[PP-F1-NK] Previously on SAO

[Ryees 0]

The day one marketplace of any MMO would always be a sight to behold. Players scurrying everywhere with Day One Loot™ that they claimed was a rare drop, and the occasional lucky player who actually had a piece of unique or legendary gear drop from a mob and now wanted to sell it at an astronomically high price of money that no one had yet.

Altimeda had a mind to get used to these markets early and visit them often, and it was with this motivation that he had led Aurora through the game world to the bustling square just outside of the main city plaza. He had explained that no matter how hard and fast they hit the grind, there was so much competition on day one that trying to accomplish any real leveling would be impossible. Fields would be overpopulated to their maximum capacity, instances would be crowded, and you would have to race for every kill on every mob for meager experience gains. It would be much more prudent to work the marketplace early and get to a town farther from the main hub to begin their grind.

Searching through the initial haul from the first few hours of question did not yield much in terms of surprise or product; it looked to be all common materials and standard pickups from the fields around, mostly sold in bulk to take the edge off material gathering for early crafting. It was easy to move on from those stalls without taking a second glance.

Idly browsing wares, the couple became aware of a strange sensation; the ground beneath them was glowing bright white, and a light was coalescing up around them. Altimeda's mind riffled through the possibilities; he quickly assumed that this town was a safe zone, so they should not have been in danger, and as such, he looked around. The same phenomenon could be seen on every player character within sight, and it was not long before that light engulfed them.

They were deposited in the middle of a town square with a large number of other confused-looking players, everyone peering around and asking questions. A single blinking hex flickered on and off in the sky, drawing the eyes of many. Seconds later, that hex was joined by dozens, then hundreds more, spider-webbing across the sky to form a dome of eerie, red "WARNING" signs. Signs that, shortly thereafter, started oozing a viscous red liquid that dripped down from the sky. Altimeda's hand rested comfortably on the sword hilt at his hip, ready to draw it on a hair-trigger but refraining for now. After a minute, that liquid had coalesced into a cloaked form; undoubtedly, it was a Game Master. 

"Attention players. Welcome to my world." The voice rang out with ominous reverberation, filling the large space of the square easily. The recognition in Altimeda's mind was instantaneous, and it was followed by swift confirmation. "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the one and only person who can control this world. I'm sure you've all already noticed that the logout button on the main menu has been removed." Altimeda was surprised at that, and flicking open his menu, found it to be true. He had settled in for the long haul on this first run; it had never even occurred to him to find the quit button.

"However, this is by no means a mistake. I repeat... It is not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online. You are all unable to log out of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove the NerveGear or interrupt its operation." Kayaba paused, beginning to bring up holo-menus as he spoke. An uneasy pit was beginning to form in Altimeda's stomach. "Should it be attempted, a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the NerveGear will destroy your brain, thus ending your life. Unfortunately, it's certainly possible that a player's family or friends would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the NerveGear. As proof of this, 213 players have retired from both this world and the real one."

It took a moment for Altimeda to realize that the world was not flashing; he was blinking, repeatedly and confusedly, recognition trickling into his brain slower to him than chilled molasses.

The holo-screens started floating about the cloaked man in circles, displaying news feeds from around the world reading, "Online game sees trouble at launch," and similar, grossly understated messages. "As you can see, news of my warning and the numerous victims are being spread worldwide. Thus, it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal. I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game." By now, thoughts were flying through the up-and-coming swordsman's mind at frightening velocities. It was almost cruel, the way the apparition spoke, as if trying to comfort them and provide solace immediately after notifying them that they were all trapped here. Realistically, it would be a shorter period for someone on the outside to find a hardware workaround for the game than it would for them to clear all 100 floors of Aincrad. He supposed he should be reeling, but his panic response had never been one of fear, instead immediately moving into preparation and analysis.

Kayaba paused, closing the menus and folding his hands within the billowing sleeves of his red cloak. "But I'd like you all to keep this in mind. From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will perish for eternity, and at that moment... the NerveGear will destroy your brain."

