[PP-F3] Simple Times.

[Aoife 0]

A streak of raven black and scarlet red blazed through the forests of the third floor, chasing after the streak of snow white and dawn grey weaving in between the trees on the forest floor. Reaching the treeline, the blurry figures leaped into the air and caught onto the last trees, scaling them quickly and looking forward. Before them laid a quaint little town- "Oi, are you going to narrate our entire morning?" I asked Cleo, slightly annoyed. "No, i just wanted to see how far I would get before you snapped," she thought in answer to me. I rolled my eyes and smirked. "Well you got me," I said with a small laugh. "Come on. We should get going." With that, I jumped off of the branch and down to the roof of the nearest building, my familiar joining me swiftly. I grinned and hopped to the street below and glanced up at Cleo. "Oi, are you coming?" "Yeah, yeah, just give me a moment," she insisted before stepping onto an awning and jumping to the ground. I shook my head and walked towards town square, a place I normally avoided.

[Akumu 0]

I looked at the sun, which was not a wise thing to do. I didn't look directly at it but through squinted eyes through my hood. I was sitting on a bench in the town square which was uncommon for me since I didn't like to be seen in such a public place. It also dawned on me that I had nothing to do today. I didn't like having nothing to do because it gave me an excuse to do things I normally wouldn't do. I glared at the NPCs gawking at my blood red hood. My purple eyes' glare intensified when they began to stare with worried glances, then scurried away. I wasn't cruel or anything, just antisocial when it came to people persay. I pulled my hood down farther and hugged my knees to my chest, not knowing what else to do.

[Aoife 0]

Reaching the edge of the square, I immediately noticed the splash of red on a bench nearby. Normally, I'd ignore the people around me but this one intrigued me. I walked towards the stranger and sat down. My emerald gaze pierced the darkness of the red hood and my thoughts were confirmed. Quickly deciding on the most obvious nickname, I smiled and spoke. "Why, hello there, Little Red Riding Hood! What brings you to this little place?"

[Akumu 0]

I head footsteps approach then stop and sit next to me. I didn't look up until I heard her call me...Little Red Riding Hood? I unlatched my arms, letting my legs fall to the ground. L-little Red Riding hood? How old do you think I am? I say in my high pitched voice that made me sound like I was five. I then regretted even talking to this girl. The question had an obvious answer because I looked like I was ten! I wasn't very tall, I had a high pitched voice..who would ever treat me like my age? I finally, after a moment of hesitation, took off my hood. I looked a little older now that my purple eyes and scar were showing. I didn't want to scare the girl but some part of me expected her to be.

[Aoife 0]

The girl took off her hood and I could immediately tell that she was older than I was, but not by too much. I smiled, undeterred by her scar. "I figured that you were either my age or slightly older, since normally younger people have a hard time brooding so quietly. Also, before you ask, I called you 'Little Red Riding Hood' only because your hood is red," I explained. "I'll tell you what. If you can think of a good nickname for me, then you call me that instead of my real name. Oh! I'm Aoife, by the way, and this here is Cleo," I said gesturing to my companion. Tell her I said 'hi'! I grinned at that. "She says 'hi'."

[Akumu 0]

I was surprised by this girl's answer, she knew I was older. Her name was Aoife, a strange name to me. I felt myself do an inner face-palm when she explained the reason I was given that nickname, I had a red hood. I looked at her up and down, examining her for another name. Aoife had red hair and green eyes, with that I thought of a nickname for her. Gift. I simply stated. I called her that because green and red symbolized a holiday called Christmas in most cases. It was an odd name, surely she wouldn't accept it. I put my hood back on and sat there silently. I was sure she thought I was a total whack job now.

[Aoife 0]

Gift? "That's a new one," Cleo stated. I nodded in response. The more I thought about it, the more it sounded like something Mavis would say. I grinned at Little Red who seemed to be trying to crawl back into her shell. With a laugh, I reached over and pulled down her hood again. "Don't hide! I promise that I won't bite," I said with another warm smile. "So, will you tell me your name as well or should we stick to using nicknames? Speaking of which, where did you get 'Gift' from?"

[Akumu 0]

Ack! I spit out as she yanked my hood off my head. The sunlight beamed down on my white hair and absorbed into my giant scar running down my cheek. I sighed knowing that I couldn't ignore this girl, or not talk to her. I wanted badly to just sit here all day my myself in silence but that wasn't going to happen now that Aoife was here. I sucked in a huge breath and exhaled before answering her questions. You may not but, but how do you know I won't? I asked, trying to scare her away. You can call me by that name, I will refer to you as Aoife though, it suits you better. I chose gift because of your red hair and green eyes, like Christmas. I stated simply. This was probably the most I have ever spoken in this game to a new player so far, a new record you could say.

