SuzuNa

placeholder notes:

- flinch and frown at the lightbang tyvm for that warning my dude
- disoriented and struggles to spot any of the materials while looking around bc she can't tell the difference between light particles and the ui sparkles
- ask about his broken sword thing

She stiffened at Yona's outburst, heat creeping up her neck and reddening her ears. Sure, her life was on the line, but death was nothing in the face of her stubbornness. "I was just caught off guard! I've got this!"

The boar snorted, kicking up dust with its forepaws. It charged in a straight path, head poised for ramming. 

SuzuNa sucked in a deep breath through gritted teeth, dropping her weight closer to the ground and narrowing her eyes. It was time to show she was more than just talk. She shifted her arms, hitting the sweet point of her movement. The recently-familiar feeling of power surged through her. She released her breath in a hiss and simultaneously released the power with a strong sweep of her arm, claws raking through the air.

The boar squealed as the tips of the claws tore through it, leaving no evidence except for the swiftly dwindling bar floating above its head going from green to red. Its trajectory swerved sharply, sailing a good meter past SuzuNa. The boar stumbled to a stop and turned, huffing and snorting.

It wasn't dead yet, but that didn't stop SuzuNa's proud huff of laughter. "See? No problem. So. Focus on your quest." She readied herself again.

@Yona

Watching Yona's sword skills versus a living, moving target was entirely different from watching those same elegant strikes against an immobile tree. SuzuNa was quiet, taking mental notes of every step - from Yona's careful approach to the hoard, luring a tiny boar away from the group, to the strong swing cutting diagonally across the boar and ending its life.

As Yona looked through some UI, inspecting the drops, SuzuNa approached. "Didn't you need those for your appraising quest?" She scratched the back of her head. "This learning experience has been more than enough for me. But, if there's something you don't want… then I won't say no, you know?" It wasn't like she particularly needed or craved new things, but she'd never say no to (relatively) free stuff.

Once that was sorted, SuzuNa directed her attention to the horde of boars again. They were milling around the general area, not too far from where they'd first spotted them. "I guess it's my turn to try?" She approached the horde, recalling Yona's process.

With each careful step, she'd stop and inspect the horde. No reaction? Then she'd inch forward again. Over and over until finally one of the boars on the fringe of the hoard snorted, head shooting up and body shuffling to face her. SuzuNa swallowed, eyes darting to the other boars even as she stepped back, luring the single boar out. None of the other boars followed the lone hog ranger. Good. 

But just like the difference between seeing Yona's skills on a tree and a living being, it was a different experience as a combatant. There was no time to get into the right position, to restart her movements when she jerked too strongly. "Oof!" SuzuNa choked as the boar rammed into her, knocking the wind out of her. She stumbled back several steps as the boar reared back, preparing for another round. "D-Don't worry! Focus on your quest, and I'll… handle this." She'd try, at least.

@Yona

She'd lucked out on this person. He looked fit to play the role of Prince Charming, and acted like one too. "Logging out? That's easy. Just pull up your menu, it's the button at the bottom."

She stared at him, hesitant. "And… where's the menu?"

He chuckled, then held up his hand. "Like this." With his pointer finger and middle finger together, he reached out and dragged through the air. A series of translucent boxes and circles appeared in front of him.

She nodded and mimicked him, reaching out with scrunched brows, and flicking her fingers. Sure enough, the 'menu' bubbled into existence, staring back at her. Just as instructed, she pressed the bottom-most button… but she was still in the game. Instead, another menu opened, showing an odd graphic. "This is the one, right?" She frowned at it, pressing it again. The odd graphic disappeared. "It's not working."

Prince Charming had been looking elsewhere as she puzzled things out, about ready to leave now that his good deed was done. There was a tinge of irritation in his voice as he repeated, "It's the button at the bottom." He re-opened his menu with a flick of his wrist and dragged his finger to the lowest button. His finger jerked to a stop just over the icon. His brow furrowed. "That's… it was here earlier?"

She glared at the menu, willing the logout button to appear. It did not. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "Well, they can't just… not let us logout, right?" Right?