Finally, his facade broke, and Altimeda could not help but give a sharp inhalation and pull his lips back in a snarl. Clearing the game was one thing, but a no-death run of all 100 floors would have taken years just to route, much less clear.

After a short pause, Kayaba continued, explaining, "There is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game. You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad. If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may continue up to the next one. Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, the game will be considered cleared."

Another cruel joke, and this time Altimeda gave a dry, scoffing chuckle at it, shaking his head dejectedly. Resolve had settled in his mind, though. He silently took Aurora's hand and began carefully maneuvering towards the boundary of the square.

"And lastly, I've prepared a present for all of you in your item storages. Take a look." Altimeda flicked his hand to open his own, and his was just one of thousands of inventories that opened up in the space of a few seconds, finding only one item in the Special Storage, simply titled "Mirror." As that enormous number of players activated it, the square was engulfed in a blinding corona as thousands of light spikes flared up nearly simultaneously. Altimeda among them, he halted in place and spun about to peer at Aurora. After some seconds, the light subsided. Appearances had changed; two people standing next to each other were unlikely to recognize each other was the characters they once were—but if those people knew each other outside of the game, they would recognize the real-world appearances of their friends and teammates. Looking into the item, Altimeda was surprised to see his face—Alphonse's face—staring back at him. "So it reverts us to our real-world appearance...?" he murmured curiously, watching the mirror disappear in a shower of iridescent sparks.

An uproar went out as people exclaimed confused, angry, and frightened remarks, but it was not long before Kayaba Akihiko was speaking again; Altimeda gave the man his full attention. "Right now, you're probably all wondering, "Why? Why would I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do such a thing?" I have already achieved my goal. I created the world of Sword Art Online solely for my personal enjoyment. And now, the preparations are complete. This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

As if Kayaba had pulled the trigger of a gun, Altimeda took off, snatching up Aurora's hand and tearing through the crowd while the majority of people stood in a combination of terror, panic, and confusion. He saw the barrier around the square lift, a little curious as to when it had appeared but marking it as irrelevant as the duo blitzed over the threshold and into the alleys around.

"That square is going to turn into a mosh pit," he explained to his love as he finally let them slow down. "People are going to get trampled and mashed in the panic that's about to happen over there. Sorry." He turned his attention to her, well aware that it was extremely likely that she was not going to be as accepting of this news as he was.

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Word count: 1532
Tags: Aurora, Altimeda

[Aurora 0]

Quote

 

The day one marketplace of any MMO would always be a sight to behold. Players scurrying everywhere with Day One Loot™ that they claimed was a rare drop, and the occasional lucky player who actually had a piece of unique or legendary gear drop from a mob and now wanted to sell it at an astronomically high price of money that no one had yet.

Altimeda had a mind to get used to these markets early and visit them often, and it was with this motivation that he had led Aurora through the game world to the bustling square just outside of the main city plaza. He had explained that no matter how hard and fast they hit the grind, there was so much competition on day one that trying to accomplish any real leveling would be impossible. Fields would be overpopulated to their maximum capacity, instances would be crowded, and you would have to race for every kill on every mob for meager experience gains. It would be much more prudent to work the marketplace early and get to a town farther from the main hub to begin their grind.

 

Or at least, that's what he'd told her. People watching was never her favorite thing - too many people involved - and she didn't see the point in shopping when they didn't have any money. But he gave some other reasonable reasoning, to which she argued that they may as well have not logged in at all today, but in the end she assented. It was time together, after all.

Quote

 

Idly browsing wares, the couple became aware of a strange sensation; the ground beneath them was glowing bright white, and a light was coalescing up around them. The same phenomenon could be seen on every player character within sight, and it was not long before that light engulfed them.

