[PP-F4] Interview 1 (Nikki, Grim)

[Nikki Styx 0]

Nikki sat in the far corner of the Frozen Yeti Inn's common area. She had a table to herself with several stacks of paperwork on it. All of it was personal research she had been doing both for her own use, as well as for use by the Ebon Vanguard. She had player profiles, MoB profiles, item lists and dozens of other things. Next to her sat an empty plate and a large half filled mug of Cider. The blue haired woman had been here for hours already putting things together and learning as much as she could. In fact she hadn't even had a chance to go out and enjoy the oddly warmish day that floor four was having.

She let out a sigh as the Inns main door opened and blew a few of her papers askew. this had been happening a lot, and several of her papers had light rings on them from her placing her mug on them to hold them still. She let out a silent curse and without looking away from her current reading material, managed to restack the recently knocked over pile. She had been asked to keep an eye out for future members of the Guild, that if they seemed capable to give them a referral, it was a task she was going to take very seriously, and part of the reason why she had so many bios for currently unaffiliated players.

Nikki had hoped that she might get the chance to talk to a few people today and interview some of her potential candidates.

[Guest]

The air grows cold, as the door blew open and a hooded figure, dressed in black, with a thin layer of snow clinging to his coat shoulder, enters the Inn, a pure white dragon with blood red tipped feathers, perched on his shoulder. The man signals the small dragon to leave his side, the dragon flys to the banister, and there she stayed, as now, the <> has arrived, he looks up from his hood, a never ending darkness it held. As he removes it, and unequips his coats, his waist long jet black hair fell, as he wore a denim tank-top, along with his pure white denim pants and black leather boots.

"Bonjour, Im here for the interview, the one that allows me to enter "The Ebon Vanguard." Grim says as he take a empty seat, and sit down, and orders a «Chamomile, with Lemongrass Tea». The drink materialized next to him, and proceeds to drink it. "I hope I do not dissapoint you Nikki." Grim, says waiting for the young woman to speak.

[Nikki Styx 0]

Nikki looked up from her work to the sound of someone addressing her. Normally she might not have heard them, but in this case there was a specific mention of the Ebon Vangaurd and her attention was turned. A man dressed in white with longer black hair. He had an aura of power about him, and it showed clearly in the way he moved and spoke. He was here for an interview, he wanted to join up with the Vanguard. She smiled politly gesturing for him to have a seat, which he did. He then ordered himself a drink, to Which Nikki did as well, nothing fancy just a refill on her Cider to keep the chills away.

"Alright, well then, give me just a moment to pack up a few things." As she spoke she brought all of her documents together into one pile, and after accessing her menu, she stowed them in her inventory to be completed later. Al that was left now was a simple writing instrument and a small pad of paper. She took a quick sip of her drink before picking up her pen. "Okay for starters, I need yer full Avatar Name, yer current level and the Previous guilds you have been aligned with." Her voice was soft yet controlled, giving a feeling of command.

[Guest]

Grim set his drink down, as he changed his seating position to a more formal style, "To begin with, my avatar name is <>, my nickname, or title i go by is <>. As Grim speech patterns change into that of a serious, but respective voice. "The current level I reside in is that of level 12, and my previous guild I was affiliated with was the Phoenix Signers!" "I am friends with the guild leader, but I left them shorty after the death of my friend Dirgun, and now, I want to join the Ebon Vanguard so that I can bcome stronger."

Grim says as he pick his tea cup up and takes another sip, "That answer your questions so far Lieutenant?" "If you have anymore, I can answer them." Grim then set his drink down, and back into his seat trying to stay calm as he never changed his seating style from the formal, but he had a hint of relaxation in his pose now.

[Nikki Styx 0]

As Grim began speaking Nikki began writing. Filling up her page with more than just the direct information he was saying. She was using this as an opportunity to see how he would respond to authority, and so far he was doing very well. He had stated his full name as Grim, that was nice and simple, she liked it. His title, well for her to refer to him as that she would need to see him in action, but all in due time. He was a level 12 player, which was impressive, considering most players seemed to not be able to get past that level 7 mark. And more importantly was the guild he had been affiliated with, as far as she knew there was no bad blood between the Vanguard and the Signers, so this was ok.

