[PP-F1] Meeting the Shopkeep <Birdie> -Completed-

[Beatbox 0]

OOC - Sorry for how lazily this post is xD had no idea how to make it :P

 

Beatbox found himself on floor 1 near the trees laying down and enjoying the scenery that Aincrad has to offer. He truly believed that this game is not worth fighting if you are stressed and fighting all the time. He had a almost saddened expression on his face as he thought about his time here and what is to happen after this game. He wore the necklace he had gotten from the Artisan Birdie as a custom order and was happy with the result of how that came out with. Beatbox still missed his old familiar, he is still rather upset that his familiar fell without him knowing not too long ago... although its not a sadness that leads to crying, it was a general being upset about it. He shook of these thoughts and close his eyes and sighed for a few moments to get some shut eye and rest for a bit.

Edited October 1, 2016 by Beatbox

[Birdie 0]

Birdie gave a disheartened sigh, "Today's just not my day, is it?" The bug-infested cottonfell to the floor as the girl discarded it, unable to make any use out of it as a material. The Artisan was on her way to becoming Rank 5 in her profession, granting her a crafting upgrade that would finally see the creation of beautiful portraits and marble sculptures, and paintings of any size she wished. Her short supply of materials sought to seize any progress the girl would make, however and with a lack of damage to efficiently farm boars for resources, she was forced to try her hand at gathering by hand.

She breezed through the forest with a spring in her step, her smile shining brighter than the midsummer's sun hanging in the sky. There wasn't so much as a care in Birdie's mind, the girl's attention focused completely on the foliage around her. That was when she heard it; weeping. "Hm?" Her voice was quiet as she kept her ears peeled, trying to locate the source of the noise.

Birdie stepped carefully, waddling stealthily through the brush as a player came into sight; a young man with blonde hair, seemingly around the same age as herself. She came to a stop at the edge of the leaves, her hands moving them apart to create a gap in the bush. Hm, he looks familiar.. more importantly, why is he crying? As she leant forwards to take a closer look the girl lost her footing, a loud snap sounding as she tripped over a stick. She fell back into the bush with a thud, the leaves rustling loudly in the wake of her toppled body. "Owh.."

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox was lost in thought for a moment, he though deeply on what is to happen in the future, not just in game... but after the game would be beaten, he couldn't take not knowing what is to happen, or if we even get out of this game all together, he didn't know and the thoughts that popped into his mind just scared him. He did not want to die in this world, he doesn't want this game to end up to be a game we as a community cant beat, and certainly he doesn't want continuous bad things to happen constantly all the time while he is here in Aincrad. He broke out of deep thought when he heard a stick snap and a girl fell over into a bush and said "Owh." being the person that Beatbox is, he went out to go help her out. He stood up and walked over to the bush and removed it from on top of her and offered her a hand "Need any help?" he then had a faint smile on his face as he offered to help her up. "I remember you... you're the artisan that made this Necklace! I still really really enjoy it!" he then said with a bright expression.

[Birdie 0]

"Ugh- just a little.." Birdie groaned as she sat upright, grabbing hold of the man's hand. With his help she managed to get herself up from the ground, flashing him a quick smile as he mentioned the necklace. She went to brush away the dirt from her clothes, and after giving a pleased sigh as she finished, the girl turned to face the blonde. "I thought I recognised you from somewhere! What was it.. Beatbox, that's your name right?" It was her turn to hold a hand out, this time for a handshake. "The pleasure's all mine! That necklace of yours was.. a hell of a learning experience to put it one way."

Looming questions still floated around in her mind, and she had no doubt the man wanted to ask her some too. Returning her arms to her sides after the handshake, Birdie spoke up and asked him the first thing on her mind. "It's a pretty beautiful day, did you come out here to catch some sun?" she asked curiously, a light smile blending into her expression.