He scanned through the menus, distracted. "Of course not. Just… one second. I'm trying to reach a GM." His brows were knitted together and his lips pressed into a tight grimace.

A GM? She figured it was best not to bother him with even more questions. He'd been kind enough, but the gentle facade he'd been wearing had quickly dissolved in the face of this oddity.

After a stretch of silence between them, his frown deepened. "I can't reach them."

She didn't have to ask what that meant. His tone said it all. It meant nothing good, at the least. "But… I really have to go…" Her eyes darted to the digital clock in the corner. It was long past 15:45 now. She was, quite frankly, surprised she hadn't been abruptly torn away from the experience.

The man helping her smiled apologetically. "I'll keep trying to contact one, but…" He shrugged. "If you want, you can join me until we hear back. I wanted to test the combat system."

She grimaced, shaking her head. "I've bothered you enough as is. It's fine. I'll just wait, I think." She scratched the back of her head and offered an awkward smile. "Have fun, though."

He grinned. "Thanks. I will. And take care! I'll see you around!"

She waved until he was gone, knowing that he wouldn't be seeing her ever again once that logout button came back.

She nodded along as Yona explained everything to her with surprising detail and care. Maybe when she was alone, she'd do some experiments, trying things with and without her equipment to experience the differences. But for now… the concepts made enough sense. Sort of. She'd asked more than enough questions, talking more than she usually did, and she'd rather get to the practical demonstrations than any more discussion.

She watched Yona's movements with narrowed eyes, carefully noting each detail. The shift of her feet, the slight pause at the height of her movement before the sword started to glow, and then rapid, swift movement that made Yona look like a professional fighter rather than just some girl.

Then it was her turn. "So… random movements won't help." She muttered to herself as she walked up to the tree. She gently drew the tips of her claws against it, then drew back and gave a full slash. Her movement was clunky, heavy and clumsy, leaving just the beginnings of some grooves in the wood. With her baseline established, she shifted again.

It was a difficult sensation to describe. An almost electric crackle ran through her limbs, urging them into a single movement. Her body leapt forward, claws raking diagonally through bark like a hot knife through butter. "Whoa." That… was a dizzying experience. "So, just like that…" She took a step back, trying to do it again. It took a couple tries to recreate the movement properly, but after a while, she was certain she could get it to activate more times than not.

She beamed, admiring the numerous grooves in the tree and then the claws that made them. Her cheerful gaze shifted to Yona and her joy stepped on the brakes. "Oh. Shit, sorry. We were meant to be… your quest…" She cleared her throat and hurried back to Yona's side, sheepish. "Let's go do that."

@Yona

She nodded, the puzzle pieces of information clicking together in her mind. She'd spent all this time slaving away in the town, certain she was too weak to do anything in this game-like world, unable to comprehend it. But… if she worked hard enough, she could catch up. She could live, possibly thrive, instead of just rotting away. Her lips settled on a firm smile as she rolled her shoulders back, looking up at the sky for a brief moment. She'd spent so long, feeling alien in this world, but it didn't have to be that way. She wouldn't let it be.

At his reassurance, she started looking around again. Another plant, similar to the one pinched between her fingers, sparkled not too far from them. She trotted over to it, a slight spring in her steps. She carefully grabbed the plant as close to its roots and—

She jerked, tearing the plant in half as ChaseR called. "Wha? Oh. Hm." She gave the torn plant a disappointed glance, rolling it between her fingers. A greenish sap oozed out from within, crawling to her fingers. With a grimace, she tossed the useless piece to the ground, then turned back to ChaseR. "That sounds good. Always learned best from demonstration." She made her way to him, looking up at the same hill as him and squinting. She could sort of make out a couple silhouettes in the distance, but what they were exactly remained unclear. "Just… don't tear up the materials around too badly." She was already doing a good enough job of that herself, apparently.

