iris

| 6/4/21

Not that the store was properly open just yet, but there were always exceptions to the case. Masa must've dropped the stanchion rope on her way out, then forgot to attach it -- not that Iris out of the trio minded. Fate was always something she couldn't plan for.

And attempting her appraisals when the others' couldn't see it; to Iris, it was but a practice gone unnoticed. 

She savoured it.

"Over here," she signaled. A blond man with a solid build. With the new system that kicked in earlier today reassessing everyone's builds, it seemed as though he'd properly reallocated his skill points. A front-liner, perhaps? Maybe a new one, due to the updates. "I'll give it my best shot. The weapon..."

She hadn't expected the consumable alongside his proposed item. Her eyes gleamed with anticipation -- a buff, this early on in her career?

It wouldn't matter in the long run. But it was worth a shot.

Pop off the cork. Down the hatch. Her results were nothing worthy of note; it seemed as though the weapon was the real prize than her identifications. But the assortment of enhancements had managed to negate the red colours that were once on the weapon's [Damage] text.

"That looks about right," Iris commented, examining the blade over. "A good balance of DoT effects, and a paralysis to boot if you strike your targets just right."

Her eyes then met the other player's, and immediately she recalled her manners.

"Oh! Sorry--" A bit of flailing, hand waving. "I didn't catch your name. Mine's Iris. And yours...?"

Current Level: 3
Current SP: 8
Link to SP Tracking: [link]
Item Upgrades: //
Notes: just to hit my alt transfer cap. -w-)a

summary.

| col: +248,900 = [128300] + [98100] + [22500]
| exp: +2,617 = [184] + [633] + [1350] + [450]

junksales.

NIGHT's junksale | [link]
 | col: +128,300col
 | exp: +184

Bistro's junksale | [link]
 | col: +98,100
 | exp: +633

general stock purchases.
 | col: -45,000 -> [col has been sent to banker.]

junksales.

iris' junksale | [this has to be done right after the stock purchase.]
 | col: +22,500

# as title.

backroom.

backlog: requiring re-evaluation.

components.

| weapons.

| armor.

| trinkets.

mystic essences count: 7

(2/5)

(1/5)

Thread Summary

Quote

[Total]
+ 3SP
+ 1,400col
+ <<Merchant>> unlocked.

Iris straightened her back, slowing her breaths down. And the rat kid beamed back at her, motioning his instructions wordlessly with his hands. A quick swipe in a particular motion, with the window open...

With some hesitance, she brought her palm to gesture over the three unidentified items. Their enhancements spurred to life in a log by her side. [Taunt], [Paralyze]. [HP Recovery]. [Damage]. [Bleed].

But there was a star adorned under two of her revelations. Muted, faded, miniscule -- but it was there.

"They're nothing too exciting," she lied. If anything, her heart was racing and not from the mad dash earlier. There was something about her sudden gamble that lured her into wanting to know more about the two lucky figures indicated on her window, though she wasn't going to spell it out for Jean to know of her success.

Iris just wanted to know more.

"Is that so? That's too bad, I guess."

But Jean wasn't willing to call it quits there, by the way she slunk off the table. "Beginner's luck," she mused in a murmur, patting Iris' shoulder as she strode past the smaller woman. "But if that's all there is to the quest, wrap it up. We can get in contact with Masa now."

"Yes."

Jean left the vicinity, enough to slink out into the light from their darkness in a clustered shop. Iris' eyes scanned the different items at the behest of her system, before her fingers wrapped around the single item of intrigue to her.

It was but a simple cookie.

"This one, please," she mentioned to her patron. He faltered for a moment, looking as though he might've been upset, but an added shrug and a smug grin was all she needed to confirm his satisfaction with the rest of the products available for his perusal.

He gathered his things. Iris gave him a bow before stepping out of the establishment. She took a bite of the item in her hands, before meeting her partner's gaze when she approached her.

"Jean, you want some of this? It tastes pretty good."

'Didn't you pick that off the ground?' The look in Jean's eyes had said that as clear as day to Iris, but nevertheless, the woman leaned in for a piece of the cookie instead.

She chewed on it. Swallowed it down. Her gaze went back to her system menus, as Iris' teeth bit down on the spot where Jean had taken her morsel from.

"You're right," Jean commented. "Chocolate's not my thing, though. It's yours."

IDENTIFYING TIER 1 RARE WEAPON [#185943] 

ID: 185946 | LD18 | Damage
ID: 185948 | LD14 | Bleed

Jean dusted off her hands, letting the axe fade away from her hold. All that was left of the crowd was stardust. "C'mon, let's go," she added, grabbing Iris' wrist as she started to walk briskly. "We'll see how well you fare then."

"Yeah--"

And if the words got stuck in Iris' mouth, it was because of how quickly she'd been pushed to move from her leader's ushering.