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox giggled after his offer for help, he held her hand to help her stand back up. He gave her a smile as she dusted the dirt of her clothes "Yeah! My name is Beatbox, and your name is... Birdie if I am not mistaken?" he said as he shook her hand as she extended her arm out for the handshake. "A learning experience you say...? How so?" he asked wondering what she had meant by that. He would ask her the questions he typically asks everyone in this game but he wanted to hear what she had to say first. Beatbox put his hands in his pockets and heard to what she had to say, in response he gave her a faint smile and said "Well... not exactly. I typically relax everyday, however I was pondering about my time here in Aincrad, and was generally worrying about what is to happen after we get out of this game... well if we even get out of this game. But, its whatever I am here now and that's all that matters at the moment. What brings you around here?" he asked her. He had a concerned look on his face as he worried about this game and what is to happen after the game.

[Birdie 0]

"The one and only!" she spoke with a smile. The girl was surprised he'd asked about the crafting experience but she gave a shrug and replied "It took a while to make the pendant, I got a lot of bad items before getting the perfect one." Her expression brightened, "It helped me a lot actually, so thank you for that."

Birdie listened as Beatbox explained why he was out in Floor 1's wilderness, giving him an understanding nod. "All we can do is look out for ourselves and each other - it'll be enough to get us outta here eventually." Her eyes moved upwards as she pondered telling him about her true intentions out in the forest. Seeing as she wasn't out here doing anything suspicious, she smiled and spoke up. "Well I'm running low on materials, so I thought I'd come out here and look for some. Granted, I've found..." She brushed her fingers through the air to bring up the menu and pointed to the 'Materials' tab. '.. preeetty much nothing. And repeating the <<Earning a Living>> quest started to get a little boring.." She sighed, her eyes looking to Beatbox. "You know any good spots for materials?"

[Beatbox 0]

"Good, good! I was worried there was another player named Birdie somehow.." he said with a giggle as she spoke with a smile. He gave her a brightened expression as she had thanked him for the order "Oh, there is no need to thank me... I needed to get the pendant one way or another... and there isn't that many Artisans open or active so... thank you for being able to take my order!" he said with a smile. He listened fully to what she had to say and he returned with "Yeah... I guess that'll be enough... I just worry we are all in a game we can't beat... I guess that's my true worry..." he said with a concerned look. He then pondered in his mind about that before interrupted by Birdie about Materials, he looked at her with a saddened look and told her "I do know a location, but I don't know if it has many Materials right now... that or I am just terrible at finding materials, but its a place someone showed me and he found quite a bit there... while I found... close to none." he said with a slight giggle. "It's over here, let me show you!" he then had a faint smile on his face and he walked toward the location in which he spoke.

[Birdie 0]

Sword Art Online.. unbeatable? The possibility hadn't entered Birdie's mind, the girl always keeping too preoccupied to worry about such things. Progress on the Frontlines didn't seem to be terribly fast, and although she'd heard of the highest level players having little to no problems with clearing bosses, the difficulty curve was only going to increase.

She tried not to dwell on its, the existential dread proving too burdening to casually consider at that moment. Instead she listened to Beatbox as he confirmed a location where her search could hopefully prosper, and she gave an excited smile as she followed along behind him. "Yeah, I'd say I get pretty lucky but even still, most materials are either ruined or unusable." As she walked beside the man, they walked past tree upon tree. It felt as if they'd entered a new part of the forest, and she continued. "Thank you for this by the way, I really appreciate it. It's nice to actually explore this place a little more, the only other time I came here was during the first week of the game and uh.." She sighed. "Boars. Lot's of 'em."

Scouting the ground, she hadn't seen anything worth collecting thus far. Her eyebrows pulled down as her expression saddened. She wouldn't dwell on it for long, though and she switched her attention towards the man. "So.. Beatbox is a pretty interesting name, did you do any sort of musical stuff in the real world?"

ID# 68801
LD: 4+3 | No mats found

Edited September 28, 2016 by Birdie

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox gave her a smile as she walked next to him all the way to the location in which he spoke of "I typically just don't find any materials... or I just find really bad ones, its just my luck though." he said with a giggle. He listened to her thank him and talk about her only other time here, he giggled and replied. "I know my way around floor one, I know pretty much my way around... I typically hang out in the best places for scenery... I'm not much of a fighter or a finder, however I fight because I have to..." he said as he puts emphasis on "fight". "Ah Boars, I remember fighting them on my first days out here, I don't really fight them that much anymore... but you could say when I did fight them... that... they were "Boar"ing." he then giggled at his terrible pun. 