She cleared her throat, gaze pointedly dodging Yona as she followed her instructions. She flicked a hand out, index and middle finger together, and dragged down through the air—she'd practiced this motion over and over in the inn the night before, to the point it was almost natural. Any ease she had stopped once the menu was actually open. She scanned the UI with squinting eyes, and poked at icons with a single finger, like an elderly person stabbing away at a keyboard.

Once her equipment tab was open, SuzuNa looked up, taking a deep breath. She wasn't really able to navigate the UI and do anything else at the same time. "These enhancements… Do I gotta do anything for them to work?"

After an answer, she'd scan the equipment. "Let's see… Trinket with Loot Die… Armor with Light Momentum and… Evasion! And Claws with Accuracy and Damage." Well, she at least knew three out of the five enhancements now. She waited patiently for Yona to explain the two other ones.

@Yona

It had taken her ages to figure out how to open the menu for logging out.

An embarrassingly long time had been spent whispering various commands. "Logout! Exit! Abort! Leave!!" She'd lost track of how many variations she'd come up with. When that proved to be a futile exercise, she moved further away from the large mass of people and trying to shout it a bit louder, as if maybe the system couldn't hear her and would obey her if she was just loud enough.

By the end of it all, she'd been standing in the middle of a large, open field. Grass stretched as far as the eye could see. There was, thankfully, not a single person in sight (though there were plenty of boars who apparently weren't bothered by the screaming lunatic). If this had been the real world, her throat would be hurting from all her screaming… but it felt fine. The only thing hurting was her pride. She grunted, "This isn't working."

She focused on the clock in the corner of her vision. 14:58. She didn't have much time to spare. Akihiko would be home by 15:45 if he's rushing; and she was almost certain he would be rushing, given how excited he had been the last few days. If she wasn't able to get out by then… She could only imagine the scolding she'd get.

She grit her teeth. It was time to swallow her pride. So what if others reacted like that little girl? She'd just have to ask another person. She could still see the city, its grand silhouette stark against the blue sky.

With a heavy heart and even heavier feet, she stomped back to civilization.

SuzuNa whistled, brows arched to her hairline. "You've done your research." That was the result of actual effort and research, right? She wasn't exposing how utterly lost she was by being impressed? Still, no matter how lost she'd been before, that explanation had at least helped her understand a little bit more.

But once Yona got planning the nitty gritty? She was lost again. "Wait." Mitigation? Evasion? Tank? Aggro? So many words she couldn't even begin to try to comprehend. "You're saying I don't gotta be actually physically dodging the 'enemies' and stuff? Our armor just does it for us?" She frowned down at her… minimalist… armor, and pinched the black skirt between her fingers. "What's my armor got?" Maybe nothing? Maybe that's why she got it for free?

"But, if my armor can help me do things... then can my weapon do that too?" Because that sounded really, really convenient. If she didn't need to actually know how to fight, then maybe she stood a chance in a world like this?

@Yona

She was prepared for the invite box this time and accepted it after only a moment's delay. Smooth and casual. Her lips twitched, restraining a grin as she eyed the new information popping up in the corner. It was a new feeling, being excited about all of this instead of disgruntled and confused. It was the small victories in life.

"I'm level one, too." Her brows furrowed as she faltered to a stop. "But… you saying 'keep us alive' like we walking right into danger. What kind of dangerous profession you trying to get into?" Was that just the reality of this world, where trying to do anything of substance meant putting yourself in harm's way? She frowned and glanced at the city gates looming not too far from them, then back at Yona. "Not that I'll back out or nothing. Just, y'know how it is. I wanna know what I'm dealing with." And what profession to avoid.

Once they'd crossed the safe zone threshold, she took a few long moments to navigate through the UI and equip her claws. She'd had the armor and trinket on the entire time, but had warily avoided bringing out the weapons in town. It felt wrong. Not that it felt any less wrong to bear weapons out here, but the threat of dying did a pretty good job of clamping that uneasy feeling.

"So, what's the plan?"

@Yona

She noticed the roads first, paved with large stone. As she looked around the grand, circular plaza, she found her gaze never strayed too far from the impressive domed structure. She took a few steps towards it before her path was blocked by several colorful squares, which soon transformed into a person. "Ah—" The person darted past her, his shoulder crashing into hers, waving and shouting at a group of friends across the plaza.

