood the need to just act like nothing was wrong. It was a personality thing, but so be it, right? "Check over there. I think I see something.", he tried to put her mind back on the right track, pointing slightly further to the side near a patch of taller grass.

There wasn't anything more fitting he could do but stay silent. He looked at her quietly, as if agreeing and looking up at the clear, dusky sky. "...", silence took over the scene and he just let out a sigh, looking back down at her. Normally he'd feel cynical and make fun of the whole sappiness, but it was clear she was serious. He could resonate to an extent with her, and there wasn't much he could say other than 'me too.'. But he really didn't feel like standing around, wishing for things to happen. He'd rather go and cause everything to fall in place for himself.

"I wished for Lily to be safe. And my partner at the time that was helping me through the game to stay safe too. It's not that you just wish for it and wait for it to happen though. You gotta try as well.", he tried to cheer her up in case she was getting teary-eyed due to being too sad or feeling lonely, putting his hands on his knees as if to get back up and get the show back on the road. "You know... You can have a pet to keep you company. They're called familiars.", he thought it might cheer her up and just gently sent the idea her way. Maybe it would be a good cure for whenever he or anybody else she met and befriended couldn't be around. "I've a pangolin I found on the 4th floor with scales made out of ice. He's called Blizz, but I left him at home today. Didn't expect to take a while down here."

<<The Third Lesson>>

Just having finished cleaning his workshop up and putting everything in some form of order, Chase happened to stumble upon one of the oddest, most out there scenes possible. He was heading back to the teleport plaza to head home on the 21st, when he managed to spot what seemed like a grandpa, walking around fully armored and with a weapon on his back too. "What in the mother of..."

And here he was, thinking aloud about how to pick up the final lesson quest. He was truly speechless. One day, he'd seen a tiny gremlin of a child and began to think how out of place and wrong this was. And now, he was seeing the other extreme end of this, someone too old to be pulling the stunts SAO asked you too, right here to do exactly that. He approached him quietly and coughed to get his attention, his eyes still open wide. "You're uh. Looking for the fisherman?". He didn't have a way with words, but by god now he'd seen it all. "He's by the docks that way.", he continued and pointed towards the docks, looking at that direction to make sure it was the right one and then back at the elder. "Do you want any uh... company?". Was it because he was older? Was it because he offered to help newbies out more? Chase was more than deathly afraid of how tech savvy the old man could be, seeing as he himself barely knew how to do anything before someone grabbed him by the hand and just guided him through it all. He knew the game's cruelty to the first timers quite well.

Chase nodded along, quietly listening to her. Bar the few people he'd met here that were either actually Japanese and didn't know English so well, or just obsessed with Japanese, he hadn't ever heard about it in any detail, so it was interesting. Then again, he wasn't going there any time soon, so it wasn't making a big difference to him. "Ah... Mine's more boring. I've lived in the states since forever, and... Yeah. I've this one friend since being a kid, Lily, and she's very kind. She kept me company throughout the years because I suck at socializing. She doesn't, but she isn't very compatible with others most of the time."

With a quick glance to the side, he remembered a few brief moments with Lucy and her voice, before turning back at Lucky with a somewhat more refreshed and relaxed look on his face. "So, what's Japan like? If you wanna share. Sorry if I'm pressing much. I've never uh... asked? About someone's country before in real life. And I've been stuck in the states for my whole life, so it feels weird. Do they have that... Tabanata..? Tabanata. That event? It's like a festival, with kimownos and the potted bamboo trees? We had one here too, so I'm guessing it's Japanese..?"

As they moved slightly more to the side, the boy took his blade back out of the earth as it slowly closed back up, sheathing his weapon once again and moving further to the side with her. And then, a sudden plop with his rear before they were both sitting down on the ground next to one another. The pat felt more like a relaxed gesture than anything else, so that was relieving. "Ah, right. Sorry.", he briefly apologised before reaching his own hand out and shaking hers.

"It's ChaseR. But my name is Chase. Happy to meet you, Lucky.", he gave her a brief smile before sliding open his menu and scrolling through it quickly. Before she could even question what he was doing, he groaned and scratched the back of his head. "I didn't notice you'd gotten that many already. You need five total, so just one more. Sorry for messing it up.", he apologised yet again, starting to feel himself retreating back to his old ways. No, if he was, he'd be just correcting himself. Saying sorry for it on top of correcting his mistake isn't what he'd do, this was shyer than usual, he really did feel like he messed with her on accident. "Uuh... You're American too, right?", he dared try to ask for more 'personal' information, finding it odd. This might as well have been one of the few (if not the only one) conversations of this kind he'd had since entering the game.

Her antics didn't go noticed this time around by Chase as he only caught sight of her once she started to crawl back out of the foliage, but he heard her loud and clear. "I mean... Cardinal doesn't get in everyone's way or anyone's way... most of the time or always even. So it was probably just coincidence.", he said and crossed both of his arms, kicking some grass and scouting the fields once more. There were slightly less boars and players around, having all decided to retreat or take themselves elsewhere.

Regardless, more peace and quiet. Maybe not the best match for how little conversation was happening here, as opposed to most other newbies he'd met. "Trying again is good though. Sitting by won't do much for you or anyone.", he agreed with her with a sympathetic look, knowing exactly how she must be feeling. He'd been in that exact same spot a few months ago after all. "How is the material search going? You should need four more total, unless I missed any you picked up.", he muttered, not having kept count quite as well as he should have. If he'd paid more attention, he'd know she had picked up one more before entering the bush, but... Sigh. "Sorry if things are awkward, by the way. I thought I didn't do that anymore, but seems I still do."

Chase wanted to correct her and press a bit more on the matter, but he got a quick flashback of what happened last time he pulled this, a much more vivid one at that, and it was enough to just freeze him right in his tracks and make his heart skip a bit. He guiltily looked to the side, letting out a sigh and just nodding. "Y-Yeah. Whenever you think you can compensate, just tell me.". All he would need would be a few materials, he always ran his store cheap. No more than 3, hell, even 2 would do. But better not start asking for it again.

The bluehead did his best to just mask his guilty smile and bring the same, genuine one as before back out, looking away as soon as she went back to searching for materials. Nothing could really be said at the moment and maybe it was for the better- a breather, for him to get himself back to present day rather than around a month or so ago. "... Ahem.", he coughed dryly, trying to find some way to get her attention back as 'normally' as possible. "So... How come you thought to get started today? I mean what's different now and not... You know.", he asked and looked back at her, or where she was supposed to be at least. It was hard to pinpoint the petite gremlin figure in a leafy bush, surprisingly enough.