They were deposited in the middle of a town square with a large number of other confused-looking players, everyone peering around and asking questions. A single blinking hex flickered on and off in the sky, drawing the eyes of many. Seconds later, that hex was joined by dozens, then hundreds more, spider-webbing across the sky to form a dome of eerie, red "WARNING" signs. Signs that, shortly thereafter, started oozing a viscous red liquid that dripped down from the sky. After a minute, that liquid had coalesced into a cloaked form; undoubtedly, it was a Game Master.

 

It was terrifying. The sudden, disorienting teleportation - a sensation she had never experienced before - the mass of people suddenly around her that must have numbered in the thousands, the sudden BLEEDING SKY and superimposed figure of raw intimidation. Everything about it gave her the worst feeling she'd ever felt in her life. With her heart pounding, she certainly didn't wait for Altimeda to take hold of her hand before she was glued tight to his side, hiding against him as best she could.

Quote

"Attention players. Welcome to my world." The voice rang out with ominous reverberation, filling the large space of the square easily. "My name is Kayaba Akihiko. I am currently the one and only person who can control this world. I'm sure you've all already noticed that the logout button on the main menu has been removed. However, this is by no means a mistake. I repeat... It is not a mistake, but a feature of the true Sword Art Online. You are all unable to log out of SAO, and nobody in the real world can remove the NerveGear or interrupt its operation."

Even after watching Altimeda pull up the menu and confirm the absence of the logout button, she couldn't bring herself to believe it. This had to be some kind of prank. Any moment Al would turn to her with an exasperated smile and explain that MMO developers did this sort of thing all the time.

Quote

Kayaba paused, beginning to bring up holo-menus as he spoke. "Should it be attempted, a powerful burst of microwave radiation emitted from a transmitter in the NerveGear will destroy your brain, thus ending your life. Unfortunately, it's certainly possible that a player's family or friends would ignore this warning and attempt to forcibly remove the NerveGear. As proof of this, 213 players have retired from both this world and the real one." The holo-screens started floating about the cloaked man in circles, displaying news feeds from around the world reading, "Online game sees trouble at launch," and similar, grossly understated messages. "As you can see, news of my warning and the numerous victims are being spread worldwide. Thus, it should be safe to say that the danger of removal attempts has become minimal. I hope you will all be at ease and focus on completing the game."

A very elaborate prank in very poor taste.

Quote

He paused, closing the menus and folding his hands within the billowing sleeves of his red cloak. "But I'd like you all to keep this in mind. From this point on, all methods of revival in the game will no longer function. If your HP hits zero, your avatar will perish for eternity, and at that moment... the NerveGear will destroy your brain." After a short pause, Kayaba continued, explaining, "There is only one condition you must meet to be free: the completion of this game. You are all currently on the first floor, the lowest point in Aincrad. If you conquer a floor's dungeon and defeat the Floor Boss, you may continue up to the next one. Assuming you manage to defeat the final boss on the 100th floor, the game will be considered cleared."

Even Aurora could understand the utter ridiculousness of this condition, and having her partner snarling seriously beside her made it all the worse. The chuckle at least reassured her that he didn't believe it either, but he was still taking it seriously. She could feel the pit in her stomach grow as he took her hand and started leading her through the crowd, her urge to run away from this place allowing her to follow him with no resistance whatsoever.

Quote

"And lastly, I've prepared a present for all of you in your item storages. Take a look." Thousands of inventories opened up in the space of a few seconds, finding only one item in the Special Storage, simply titled "Mirror." As that enormous number of players activated it, the square was engulfed in a blinding corona as thousands of light spikes flared up nearly simultaneously. After some seconds, the light subsided. Appearances had changed; two people standing next to each other were unlikely to recognize each other as the characters they once were—but if those people knew each other outside of the game, they would recognize the real-world appearances of their friends and teammates. An uproar went out as people exclaimed confused, angry, and frightened remarks, but it was not long before Kayaba Akihiko was speaking again. "Right now, you're probably all wondering, "Why? Why would I, Kayaba Akihiko, the creator of Sword Art Online and the NerveGear, do such a thing?" I have already achieved my goal. I created the world of Sword Art Online solely for my personal enjoyment. And now, the preparations are complete. This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck."