She rubbed her shoulder, staring at it curiously. It hadn't hurt, but she'd definitely felt that contact. She reached out to one of the many stone pillars encircling the plaza. Smooth, a bit cold to the touch.

She didn't meant to stay too long, but she couldn't help the curiosity urging her onwards. She followed the stone road through more of the grand city, admiring the unique buildings. Every noise had her head turning this way and that, and every time she brushed against one of the many players milling around, she shivered. It was amazing how real everything felt - to the point of bordering creepy.

Men and women called out, waving people over to their stalls. The merchant she approached wore a bandana over their head and presented an assortment of vials. "These potions will save your life!" he shouted at each passerby. As SuzuNa approached, he grinned, waving at his collection. "Like what you see?"

She smiled awkwardly. "What's a potion?" she crouched to look closer at the vial. This thing was it, right?

The man ignored her. "That'll be 20 col!"

She frowned. "Col…? Anyways, I don't buy nothin' I don't know about. What's a—"

He'd already turned away, shouting at another passerby and beckoning them over. "These potions will save your life!"

She grit her teeth and sighed. Fine. Guess he didn't care too much about customer service. Then he could just not have a customer. "Take care, then." She wasn't too surprised to find her parting words ignored too… though the abrupt giggles behind her threw her off.

"Did you hear that? She's saying bye to an NPC. Cute."

She looked around for the source, but there were too many people. She grimaced. That was about her, right? The timing was too precise to be anything else. 'But… what's an NPC?' She took a deep breath and looked around. Not too far from her was a younger looking girl, hair pulled into buns. Their attire looked much like her own, though with different colors. "Excuse me!" She sped-walk over, waving as the girl turned. "Hi. Do you know what an NPC is?"

The young girl scoffed. "What? You don't even know that? How'd a fucking idiot like you even get a game like this?"

She gaped. "I—sorry, what?! What kind of… w-what's a kid like you doing, talking like that? Where are your manners?!"

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Kid? Fuck you! I bet I'm older than you!" She laughed as SuzuNa's brows scrunched together. "Anyways. Get outta here. Why the heck would you take one of them if you don't even know this sorta stuff? Go give your copy to someone that'll actually enjoy it." Before SuzuNa could get another word in, the little girl was leaving, jogging towards a person in the distance.

She stared, flushed and flabbergasted. It took someone shoving past her, chiding her for standing in the middle of the street, to snap out of things and scurry into one of the shadowed alleys. "The girl's right. This sorta thing isn't for me." She sighed.

She reached for the helmet to remove it, but only felt her hair. "Uhhh." She frowned at the wall in front of her. How exactly was she supposed to leave again?

[Official Launch Date of Sword Art Online]

Natsume closed her eyes.

Her feverish head pounded. The helmet was stuffy, far too tight on her. Made sense. It had been fitted for a kid after all. She hadn't wanted to adjust it too much, or it'd be hard to get back to the right settings when everyone came home in a few hours. Not that she planned to play for that long. Just a quick glimpse, in and out. See what the big fuss was about. Nothing wrong with that, right?

But as light and color bloomed all around her, the pressure around her temple disappeared, as if her senses were being overwritten. She was no longer in a too-small chair with a too-small helmet, curled over Akihiko's desk. Now she was floating, unbeholden to gravity. The colors melded together into a reflection of herself, along with several boxes prompting her to… change something? Natsume frowned, scanning her surroundings until she found a box labeled 'continue'. Great! She didn't want to waste time here. She pressed it.

'Character registration. Input character name.'

She frowned. She knew enough about internet safety to not use her full name… but what else could she go by? Suzuki was a common enough last name, right? She typed it in.

'Character name Suzuki already taken.'

Weren't there only 10,000 copies? And somebody had already taken that name?! She sighed. Apparently, it was too common a last name. "Well... Alright then." She erased the last character, replacing it with the first from her first name.

'Creating character SuzuNa.'