 

ID: 68802

LD: 2

 

He looked around trying to find any sort of good material as she spoke to him, however he didn't find anything good... like at all. He turned to her and giggled "I sure do! I play Violin, Guitar, and Piano... and of course... I Beatbox. Birdie is an interesting name yourself, do you have an interest in birds?" he said with a giggle.

Edited September 28, 2016 by Beatbox

[Birdie 0]

Birdie rolled her eyes at Beatbox's pun, and she couldn't hold in her smile at the musically inclined player's humour. Treading through the woods, she watched as the blonde's search for materials yielded no results. Guess we're both out of luck, she thought with a hushed sigh, listening intently as he spoke. Her eyes widened with jealousy as she learned he knew how to play the Piano though she wouldn't interrupt him, and she nodded as he rounded off his sentence with a question. 

"Birds are awesome! I have two pet budgies at home- or.. had. " It irked her to think back to the day they became trapped in Aincrad, but it would be the first time she'd get to tell someone her in-game name's origins. "When you booted up the game it asked you to create a username right? I thought I'd be able to make a new account after playing around a little, so instead of using my usual normal alias, I typed in the first thing came to mind. Birds outside were tweeting so, I just thought up 'Birdie' on the spot."

Something caught her eye, and she briefly diverted her attention to it... upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a ruined harvest of cotton. "So yeah, this name definitely wasn't the one I wanted to stick with but.." She shrugged, loosing an accepting smile, "it works."

She continued along the path. "That's crazy that you play all those instruments though! What genre of music did you play? You must've been like, a professional right?"

ID# 68818
LD: 9+3 | No mats found

Edited September 29, 2016 by Birdie

[Beatbox 0]

ID: 68829

LD: 19

 

Beatbox gave her a smile as she rolled her eyes at his terrible pun that he likes to make from time to time, he giggled and said "What do you not like pun's? I guess they are... un-bear-able." and laughed before shaking his head before going back to searching for some more materials. He saw a nearly perfect material and he actually really really like this one, however since Birdie is the artisan and Beatbox didn't like his profession at all he said "Here." and tossed the material over to Birdie. He listened to her whole spiel about how she got her name and he giggled and said "Well, its nice to see you have a liking in something, you should really get a bird familiar then, I think it would fit you so perfectly!" he giggled as he walked over to the path she was continuing on he went over to another location she wasn't looking in and replied with a giggle "I wouldn't say its too crazy and I am an expert at it all..." he rubbed the back of his neck "I typically play any form of music, whatever comes to my mind... oh, and I also sing, idk if that's an instrument. But its something I guess I should add." he said while still rubbing his neck. 

Edited September 29, 2016 by Beatbox

[Birdie 0]

"Do I need to roll my eyes harder this time?" She let out a laugh this time and couldn't prevent her eyes from rolling, having made it a habit by this point. She caught the material in both hands and gave it a quick inspection, her eyes widening in surprise. "Appreciated!" she thanked him, depositing the item into her inventory.

Birdie remembered her familiar as Beatbox mentioned taming a bird. "I have one, actually! She's a Frostbite Phoenix - it's sorta like an icy version of the fire birds. I love her to death but I'll be damned if she doesn't sleep a lot." A quiet laugh escaped her, and she breathed a gentle sigh.

"Duh," she exclaimed, "Of course singing is an instrument! It's like the best skill a person could have. Besides, y'know.. guitar." The girl's gaze wandered to the world around them, catching sight of a peculiar looking object within a bush. She spoke as she walked over to the material, "I wanted to be a singer when I was a little girl but uh, I don't think screaming cat sounds were in style back then."

She stood up and walked along the path once more, tailing the man as they ventured onwards. "At least you have a real-life skill that's useful in this game; lemme guess, you're a Performer right?"