Standing before her was a man she knew intimately well. It was confusing, but surprisingly comforting. In all this chaos she was finally looking at a familiar face. An anchoring point to keep herself together. Which turned out to be important when Altimeda's grip tightened and they began to run, pushing through the crowd and leaving it behind them as they darted into an alley. She somehow managed to follow him as far as he would go, but as soon as they stopped and she tried to process his explanation, she wasted no time throwing herself into his arms, hugging tight and shaking her head into his chest. "It's a joke, right? This can't be happening. Please tell me this isn't happening. I-" she interrupted herself with a sniffle, tears starting to roll down her cheeks, "I have a signing on Wednesday. We can't be stuck here. We CAN'T."

[Ryees 0]

We can't be stuck here.

Those words rang in his head what seemed like a thousand times. Altimeda—Alphonse—had simply leaped straight to the acceptance step of his thinking without stopping at denial or any of the other related steps. A psychologist might have questioned his ability to so easily write off the real world as a loss, and he certainly had no intention of communicating that notion to May. Or rather, to Aurora; he could feel his mindset changing already, shifting towards that gamer mindset he adopted when he settled in for long grinding sessions. During those times, the real world faded away and all that mattered were the numbers, the mobs, and the dungeons. It was somewhat jarring to feel that mindset so easily adopted even when the implications of this world were so much more drastic, but he could not deny that he found some comfort in it. Not that he would tell Aurora about that, either.

He wrapped his arms around her as she crashed into him, rocking her comfortingly back and forth and petting her hair. "I think the folks at the bookstore will be understanding of your situation," he chirped in that familiar, amicable tone that he typically assumed when trying to comfort her. "I don't think Lieutenant Folsom would be very happy when I didn't show up, either, but you saw those news feeds. People know what's happening." Altimeda put his hands on Aurora's shoulders and held her at arms' length, taking her gaze and regarding her sternly.

"Whether or not we can or can't... Well, we are." He sighed, letting his hands fall away and turning away from her, staring down the alleyway. Trying to gather his thoughts was difficult, his mind a whirlwind. There was little he could say or do to change the situation, but he was determined to make the best of it. "I'm sure that sooner or later we'll just pop out when they figure out whatever workaround Kayaba used and it'll all be fine. Until then, though..."

He sighed, turning back to her, and the light in his eyes could only be described as determined. "We're smart. We're careful. I have thousands of hours of MMO backgrounds and you have the economic know-how to help us make our way in this world. Look at that town square. How many people in there do you think honestly know what the hell just happened to them?" His eyes flicked over her shoulder at the town square, the shouting and near-rioting now audible from where they stood. "Someone is going to need to set up a place for them to not get themselves killed. If just to offset the power-gamers who are going to exploit this." Altimeda's lips twisted at that, well aware that player-killing in this world was not going to be a pretty sight.

"Let's do it. If we're going to be trapped here, let's fuckin' do it and make this place a little brighter."

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Words: 498

Tags: Aurora, Altimeda

[Aurora 0]

The embrace was comforting. Important even. And she leaned into it fully for as long as she could. This was about as bad as it could get, if it could even be believed. The game was run by an insane murderer. 213 dead already, and if dying in the game really caused the NerveGear to kill you who even knew how many more. Thousands? This was more than just serial murder. It was genocide. She didn't even think of player killing. Alti might have mentioned it at some point, but there was already too much to think about as it was, and a great deal of her mind trying to convince itself that this wasn't real. Or that it would be fixed at any moment. It didn't matter that her publicist or his SO would understand. What mattered is that they couldn't leave. And he knew it. This wasn't the first time she had fussed for fussing's sake.

She sniffled again as he pushed her back, but his stern, determined gaze seemed to do a lot to calm her. She returned the gaze meekly, but remained rapt in his words. Even as he turned away, his profile casting an uncomfortable darkness across hers from the way the sun reflected off the dirty white wall. She nodded easily to the first half of the thought; surely there were an abundance of engineers out there that could work around this problem safely. The second half had her meekness rising by exponentials. She glanced back to the square as instructed, cowing even more.