SuzuNa watched the glory that was Yona speaking, always expecting a breath and being surprised by yet another word. As the other took a breath, SuzuNa made the mistake of assuming that a question meant she should speak. "Sure—" It was not meant for her to speak. She pursed her lips and leaned back as Yona continued. After Yona's apology, she waited a moment to respond, just in case there was anything else. No? Alright. "Much 'ppreciated. All's forgiven. And sorry, for not watchin' around me."

She rubbed her neck as Yona barrelled straight on with her explanations, this time about her overall situation. A profession, huh? That sounded... smart. Maybe she should get one too, if it was more profitable than running around just doing tasks for people. She grimaced at Yona's blatant questioning. "Ah, yeah. This one's my first." Not just her first VR game, but her first game in general. Not that Yona needed to know.

"So, ya mentioned maybe havin' an ally around. I can do that." She'd gotten new equipment, as recommended, and had a vague idea how to use them if any trouble came up now. "We just need to be in a 'party', right?" She frowned, scanning through her UI. When ChaseR had done it, he'd been so swift about it all that she'd missed the exact steps. She cleared her throat. "Just invite me and I'll accept." She could do that much, at least.

@Yona

SuzuNa had been strolling through the streets, most of her vision blocked by large boxes of floating UI. She'd spent far too much time burying her head in the sand, ignoring her problems instead of trying to adapt to this 'game' world. So she was playing catch up to everyone else. But that was fine. She wasn't in a rush for the frontlines, just… anywhere away from the stagnant position she'd maintained for so long. She muttered to herself as she scanned another vibrant box. A button, somewhat familiar, caught her eye. She squinted as she reached for it. "So this button opens the—"

A stranger's voice interrupted her, far too close to her ears to be shouting that loudly.

SuzuNa flinched, hands flailing through the UI in front of her. A button opened another box, and then another, and soon her already cluttered vision was near impossible to see through. "Just—one second, sorry! Wait!" She frantically pressed at the 'x's in the corners of each box until, finally, she could see her close collision… and the hand they were sticking out.

She instinctively took the hand, giving it a firm shake despite the clear confusion on her face. "Uh, sure. Yona. Nice to meet ya. I'm..."—Did people go by their real names or their usernames here? She'd forgotten to ask ChaseR what the norm was—"SuzuNa?" Nothing like sounding uncertain about who you are while introducing yourself to sound completely normal. "Anyways, sorry 'bout that."

"Wait." Her face scrunched as the rest of the incident catching up to her busy brain. "Why am I the one apologizin' here? You the one runnin' near head-first into folk." She stared expectantly at Yona.

-----

Stats:

@Yona

She's not sure what to do when another box covers her vision. 'Invited to ChaseR's party. Accept / Decline.' It takes her a moment to notice the countdown. Ticking away. 5... 4... Leaving no time for questions or decisions. 3... 2... Panic sends her hand sailing through the accept button, and more stuff pops up in the corner of her vision. Great. Lovely.

She follows helplessly after ChaseR—she assumes that's his name, at least—as he leads her through the open field, more worried about other invasive boxes than she is of wild monsters attacking her… for now.

At least he has a good head on his shoulders, reminding her about the 'quest'. She shakes herself out of her worries. "Right. Gotta focus." She takes a deep breath and looks around, just as instructed. Sure enough, among the tall grass stalks, a weed-like plant sparkles. "Hey! Found one! Just like ya said!" She sneaks closer to it as if approaching a frightened stray, then carefully tugs it free from the earth. And just like that, she'd done it! Not bad!

She stands back up. She'd only been half-listening as he chattered away, most of her focus on not tearing the plant. But she sort of gets the gist of it. Maybe. "So what you sayin' is, the more I experience, the more 'levels' I get? An' the more levels, the stronger I am?" That… sort of made sense? If she squinted hard enough. It made more sense than it did before, at least. Maybe it would be good to have someone clarify things.

She frowns as she looks at him. "I… don't like bein' a bother to people, or owin' favors, or nothin'. So… You'd best be figurin' out how I can pay ya back."