She too a second as well to write down his desire to be stronger, that was a commendable goal, and a good way to survive. Better still though was that it was attainable, one of the things that the Vanguard would pride themselves on was how they helped each other reach greater heights. "Alright then... As for yer previous guild, you left on good terms I assume?" She took another sip of from her cup.

[Guest]

Grim nodded, "I posted on there guild wall, and I contacted Haine before I left them, at the time, I wanted to spend time with my wife Yureka, for you see Daeron was after me, and still is." "And I was scared, so I wanted to be with her until the very end, but now, I've become more confindent in myself." "So now, im here to get stronger and to become a front liner, The Ebon Vanguard is the only guild I can think of that can help me with my goal." Grim says as he takes another sip of his tea, as he sets the cup down, it dematerializes, and Grim returns to his formal posture. "Is there anything else you would like to ask me Lieutenant Nikki?"

[Nikki Styx 0]

Nikki smiled thoughtfully. She loved the idea of marriage, and to hear that this player was married and left his guild to spend time with his wife was both romantic and sweet. He also wanted to be a front liner, which was something special as well. It seemed that too many players were happy enough to simply wait for others to clear the game, few actually wanted to help. "Well with us you will would get a chance to head up to the front. As you may know we are one of the largest running guilds. We also have one of the best programs to get players up to the front lines." Her voice was full of pride now as she spoke of the Vanguard. "If a player joins us and cant handle the active combat we have other rolls they can contribute to, But we do try to encourage our members to push foreword. I myself will be leading groups on the front lines and Part of the reason I'm interviewing people is to try and find people to fill those rolls."

She paused for a moment now, writing some more on the paper. "Ok so you are clearly a combatant. SO tell me about yer Combat style. What is yer weapon set, and are you a defensive or offensive player. Can you fight in a group, or are you a solo player?" these were the important questions now, especially if he wanted to be a front liner with the guild.

[Guest]

Grim knew off hand his fighting style, "Im a close quaters fighter, who uses a one-handed curved blade called a Falchion, I also can use other weapons of that style such as a Scimitar, and various other curved blades, I use my familiar Blood Wing, to heal myself when im injured and as a distraction to help my teammates in battle." "I'm great in a group scenario, but I can't fight alone, I have a phobia of being alone by myself, so I tend to stay with a group of 2 to 4 people at most." And as for my future weapons to use, im striding to get the <> skill, so that I may broaden my weapon selection."

Grim leaned back as he had given her all the info she needed as well as some extra info she might need. "Oh and one other thing, I have a tendency to speak im my other various languages, if you hear me speaking in another language, it's quite normal for me." Grim says as he orders himself another drink, a alcoholic drink, a clear glass filled with what looks like water in it, materializes next to his hand, he takes a sip, and he immedietly relaxes.

[Nikki Styx 0]

Nikki smiled at him. He was telling her many things that she wanted to hear. The fact that he was a group fighter was even better as well. "Well Im glad to know that you are so versatile, and with us we can help you get that Katana skill." She took a couple more notes down before speaking again. "Ok so here's how we work on the battlefield. We are a team, We try to avoid soloing, as we can achieve so much more together. We have players of many different levels, so we also try to keep our groups consisting of both small and large players. She took another drink from her cup. "Groups consist of anywhere from 2 to 8 players depending on the amount of support we have from officers. Often we have several groups working and coordinating at a time."

She smiled at him now putting her pen down. "Now this is the more casual part. Feel free to relax, and I wont be writing any of this down, this is just you and me. Tell me about yerself and yer time here. What have you been doing to keep yerself occupied?" She knew it sounded weird for an interview question, but it was a needed one, it would give her the chance to interact with him as a human and make sure he was not stuck in game mode.