"How are economics supposed to help in a fantasy wor-!" she began defensively, but eventually caught up with what she was saying. "...right. S-still, what are you even saying? What could we possibly do for them? Nono. This will blow over soon. Someone will fix it. Until then if there's even a remote chance we could actually die in here we need to lay low. Just... wait, until it's fixed."

The chance in emotions were clear across her face. From cowed meekness, to defensiveness, to pleading desperation, her eyes shimmering on the verge of more tears. "We're not heroes. We need to take care of ourselves before we could possibly think to help others." It was strange to hear herself say that, but the simple fact was she was terrified out of her mind.

[Ryees 0]

"We're not heroes..." That was a new concept, for sure. He was so used to being the main protagonist, the center of the proverbial universe, and even in MMOs he had always been at the top of the food chain. It had been taken for granted long ago that this would remain the case here in SAO, assuming that an early grind and a capitalization on early resources would cement their position as players of importance for the lifetime of there gameplay.

"We aren't. You're right. But neither is anyone else." He glided up to her, taking her hands in his and holding them tight. "It's us against the world. And think how many other people out there are thinking the same thing right now. How many of them are going to try and get ahead, only to end up dead data?" He shook his head, his normal strength faltering just enough to show the pain that that notion brought him. "These people need someone to help them get through these initial stages. If you [censored] up in the tutorial here, you die. But"—he huffed frustrated sigh, but his expression had changed to one of agreement—"we're no use to anyone dead. So you're right."

Altimeda leaned down to kiss the backs of her hands, holding them close to his chest. It was a comfort to know that even in this digital world, the heart beating in his chest could still reach her, still provide that gentle thumping across the backs of her knuckles as he held her hands close. "We'll get the hell out of here, settle down, regroup,get the hang of the game mechanics, and figure out what the hell we're doing with ourselves. After that, we can get the word out that there's people looking to band together the newbies and the unfamiliar, teach them the ropes, give them some basic tips—maybe gear, depending on our resources—to keep them alive. Turn ourselves into the tutorial that this game doesn't have."

Aurora had always been fantastic at managing his initial knee-jerk reactions. Altimeda's hyperbolic nature tended to see him get ahead of himself, and her calming hand had yet again settled them on a path of combined logic and passion. "What'cha think?" he queried her with a hopeful smile that touched his eyes. "Think we can manage that?"

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Words: 394

Tags: Aurora, Altimeda

[Aurora 0]

A nervous twitch shot through her left eye as he echoed her words, but she watched carefully as he processed things. Which at least gave her a moment to think as well. She knew he was seriously competitive, but she never quite grasped the extent of it. He had always been the responsible on after all. Sure he could get some crazy ideas that she had to temper down into realism, but all in all she had her trust fund and he had his hard-working spirit. But games... games were different. And he clearly still saw this as a game. Well... it was. But... well. One could not write a mystery without running into qualitative reasoning. It was what the hero developed, and the victims lacked. A basic principal thereof, now that she was starting to calm down a bit, was that to survive one had to assume the worst possible scenario was true. Thankfully she didn't need to tell him that. Those few words were enough.

She let out a little sigh and took his hands, more than eager for the physical contact. Even if it was through a game, at least this game held the great fortune of physical sensations. She frowned at his line of thought, brows furrowing upward in sympathy. She understood his reasoning, but...

Her lips pursed together as he kissed her hands, taking a step closer and nodding to those reassuring words. Yes. This was a much better way to go about things. Very very carefully. "That's... okay... I guess I could handle that. But only when we're ready..."

She looked back to the square, worry still painted across her face. All those people. How could Kayaba do this to them? How could anyone become that deranged. She wanted to help, but it was a feeling that conflicted quite strongly with the fear of those exact same people, her unfamiliarity with this world, and her urge to simply survive. If not for Altimeda she would be a complete mess right now. Her grip tightened at that thought. That's right. He was here. They wouldn't have to endure this alone. As long as they were together things would be okay.