A quick jog to the shop, and they were ready to begin the identification process. Not that Iris was in any shape to have done so after the run over. The scatter of items upon a wooden table was enough to earn a trusting smile from the NPC, and Jean slid herself onto its surface, crossing her legs as they dangled off the side.

Iris just stared blankly at her as she tried to catch her breath.

"Whenever you're ready," Jean reassured her.

IDENTIFYING TIER 1 RARE CONSUMABLE [#185942] 

ID: 185945 | LD11 | MITIGATION II

So she called her over with a hop and a wave.

"Hey! Over this way!"

Jean gave Iris a glance, overthrowing one of the larger boars off its hooves before charging over to her side. They were still there, trickling down her footpath, behind Jean -- but somehow, the player didn't seem fazed by their presence. "What is it?" She hollered just as the gap between them closed.

"I got what we needed. We should be able to identify them, now."

"At the shop, right? One sec."

Before Iris was able to reply with an affirmation, the warrior swung her weapon to a side, sending another swine flying with ease. Two more -- no, three, no, five? The stampede was quickly put to an end with swift movements, as though the woman hadn't planned on using any sword arts to have stalled her flow in the heat of battle.

"Ah, I'm done."

IDENTIFYING TIER 1 RARE SHIELD [#185941] 

ID: 185944 | LD5 | Taunt
ID: 185947 | LD9 | Paralyze

It wasn't because of her eyes, Iris had wanted to refute there, about the reason she was prized for her presence on the field. But she couldn't have mentioned it without distracting her accomplice, and so she worked to gather the second item instead.

One consumable. Rare. With any luck, it would be useful.

Jean worked fast to dismantle the troupe -- a two-handed battle axe was sure to cut enemies down to size. Boars in their entirety were swung out of the air, leaving the floor before shattering into crystals, sparkles dancing a multitude of pastel colours against the bright blue of the morning sky. Iris silently cheered her on with a glance, her feet taking her to another patch of dense grass on instinct.

Bingo. Her fingers found permanence on an object -- some single-handed blade to have matched her prior shield, a standard medieval weapon. And aside from her partner's decimation, there were no other threats to be found in the vicinity.

ID: 185943 | CD1 LD11 | Rare Weapon found.

"I'll be taking this then," Iris decided. With a squat, she picked it off the ground.

"Hey, be careful."

It was only when her party member mentioned it did she hear a chime, something that sounded like an audible sheen pass the side of her ears. Sharp, a noise that captured her attention; when she rose her gaze to the horizon, there were a small pack of boars already making their way across the grass en route to her location.

"Ah," she stated, catching a glimpse of something else shining in the grass. "But there's more items nearby."

So that was her hunch, then. The items were only created by the system whenever she was on such a specific quest. Jean only needed to follow her eyes to notice the oncoming storm, and instantly she bolted off for battle.

"I'll handle it," she called out to her merchant-to-be. "Just focus on gathering those things for now!"

ID: 185942 | CD12 LD17 | Rare Consumable found.

The [Gathering] keyword was the problem. After all, what sort of equipment pieces spawned out in the wild, anyway?

"Oh, look," Iris daftly stated, tone playing into comedic value. "There it is."

She didn't know how to comfort Jean of her shock. Partially because Iris was just as caught off-guard of the quest's parameters as she was of seeing a stray item strewn messily out in the middle of some grass. No random adventurer would've tossed such an item out into the wild for no reason. Iris could've taken it and sold it off when she'd gotten her quest completed, and it would net col of value to any player she passed by on the street.

The shield laid there, stunningly visible to all who passed it. And yet, it went unpicked by any other passing adventurer. Most likely because the only passerbys so far was them who'd laid their eyes upon it.

ID: 185941 | CD9 LD13 | Rare Shield found.

"Iris," Jean called out to her, cry shot over her shoulder once the warrior had unveiled her weapon in earnest. The blade's trim, upon crescent edges, caught the sunlight in a electrifying manner. Jean was a higher-tiered player, and it proved to be true in every aspect of her posture. Confidence, the sparse equipment pieces, the defined make up of her weapon's structure, a bold statement to any novice running about with standard gear. "What's it state for you?"

Iris but glanced to the side to capture a read of her list of duties. It was short, curt -- "Gather three pieces of unidentified gear from the wilderness."

"And they didn't state anything more than that, did they?"

At the shake of her head, Jean sucked on her gums. "Lame. If they'd given you markers, or something..."

Iris nodded in return. It wasn't as though getting their hands on unidentified gear was the difficult part -- anyone might've been able to trade them to her, and if the quest allowed it, that would've been all they needed.

But between the two of them alone, she couldn't help but admit that her determination was slightly off-putting.

"Alright, then," Iris returned, fingers interlocked tightly behind her figure as she trailed along. She wondered for a moment if it was Masa, driving her to their shop opening as soon as possible. "Let's get this done and over with quickly."

"Mm."