[Guest]

Grim took a nother drink of his beverage and sat i down, "Well to start of with, I'm more of a serious, but relaxed guy, at times I can't stand still, so I usually keep myself occupied, when I first joined SAO, I went into the local taverns to get info on the surrounding area." "Not surprised, many people were not that helpful, but that all changed when I met Dirgun, he and I met in the bar on floor one, ever since then, we've been drinking buddies as well as a farming party."

"He and I would go on countless missons together, to get stronger, but we also messed around as well, we would usually go to bars after a day of goin into the field and slaying monsters." "He was the rambunkchious one, he would always start fights with NPC's, and I would jump in to help him, and after awhile, I was just like him." Grim stopped for a second and whipped a tear away from his eye, as he continued, "He and I were brothers-in-arms, and I was finally happy to have a brother again." Grim stopped and took a deep breathe before he continued.

"But that all changed when he was killed by Daeron, and now im trying to get stronger so no more of my friends die." "But enough of the sad stuff, what I do to keep myself occupied is a asortment of different things, I go to my shop on floor 4 alot, "The Reapers Cloak", I hang out with my friends, as well as go into the fields with friends or by myself with Blood Wing." "I like to read and write, anything that comes to mind, but I like to write love stories as well as poems to, and I like to take long walks on floor four, to feel the cold mountain air feels nice in my skin."

Grim stopped and finished his drink, his face a little red now as he was buzzed, "To tell you about me is a little complex, I'm well, I'm the sort of guy who you can go to for help, I really care about others around me, and I try to help as many people as I can, even if they don't want the help." "I just can't stand by while others suffer, I would rather be there with them and suffer to, than be a heartless jerk and watch them hurt." Grim ordered another drink this time it came in a Saki bottle, as two other cups materialized with it, "Wanna try it?", Grim says as he pours himself a drink, putting the Saki bottle down, and takes a drink.

[Nikki Styx 0]

Suddenly Nikki's eyes lit up. She had heard of the shop. This man was a tailor. That in itself was wonderful. Trade skills were still in demand amongst the Vanguard, and even she dreamed of a few nice outfits for herself. She also had an idea that she had wanted to pitch to their captain about certain things such as banners, and having a tailor would help her get prototypes going. "A tailor you say. Well to be fair that has earned you some extra points. Not to say you weren't doing great already." She gave him a wink with that last part. "We are trying to build our own market within the Vanguard, as in we provide mats, and in return our trades people provide armor, potions, and anything else the guild needs."

She picked up her pen and wrote in bold letters "Tailor" on the bottom. She even circled it a couple of times. So to sum it up, he was eager to perform, desired to be on the front, wanted to help others, and possessed a great skill. On top of that he seemed to have a great respect for authority and could work well in a team environment. These were all the things Nikki wanted to hear. She could tell he was skilled with a blade, his level was testament to that already. In truth she wanted him in the guild, and she knew she would give him a great recommendation.

"Alright" She said to his offer. "But then we drink to you my friend. I will be recommending you for our guild personally. Congratulations on a great interview." With that she took the bottle and poured herself a drink. Once the bottle was down she picked up her glass and took a drink. To say it was not what she was expecting was an understatement, but she smiled politely, making a mental note that Saki was not for her.

[Guest]

Grim smiled, "Well, I hope that the Vanguards will have a wonderous time with me, Grim bows, as he rises up he points to the Saki bottle, "Not your cup of tea im guessing, well not many people like the taste, too strong, well I should get going, I have much to do now, going to go kill some monsters in the field, wanna try to get some exp. today, and maybe go by Yures shop later, well, <> ("Well, then I must bid you a fond and fare goodbye.") Grim says in German, as he walks out the door leaving a slip of paper, with his contact info, It reads, "This is my personal contact info, please PM me if you need anything, or need to talk, Im always available, well <> ("goodbye"), <> ("goodbye"), and various other languages as well, hahaha!"