She clears her throat and rolls back her shoulders. She'd rather focus her attentions on the job at hand. "So, uh, did ya hear if the old man said anythin' about how many of these I need?" She only remembers the very helpful amount of 'some'. "Maybe I shoulda brought a basket…"

She's not a fan of his reaction—the initial shock (of what, her being so clueless? So dumb?) sends her reeling into her shell, head retreating into her raised shoulders. And that odd box, similar to the other ones she's seen and adamantly ignored… well, now she can't ignore it. She squints at the letters. Right there. Level. And even 'Paragon Level' beside it. Now she's even more confused. She doesn't like being confused.

Her suspicious glare flits to his face as he beams, lips pursed into a frown. She waits for the laughter and the chiding, the childish mockings about her being a robot or something.

But the laughter she does hear is not what she expects. Rather than malice, it's… relief? Maybe? Her face shifts from narrowed irritation to flustered confusion, frown falling into a slight gape. "You too? But you're…"—she searches for the words, tentative—"'... 'high level'." Is this some roundabout way of trying to garner favor with her? Pretending to be in the same boat? She can't sense any of that from him, but she can't imagine anyone else being stuck in the same ridiculous situation.

She can't help the huff of a laugh that escapes her at his final words. "Weird don't even begin to cover it."

She hasn’t gotten too far before the message flashes in front of her… but any distance trekked through the frigid frosty forest is an excruciating distance for SuzuNa. The cold doesn't just nip, it tears savagely through her bones, freezing her to her core. She grits her teeth and looks back to the store, trying to spy the owner. But the lights are still off and the snow undisturbed, except for where SuzuNa had been.

Huh.

SuzuNa drags herself back to the storefront. Sure enough, there laid a package and… her bag of materials? She frowns, picking up the package and the sack. She doesn't like owing favors, but there's scarcely anyone around to pester about it, now is there? "Well… Thank ya!" she calls to the wind. Maybe the owner would hear her. She shivers as another gust of cold wind brushes against her. Right. No need to stick around any longer.

It's only when she gets back to the tavern of Floor 1 and tries out her latest acquisition that she realizes just how… revealing it is. "Can you even call this armor?!"

[Soldier Uniform - Power added to inventory!]

Hi! I've been around the Discord for a bit but I always like livening things up here too!

I'm Izzy, playing SuzuNa. I tend towards playing female characters because I don't have the balls to play males. Hehe. Get it?

In regards to who I am...

• I like puns and just general lame humor. Where do you go to give a sheep a haircut? The baa-baa shop!
• I have two cats I adore to the moon and back.
  Zorro, as in the swordsman, is my 7 month kitten and Inu, as in dog in Japanese, is my 3.5 year cat.
• I like to draw sometimes, but my muse is as fickle as my cats desire to cuddle.
• I have dipped in and out of gacha hell and my current fascination is with Alchemy Stars. I don't have enough brain to play more than one gacha tho.

Her head jerks up, eyes flitting to the new arrival. A man. The one lingering around in the store, even. "New?" Her ears burn red as he offers help, calling her 'new', even. Apparently even strangers could immediately recognise that she couldn't handle this on her own.

She chews her bottom lip, shoving down the irritation itching in the back of her mind. She's not a damsel in distress needing no help. She takes a deep breath through her nose. "Ain't no need to do that,"—she straightens to her full height and avoids his gaze—"but I ain't stoppin' ya if ya decide to follow."

She clears her throat and leads the way towards one of the far walls of the city boundary, pausing at the end of the alley and looking expectantly at him. Only after she's confirmed he's following does she continue.

For all her grief about being helped, it is comforting to know there's someone stronger around to accompany her to the wilds beyond. But… "Y'said… high level, right?" She peers closely at him, brows furrowing. "Now, uh, what exactly does that mean again?"

@ChaseR

It's funny how quickly time passes by when you settle into routine. If anyone asked her how long it had been since she'd been unceremoniously trapped into a video game, she wouldn't have an answer. Years, maybe? Or only months? Hard to say. She'd decided early on not to worry about those things and just… busy herself, working hard within the limits of this oddly realistic city, avoiding the floating symbols and boxes that sometimes obscured her vision. She liked the busy work.