"Sh-should we stay in this city? It's a safe zone, if I remember right. As long as we're here we can't be hurt..." she began, trying to prompt some sort of planning on a specific level. As well as maybe get more reassurance. What a relief it would be if he was willing to stay where it was safe.

[Ryees 0]

The moment the words left her mouth, Altimeda began shaking his head. "That would be too easy," he answered back, shooting Aurora the self-assured smile she knew so well by now. "This place is going to be a hell-hole within the hour. If not sooner," he added quickly with a meaningful glance over her shoulder. "We won't be able to do any good here; what happens, happens, and we just need to get the hell out." A quick flick of his finger brought up the in-game map. A ton of foreign names populated the screen, names that meant nothing to him now and likely would not for some time. What he was looking for were the roads and paths between here and the nearest town.

"I figure... I dunno, here-ish?" He turned around and put himself shoulder to shoulder with her, enjoying the both the contact and the practicality of being able to view the map with her. "Not exactly the straightest shot, but all this crap"—he waved an indistinct finger over a field in between their current location and the next one—"looks like monster fields and I ain't havin' none of that bullshit yet."

He blinked, turning to her with an abashed grin. "Never thought I'd see the day where I'm running from level 1 mobs. Gone are the days of level 100 with max e-level, I guess." Altimeda's lips met hers for a brief moment before he rested his head on hers, on arm drawing her close while the other poked dots onto the map to route their path. "S'just us, for now. Us and this garbage starting gear. So obviously we're gonna crush it."

His voice was cheerful, hopeful, bright. It had to be. He could not let it show the panic that was building in his belly or the discomfort clenching down on his lungs; he could not let it show the nausea that gripped him every time he took a breath or spoke a word. This was his world, not Aurora's. She needed him to be her rock, and Altimeda was more unwilling to leave her to falter than he was to drive them out into the fields. Computer AI was predictable and easy at this stage; even if it was life or death, he would rather have faced those creatures than left his Aurora to the same fear that had settled heavily on his shoulders.

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Words: 403

Tags: Aurora, Altimeda

[Aurora 0]

That head shake was perhaps the most terrifying thing she'd seen him do in her life. Including that cliff jumping incident in Hawaii. Her brows furrowed very quickly at the first part of the response, mouth opening to give a reprimanding response. But he was on top of things. It was hard not to get caught up in his confidence. An instinct, developed quite extensively throughout their mature life. She gave a little sigh as she snuggled up to his side and took a closer look at the map. Of all the things, it was what she was most familiar with, on account of the research she had done into the lore of the game.

"No monsters. Good... I can get behind that." she nodded, once again meeting his gaze as he turned to her, mostly for the emotional support he was working so hard to show. The kiss was an added bonus, and she was more than eager to stay in close contact, knowing that they would be on the move soon. "This... this seems like the opposite of playing it safe. But... It's just the newbie fields, I guess. Nobody's ever died in the newbie fields..." She was trying to convince herself more than anything else, but it was still reasonable. It was working. It always did. Between his confidence and her belief that this would be fixed in a matter of hours, or a day at most, she was starting to feel less panicky about it. As long as they were together they would be just fine.

With that in mind she leaned back up for one more kiss, before hesitantly parting herself from him. She took a brief moment to pull up the town map and work out a non-direct route out. The less people they ran into the better. With that settled they had only to continue down this alley and hurriedly jog through the adjoining streets. Ironically the time she was lamenting in the marketplace was actually coming back to pay off, giving her a more familiar outlook of the city. Those white buildings sped by with ease, and she only needed to check the map twice to decide on certain forks. It wasn't long at all until they were standing at the edge of town, staring at an open road that was exceptionally hard to imagine was just numbers being electronically sent to her brain. This wasn't like Any game she had ever played. She could feel the sun on her skin, the cool breeze through her hair, smell the grass as it too swayed in that selfsame breeze. As advertised, it was... real. Something that in these circumstances was suddenly strikingly frightening. Enough to make her freeze on the spot, unable to cross the threshold into this world.