ID# 68837
LD: 17+3 | 1 Material found
Total: 2 materials

Edited September 29, 2016 by Birdie

[Beatbox 0]

ID: 68838

LD: 6

 

Beatbox giggled and said to Birdie "No, but i'm just saying that puns is just how "Eye Roll"." and gave out another laugh, he eventually stopped laugh and said to himself "Oooh.. I'm so stupid..." and gave another giggle. After tossing the material to Birdie and seeing her eye widened expression he giggled and told her "It's no biggie, I have almost no need for materials at the given moment. And you do? Ohh... I would love to see it sometime! I just like phoenix's... although I have never seen one in Aincrad before." he said with a smile. He giggled again after hearing Birdie for a few moments and gave a laugh "Oh come on... you can't be that bad of a singer now. Have you tried since then? And I wouldn't say that music is entirely needed in this world, it just makes people happy at times. And... no, unfortunately I am not a performer. When I did that quest not that many people were cooks, then after things that had happened and I hid myself away from the public for a bit I noticed that there was a lot of cook's around... so... I essentially set myself up for failure on that one." he said with a giggle, he did look around for some more materials... however, he didn't find another one.

Edited September 29, 2016 by Beatbox

[Birdie 0]

"Oh, wow, I'm sorry to hear that.. I guess you could say there's more seasoned cooks out there nowadays, huh?" A light smile spread across her lips, the girl hoping to one-up him at his pun game.

She sighed, "Hm.. maybe I wouldn't be as bad as before - no, I haven't tried since." It was embarrassing to admit that she'd given up on a childhood dream simply for a lack of commitment, though she had reasons. "Honestly, there's always been other people around.. I don't think I want to risk the innocent ears of others on the off-chance I wont sound like screeching car tyres." She glanced towards him with a faint smile before looking around the ground once more, searching for any nearby items.

Picking up a small item, she smiled briefly and added it to her inventory. "I heard about them allowing people to change over a while ago, maybe they'll bring that mechanic out again sometime soon? Which profession would you switch to?" She realised there was an obvious answer though it was still worth asking.

~~~

ID#68864 | LD: 14+3 | +1 Material gained
ID#68863 | LD: 12+3 (No name entered on this roll, just wanted to include it as clarification) | No reward, I doubled roll. I suck.
Total: 3 Materials

(I double rolled on accident - it doesn't chance the outcome of the material gain but I'll list them both here anyway.)

@Beatbox

Edited September 30, 2016 by Birdie

[Beatbox 0]

ID: 68878

LD: 1 (Haha, kill me.)

 

"No... no it's okay." he listened to Birdie as she said a bad pun after Beatbox had and he let out laughing "That's a good one! But in all honesty at first the idea of become a cook felt a little cheesy in a game like this where it technically doesn't matter, but it feels "grate" to be making food." he said with a wink as he gave another bad pun. He had listened to Birdie fully as she talked about not singing since she was young and she doesn't want to try since people are always around "Really? And oh come on, you can't sound that bad Birdie! Plus I don't see anyone around here, I mean whats the worst that can happen? Ruin my hearing? I highly doubt that could happen." he said with a giggle. He went bad to look for some materials, and he thought he had found a material... but what he had found... he didn't like it so he threw it away without inspecting it at all. He listened to Birdie one more time and gave her a smile "I'm not too sure, I thought about being a Tailor myself honestly. I like designing clothing and leather armor than making food in which I don't know that many food's in the first place anyways." he said.

Edited September 30, 2016 by Beatbox

[Birdie 0]

To hear that he wanted to be a Tailor was a little surprising. She could see him having quite a pronounced fashion sense, and with his passions lining up with the profession it almost seemed like being a Tailor was perfect for him. "You have what it takes! You should look out for the next Profession switching thing, whenever that happens again.. if that happens again."

"Ruin your hearing, spook a flock of birds - only minor chaos. Maybe the sky will fall a little too.." She smirked at the exaggeration of the consequences of her singing, though they were all true - albeit incredibly dramatised -  reasons for why she was hesitant to sing in front of him.

She searched the ground - nothing. A sigh escaped her.

"Hm.. well, if you sing a little first, maybe that'll help uhm.. loosen my nerves a little.." She was looking away as she spoke, her eyes turning to Beatbox at the last moment. "What would you recommend for a new singer?"