[Aoife 0]

Because of Christmas? I never thought of that. "Interesting," I said to myself. "So, what brings you here, Red? Certainly not a quest." Looking around the square, I blinked at the number of people here. I still have a hard time understanding why so many players liked this floor so much, including me. I turned my gaze back to the older girl and wait for her to answer.

[Akumu 0]

Her question was a major virtual reality check for me. I don't...know? I said, in question form. What about you, why are you here? I said, still thinking of why I was here in the first place. The other players were still here too, I guess we all were here because we were hiding from what we feared, dying. I, in truth wasn't a coward, just not sociable. I wasn't trying to make friends when I came into this world either.

[Aoife 0]

"That's a great question! Somebody wanted to look for a special job in town here, even though it's supposed to be my day off," I replied, gesturing to Cleo and hinting at my other self proclaimed 'job'. Shaking my head, I directed my next statement towards Cleo. "There wouldn't be many pker's here in town!" "Well, you never know," she huffed indignantly. "Don't you remember that one time last month-" "Yes, of course I remember! I was there," I exclaimed, rolling my eyes. I turned back to Little Red and smiled awkwardly. "I'm so sorry about that."

[Akumu 0]

I listened to her and her have a playful disagreement, something to do with a job. The part about Player Killers struck my mind, it enticed me. So your looking to kill Pk'ers are you? I said with my other side showing. I have been wanting to kill every single PK that ever crimed this town since the game started. I said with a creepy smile forming on my face. Now that Aoife had taken my hood off of me everyone could now see my face, and it's many faces. I ignored the worried glances from low level players around me and turned my attention to Aoife, I now felt as though I could trust her.

[Aoife 0]

"Oh? Most players either ignore the growing player killer situation or they hide from it. What made you want to face it?" I asked, curious. I was happy to see that I had finally found someone who wasn't hiding in fear and wanted to do something about the pkers. Any of the players that were close enough to hear is talking shuffled away at the mention of player killers. I gave them a sidelong glance, disgusted at their fear.

[Akumu 0]

I know this is super cliche but it's not fair that people PK, even if the penalty is death. I would like them all to fall one by one, I don't care about turning orange myself. What about you? You seem pretty sane in the brain to me. I said curiously. I looked at the players scurry away from Aoife's glare, her death glare to be precise.

[Aoife 0]

I turned my attention back to Little Red. "My reason is the same as yours, admittedly. I don't really have a personal vendetta against any specific pker. I just want those that kill senselessly to be gone," I stated simply. I grinned at the older girl. "Speaking of which, would you like to come with me and capture a few now?"

[Akumu 0]

I was glad to hear that I wasn't insane. Aoife had just confirmed that there was more than one person who wanted the PKs to end. Capture them? What do you mean? I said, confused. I never really thought to send them to jail, is that what you do? I said, kind of saying it to myself also.

[Aoife 0]

"Mm-hmm. Some of my friends would rather that I didn't become a pkker. That's what I call those that kill player killers. Player killer killers.They're special cases. Anyways, the best way to avoid becoming a 'Red Player' is to just not do this job, but it's one that needs to be done, so the only other option is to capture them," I explained. "To tell you the truth, it does help stay hidden in the crowd, which makes it easier to trick pkers into relaxing, making mistakes and falling to a trap." Suddenly, I noticed that every player that passed by, whether unconsciously or not, was giving the bench a wide berth. I laughed at how silly it was of them. It's not like I'd hurt them just because I felt like it or anything.

[Akumu 0]

I listened to her words as her speech became clearer. I didn't understand what she meant by capturing them at first but after hearing her explain, I now knew. I guess that's better than killing them. I said. I'd rather kill them. I didn't explain myself as much as she didn't. Revealing myself would take some time. What is our first objective? I asked with a slight smile. We were scaring people away from us, which was good. It was good because no one would hear what we planned to do.

[Aoife 0]

"I suppose it is, but it's so much more of a hassle. I've been thinking about going against the others' wishes just to make my job easier," I stated, shrugging. With a laugh, I stood up and spun back around to look at Little Red. "Well," I started. "There are two things that we could do. I'll let you decide. We could either scour the town for some baddies or we could go to one of the bigger towns and search there. Either way, we still have to lure them out of the city limits somehow." Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cleo creeping closer to the older girl. She sat in front of Little Red and placed her chin on the girl's knee like a house cat. I laughed at the scene. "Cleo!"

[Akumu 0]

Because I'm way too ambitious I didn't like either of the choices. The outskirts. I simply stated, hoping she would know what I was talking about. The places I have in mind were always causing trouble. They are right next to the safe zone boarder so threatening weaker players was often around that area. Most beginning PKs start there and eventually work their way around. I said, losing myself. I felt Cleo rub himself on my knee and smiled just a little. I put the top of her head and scratched behind his ears.