[Ryees 0]

The town had been fun; loading into the game had seen Altimeda giggling like a child on holiday, running to and fro with the energy of that same child when given a large dose of caffeine. Entering the world for the first time had instilled a sense of excitement and adventure that he had not been inspired to by any game before. But even that had not prepared him for what lay before him.

It occurred to him, somewhere in the back of his mind, that being so entranced by a simple field was perhaps a little frivolous, but that did not stop him from grinding to a halt and staring. The sun, the wind, the waving grasses, the not-quite-orange clouds as the sun began its lazy descent towards the horizon; outside of the game world, Alphonse had never found much of an appreciation for these things, instead preferring the much more fantastical vistas found in the digital world. Altimeda, however, was stunned by the simple, natural feel of the grass under his boots, the breeze on his skin, and the soft warmth of the setting sun. Aurora, beside him, seemed to have suffered a similar shock, but a sidelong glance at her showed that his wonderment was not shared.

"So, sure, death game and crazy programmer and whatnot, I get that that's not ideal, but..." He took a few steps forward and threw his hands out wide and grand. "This is seriously awesome, right? Maybe it's not the situation we wanted to be in, but you gotta admit, this is dope." One hand was held out to her, his face beaming and full of real, visceral excitement, excitement that was perhaps enhanced by the literal do-or-die nature of the game. "C'mon, Maybe. We have adventuring to do!"

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Words: 298

Tags: Aurora, Altimeda

Edited November 9, 2016 by Ryees

[Aurora 0]

 

The frightened little girl came out of her internal world with a small start at the unexpected sound of a voice, though she quickly calmed down when her mind caught up and she realized who it was. As inspiring speeches went, she'd heard better, but it seemed to do its job just right, leaving her face relaxing into a bemused smile. It was a beautiful world, she had to admit. But its beauty just made the sudden lack of the real world that much more jarring. Still, Alti's genuine excitement was hard to just brush off. It wasn't infectious so much as just... comforting. Her features softened yet still at the pet name, leaving her no choice but to reach out and take his hand. It was a true expression of Alphonse. Something she had originally thought was a cutesy combination of May and Baby, but as was the way with him, she had put far more thought into it than he did.

"Adventure. Sure. I can do that." she responded with only a modicum of confidence, stopping for a moment to equip her spear. The item shimmered into physical form, a smooth wood held in one hand as her other was occupied, ending in a sharp iron leaf-shaped tip with the final piece shimmering out in its red, twisty glory. Since there was no blood in this game the tassel was more for show than anything else, but to her it was a symbol. She had always loved the Chinese martial arts tales that made up the Wuxia genre. Watched every kung fu movie, read every bit of literature she could find in English (and even some she had to pay a friend's friend to translate), even written a few stories of her own. Adventure. If ever there was one, this was it. She was her own Wuxia maiden now - perhaps the light as air stuff would come later. Surely they could handle this.

 

Hand in hand they took to the open road. The fields seemed to stretch on forever. Floor 1 at least was designed with a sense of grandeur in mind. Aimed to impress. If it weren't for the maps she might have even thought it was endless. They passed by a number of mobs, but did their best to avoid them, much to Altimeda's internal distress. It started out in relative silence, neither really knowing what to say, and a lot weighing on their minds. Too many 'what if's for May's liking. Enough that she had to shake her head and drag herself out of it a number of times, reminding herself that this would all be over in a few hours. Everything was going to be okay.

[Ryees 0]

Time wore on, minutes stretching into hours as Altimeda and Aurora carefully plucked their way across the fields. After some time, Altimeda had taken the liberty of climbing to a higher ground, lamenting the lack of Skyrim-tactics available as he unceremoniously clambered up a spire of stone to survey the surrounding landscape. What he had found atop that rock, however, saw him surge with hope and open his mouth to shout down to Aurora. He quelled that urge, snapping his jaw shut in a crash of teeth as he realized he was not certain what was lurking around them and that screaming from on high was perhaps unwise.