So when Dorian stops her, handing off some busy work, she's not too bothered. She just smiles at him, nodding. "Got it, boss. Find the money, get the money, and don't let nobody know 'bout the money."

Her smile twitches, diving for a frown, when the box appears. 'Quest <<The First Lesson> accepted. Quest line <<The First Few Lessons>> started.' Alright then, whatever that means.

Dorian nods and direct her along to Zackariah, the alchemist.

So off she goes, trekking through the town until she finds his shop, and ducks in. "Hi!" she calls as she enters, eyes darting around to the various colorful liquids, the snow-bearded man and his bubbling liquids, and… another person, in the corner of the store. She falters in her steps, eyes landing on him for a moment too long, then shakes her head and turns back to Zackariah as he starts talking at her.

She can scarcely get a word to explain herself when he's already asking her to help again. She swallows. "Outside the city walls?" She can't help the slight tremble of her voice. She'd done her best to stay well within the city, having overheard people talking about the monsters outside the so called 'safe zone'. This is a little outside her comfort zone. But… better a young spritely woman do the gathering than an old man like him, right? "… Alright."

She turns and walks right out the door, walking mechanically to an alley out of the way of the street and the store windows, where she promptly sinks into a squat with her head in her hands. She groans. "I'll need… protection, right? Stuff. But where do I even begin…"

Quest Details for <<The First Lesson>>

@ChaseR

SuzuNa stares at the door, shivering in the cold. 'Go Away'. Not the friendliest of signs, in an already unfriendly area. But she'd asked around for the best place to get some protection and had been pointed this way, and she wasn't leaving without at least trying. She pulls out a pen and paper, and scribbles away.

'To Setsuna of Frozen Tapestry
Requesting: The best lightweight armor you can make for a beginner. Materials outside. Tell me if you need more. Will come again in a week if I don't hear back.
- SuzuNa, of Floor 1, Beginner Town.'

She slides the note under the door, then builds a small hole next to the building. In it, she tucks a small sack of materials. When she's done, she raps her knuckles against the wooden door. Hopefully, no one steals her payment. That would… suck.

She's not sure what it is that makes her stop. She'd gotten her first orders in already, armor and weapon – the only things she really needed, right? But something about this store, tucked away in an obscure alley, catches her attention. Her eyes dart briefly to the bell atop the door as it jingles, announcing her. So much for just checking it out and leaving without catching anyone's attention.

The woman's voice cements it. "Is there anything you're looking for?"

She grimaces, eyes darting to the end of the stairs and spotting the woman there. "Ah, hey there." She clears her throat and makes her way down the stairs. She's not so rude as to walk right out after being noticed. "I need things to help me out… there." She gestures vaguely. The big bad outdoors.

Under the woman's sharp gaze, she mechanically marches to a shelf where a cloth pouch perches, and picks it up.

She wasn't fond of just spending money for gimmicks… but if it gets her out, then that's more than worth it. "Right. Thanks. Bye." She slides over the materials, and absconds as fast as her feet can take her.

Blazing Typhoon. It was a bit pricy for her, a woman who'd live more like a simple NPC villager since the entrapment… but if she was going to risk her neck against monsters, she wanted to do it with good tools keeping her safe. And from the look of the stuff on display, he made some good stuff. Nothing quite what she was looking for, though.

"'ello?"

She put down the hefty burlap sack she'd been carrying, grimacing as it slipped from her tired grasp moments away from the ground. Even a short drop sounded crazy loud, ringing in her ears. She cleared her throat.

"I'm lookin' for some good claws. Looks don't matter much so long as it keeps me well and safe. Now, I've some materials, but no skill to make nothin' from them. Any chance you're up for an exchange?"

"How much would somethin' like this run me?" She glances down at her bag of materials, running through the numbers. "I've somethin' round 25 materials, I think."

[[Edited to add, transferring 6 materials!]]

@Macradon