~~~

ID# 68887
LD: 3+3 | No mats found
Total: 3 Materials found

Edited October 1, 2016 by Birdie

[Beatbox 0]

ID: 68889

LD: 16

 

Beatbox giggled after hearing Birdie encourage Beatbox into being a tailor and told her "You really think so? I have never really liked being a cook, I just never really liked it that much.." he said as he scratches the back of his head. Beatbox listened to what Birdie had to say while he was laughing while she was dramatically saying these sorts of things while he was looking for a material. He did find a material that he liked, but however just like the previous one he tossed it to Birdie. "Here. And oh come on it cant be that bad..." he said as he giggled. he got a smile on his face as she had asked him if he would sing first and for any recommendations, "I recommend to practice practice practice... work a little bit on your breathing first though... but I'll sing for ya!" he said with another giggle. He coughed and did a vocal exercise and started singing the first song that came up to mind: (he sings that)

Spoiler

 

 

Edited October 1, 2016 by Beatbox

[Birdie 0]

"Practice - got it!" The girl spoke excitedly, readying herself as Beatbox prepared to sing something. Whilst he performed a few vocal exercises, she took the time to snoop around a small bush just off the path, a smile spreading across her lips as she spotted a great material hidden beneath. With the item the man had given her moments ago that brought her grand total to five; not the biggest haul, but definitely not the smallest.

Birdie's gaze wandered to the path ahead, entranced under the euphony of Beatbox's singing voice. "Okay, I thought you were good before - oh my god your singing is amazing." Her eyes were almost wide with bewilderment, though she soon replaced it with a smile as she realised how rude it might look. "I don't think I'll really be able to live up to that.. I think I'll take some time to practice before getting back to you on the singing."

The trees around them began to thin out, making away for an open field ahead of them. She huffed, "That trail ended faster than I thought it would.. but we did find a few materials from it! Thanks for your help!" She beamed an excited smile up to him, "Hm.. tell you what, I'll practice singing in private a little and then show you when we meet up next?"

~~~

ID# 68890
LD: 14+3 | 1 Material found
Total: 5 Materials found

Edited October 1, 2016 by Birdie

[Beatbox 0]

ID: 68891

LD: 4

 

Beatbox had finished singing and looked at Birdie and giggled at her eye widened look. And listened to what Birdie had to say and was giggling the entire time "Oh come on... I'm not that great." he said with a smile. "All it takes is practice practice practice Birdie! And I understand that you want to practice first before trying to sing, just promise that you'll sing for me one day." he said with a giggle. He continued to look around for more materials yet he hadn't found any more materials, however he was rather helping out Birdie than he was himself in this situation. He looked over to Birdie and listened to her speech and replied "Yeah... it did end a little faster than I thought, and okay that sounds good! I can't wait for the next time we meet then, can't wait to hear you sing!" he said with a wink and laughed again. "Just remember that it takes practice and not everyone starts off sounding like the best singer in the world!"

Edited October 1, 2016 by Beatbox

[Birdie 0]

The notion that she needed to continually exercise her voice to achieve results was surely branded into the girl's brain by this point, and she smiled and nodded as the final mention of needing to practice passed. "Right! And if I don't sound better then, uh..." She looked at him, "well, we'll know singing's not meant for everyone."

Birdie's lips opened wide as a yawn passed through her mouth, the girl's arms stretching forwards in that same moment. "I should probably be getting back, Glacia's probably wondering where I am and squawking to the neighbours." She smiled at a thought, "Maybe we'll see each other around some time? We're both joining the Celestial Ascendants right? The guild's bound to host an event every once in a while, especially for all the new people like us."

Birdie navigated through her menus, looking for the 'Friends' tab. It was an embarrassingly short list, and she looked hopefully up to Beatbox. Sending him a friend request, she left it for him to decide whether to accept it or not. With one last friendly smile and a wave, Birdie continued along the path, making her back to Starting City.

~~~

ID# 68892
LD: 9+3 | No mats found
Total: 5 Materials found

Edited October 1, 2016 by Birdie