Altimeda scrambled to the edge and picked his way down a few handholds before peering downwards and pushing away from the face, thunking to the ground and bending his knees—before clicking his tongue in frustration and letting out a hushed, "Really?" as his health bar ticked down one notch. "I'm pissed," he shot at Aurora, pointing above his head. "You see this [censored]? That wouldn't have even hurt in real life." He glanced up to where he had jumped off, calculating the height in his head... and coming to the conclusion that perhaps game physics had helped him with his landing. "'Kay fine, but still. Town."

He threw his arm up and pointed into the distance, the mild frustration on his face disappearing as excitement took over. "Real town. Safe zone. Maybe two miles out, it's close, we—" He cut off, something beyond Aurora catching his eye. "[censored]."

The sword on Altimeda's hip flew out as he took a quick step to put himself between Aurora and the trio of boars that had just rounded the corner. He did not say anything out loud, but internally Altimeda was cursing himself out for taking such careless damage, which he wholly assumed was the reason for the mobs' appearance. The luminescent 1 above the head of each creature did not do anything to ease his nerves.

In any other game, he would have obliterated them without a thought. Here, though, everything was different. He had had no chance to experiment with his Sword Arts, no chance to test how much damage they had done, and without those things, he was not content to put his life on the line. Standing and fighting was a risk he was not prepared to take. Not yet. And not with May here.

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Words: 405

Tags: Aurora, Altimeda

Edited November 22, 2016 by Ryees

[Aurora 0]

The young wuxia aspirant found herself surprised at just how straightforward "stealth" upon the open fields was. Even though much of the time she spent wondering if they were actually succeeding. But they had managed to avoid all the roving monsters thus far so... if there was any greater measure of success, she didn't know it. It took some concentrated effort not to swing her spear around and announce their position to the world out of boredom. Exercises and tricks she had invented with staves and broomsticks throughout her life that she figured looked close enough to her kung fu movies to at least be a fun show. Like baton twirlers, except 10 times more nerdy. Things that were infinitely more tempting now that she had an actual spear to play with. Its weight and balance were much different than a broomstick, but she could only consider it a good sign that she could actually gauge such a thing. It was only the thought of giving their position away and uncertainty on whether she could hurt herself in this game that stayed her idle hands.

She switched between watching the surroundings nervously and looking up at her lover when he stopped to climb a pillar and get a better lay of the land. Something she wouldn't have thought of despite the rise of crags, hills, and other vision-blocking landscapes as they traveled further away from the starting city. More reason to appreciate that she wasn't traveling alone. When she saw him begin to descend she looked away for a moment, then let out a startled yelp and nearly jumped out of her skin when he suddenly smashed down on the ground a short distance away. She let out a heavy sigh when she saw it was just him, fear turning to embarrassment, and a light frustration with herself that came out as snark towards him. "Well you're not often wearing a chunk of iron on your chest in real life. Besides, even if you don't feel pain it still puts strain on your joints. Maybe this is a reflection of that. ...or they just ascribe to the D&D ten feet rule..."

She softened under the pull of his excitement, and even ventured a relieved smile of her own. Oh sweet heavens a safe zone. No more friend nerves. No more close calls. No more scares- ...[censored]? A hot chill ran down her spine as she watched his sword come free, feeling a light-headed dread as he stepped around her. She felt her head turn and torso twist to follow his path in slow motion, stared in amazement as her emotions drained away to sickly void. She couldn't fathom boars ever looking as terrifying as these three, and her body froze to the spot. She willed her legs to move, her arms to lift her spear, her voice screaming in her head to run or fight or just... do... something! But her muscles wouldn't listen, her body unresponsive to so much as a twitch in the neck. An echo, a lament. How could it have all come to this? To die frozen in terror in a stupid video game?