The rat-man (rat-boy?) they were meant to locate was but a stunning rendition of some stock image of a snot-nosed kid, short brown fringe and a band aid over the bridge of his nose. A missing tooth, and a hempen cloak of brown over his shoulders. Iris accepted his mission silently, save for the initiation words, and soon they had their task list to contend with for the day.

"It's this way," Jean mentioned. She lead them out of the city labyrinth, out onto the main streets and into the fields of shattered hopes and dreams.

"And I'm not sure you'd like to be clustered by boars when you weren't looking for them either," her guardian returned, fingers toying with the weapon fragment in her hands. "You could probably take them out with a little bit of luck and due time."

"Thank you," Iris returned. The breath she let out was airy, warm.

"But we want this done fast."

Jean's eyes steeled in the white morning glow, set upon the direction of their destination. The twirling of the fragment in her hand stopped with a clink, its surface clicking with one of the accessories Jean had equipped for battle. "I want this done fast," she corrected.

It was fine to Iris how Jean was always focused on the efficiency of things. In parties, it felt as though it made sense -- her actions were on behalf of a guild, a concept that she may not have meshed well with.

Down the teleporter -- there were no lifts in the complexes, and stairs were too arduous to trek down despite their seemingly invincible statuses as virtual avatars. Jean took the lead once they'd reached the city street, her eyes glancing over a system message. Iris let her gaze wander, to people watch for a few seconds. Players of many types, in beginner clothing, out in a bustle for chores.

She wondered how it might be like to be in their shoes.

"It's this way," Jean finally directed them to move, her voice calling back Iris from her drifting attention. The system menu shut with a visual snap in her eyes. "Finding the quest NPC and picking up his orders should be no big deal. It's the venturing outside of town that might be troublesome, even for you."

"I'm not some novice out in the field," Iris retorted, empty of malice. Her footsteps followed along Jean's.

"Okay," Iris decided, stepping towards the entrance of their abode. "I think I'm ready to head out now."

"Yeah, yeah..."

Iris moved first, waiting for her companion at the corridor. Though Fiero had signaled his interest to join them, it seemed as though Jean was reluctant to take him out on a walk this day. And so she listened to their minor squabble, holding the door open, patient.

Their home was an apartment; small, private, discreet. The Town of Beginnings only had a few of these complexes available for rent, and it being one of the cheaper home alternatives in the game, Jean took it over the terrible inn rooms their city provided.

So really, it should've been Jean's home, rather than theirs.

"Why not sleep at the guild hall than a private quarters?" Iris had once asked, after Masa had pried her further for personal info.

"And let people see me sleeping out in the open, in public?" Jean huffed then, just as she would now, if Iris were to ask again. "No thanks."

Masa's eyes drooped a little that conversation, Iris reflected. But they were restored with vitality once they'd changed the topic around.

"Then, shall we go?"

Iris may have been fast today, but her preparation time could never beat Jean's pace of task completion. The tiny object in her hands as the woman waved to her -- one could've mistaken it as a set of keys for their household, if only they existed in Aincrad. Iris knew better. That was where her battle axe was folded into when it wasn't in use for combat.

She looked back towards Fiero. She may have spoken to his owner, but the better question was to the feline. His brown eyes gleamed back at her when she queried him with a look alone, and he scampered off his high chair, clambering up onto Jean instead. Iris brightened into a smile as her head swiveled, watching the familiar do his thing.

"Oi-- Ouch...!"

How Jean got the cat out of all system entities as her stead, Iris wouldn't know. Fiero clung on lovingly to his owner's shoulder, eyes knitted into thin black lines in pride.

'Grand opening' indeed. A plot on the first floor was incredibly valuable, given the amount of players clustered around the region. Adding onto the idea that it was down one of the main roads of the Town of Beginnings, and they were set for making a living off their profits.

Of course, that's how it seemed on the surface. It was much better if they were able to find somewhere else that suited her degree of hospitality -- but that was what the front lines were for. And if the higher levelled players were going to hang out there more than the rabble on the first...

Iris finished her breakfast in short time. The kaya really did seem as though it was worth its weight in col. It was almost disappointing to see the little glass of nature vanish from their dining table, but the player knew she would see it again the next day, and the morning afterwards.

Not that she'd like to find out for her personal sake.

The crack of her egg's shell caught both Fiero and Jean's attention if only for a heartbeat. Iris capitalized on their alertness, peeling off the bits of eggshell that had started to crumble under her strength. "So, is she coming along today?"

Iris hadn't forgotten of the prized crown jewel that she was going to be. And neither should Jean, she reflected -- her message was only to drop the fact that she was still entirely serious about the pact that they'd agreed to. Jean raised a brow at her question, swallowing a bite down to answer clearly. "She?"

"Masa," Iris clarified.

"Ah." The woman dipped her half-eaten toast into her own egg, coating it in golden and white as she went back to her reading. "Not that I'm aware of. She's busy enough as it is with our absence. I doubt she'll show up until the store's grand opening."