[PP-F9] Let's get Thrashed (Complete)

[Life 0]

He frowned slightly, if she thought Alkor wasn't ready then he definitely wasn't. "I think we should still give it a go.." L shook his head brushing his own stupid comment off and shot them both a look when Alkor rushed to the bar "Well i don't know.. i don't normally drink but i guess i can handle mine pretty well" He said that forgetting about his lie previously. He got a glass from the bartender and chugged it all down in one go without a second thought, movement, or after shock. He turned over to Lessa and spoke "Do you mind discussing our alliance now or would you want it to wait?" He slid her an ale and got another one for himself watching her attentively. 

[Lessa 1]

Though her face did not reveal it, Lessa was disappointed when Alkor announced his departure. For some strange reason, she had imagined he would be her right-hand man when it came to the guild. This thought had no logical explanation, of course, as she had twisted his ear just to get him to join. Why in the world would he also be eager to help her manage it? He was not a people person, by any stretch of the imagination. And these negotiations called for a lot of social interaction. I can't keep him here if he would rather be elsewhere.

 

"No," she replied, softly. "I think I have it under control. Thank you, Alkor."

 

Lessa took a swig of the ale that Life slid her way, first giving him a nod of thanks. "We can discuss it," she told him, "but please keep in mind that nothing is set in stone. I like you, Life, so I feel fine discussing this with you. But I do not know the other members of your guild, including you leader. I do not feel comfortable jumping into any alliance until I have some questions answered. I hope you understand."

[Guest]

"I wanna ask you," Alkor regarded Life as he rose from his seat and hailed the barkeep for one more round. He wasn't even feeling it yet. "Do you want to join us?" It was a very serious question; he had no idea what the Inquisition intended, but it sounded like Life wanted something different. "You don't have to say yes or feel pressured."

When the next drink came, he took one sip, then looked out the door toward the floor, and the dungeon beyond. "We know what direction we're looking," he said, "are you confident that where you are now, everyone is looking the right way?"

Alkor yawned. "That's really all I want to know. I don't trust Argument much." A few sips later, he tossed the mug toward the bartender, who caught it with a violent string of curses toward the ill mannered player.

"Anyway, enjoy your talk," he told them, and Alkor found himself a seat along the bar, away from their table. He wanted to leave them to their privacy.

[Life 0]

L thought hard, it was something he always had on his mind. He never intended to stay with the inquisition in the first place and Alkor and Lessa felt like family. He sipped his Ale and slouched in his seat "They're just.. immature is all" He bit his lip still thinking "Ask as much as you like.. but... maybe there shouldn't be an alliance.. many of the people i've grown close to hate the inquisition.. they have a lot of.. dreams. Big ones... like controlling all of Aincrad.." He sat back up straight and sighed "Of course this is on my head now but i don't think they're strong enough or smart enough to maintain it, especially if i leave them.. like i said before i never wanted to stay with them. It was just temporary" He gripped his tankard bending it slightly before chugging some more down. 

 

Alkor asked him if he wanted to join them and his eyes widened "Uhh..." He looked at Lessa. He was in no position to ask for anything, he wasn't a very trustworthy person to say the least judging by his original choices. "I don't know.. maybe I'm better off alone" better off with me~ The voice in his head teased him, he couldn't be alone again, he closed his eyes hard for a moment to endure the pain i don't want you here he opened them when the pain subsided and finished off the rest of his ale. 

[Lessa 1]

"Alkor!" Lessa said sharply, her eyes widening at his forwardness. Of course, she had been thinking the same thing. And she had considered asking Life to consider joining the Guardians. But she had not wanted him to feel pressured, or uncomfortable by her offer. Besides, Lessa had a lot of respect for Life, and she would not force him to question his initial choice if she could help it. Of course, it seemed that Alkor did not have these same reservations, and he did the asking for her.

She followed him with her eyes as Alkor moved across the room. Then, she turned back to Life. "I'm sorry about that," she told him, sighing softly. "Please understand that I would be honored to have you as a Guardian. However, I also do not want to put you in a tough position." Lessa moved her glass around, watching the liquid swirl inside.

"I will not speak poorly of another guild," she began, still studying her glass, "especially when I do not know its leader or many of its members." Then she lifted her gaze to meet Life's. "That being said, I am concerned by some of the things that you've told me, and that I've heard elsewhere. Ruling all of Aincrad? That is the most absurd thing that I have ever heard. All of the poor people trapped here do not need a ruler - they need a hero. I worry that your guild leader may fail to make a distinction between the two." She rapped her fingers on the table for a moment, lost in thought. Then, "I will work with your guild to clear floors, as that should be our top priority right now. But I will not take part in these silly extracurriculars, and should the need arise, I am prepared to argue against them. Does that seem fair?"

[Life 0]

He nodded carefully, he knew what she meant when she said they don't need a ruler. Argumail had lost his temper with L recently about him leaving, it seemed he was really needed. He sighed and played around with the rim of the cup "Thank you.. it means a lot to me hearing you say that but..." He paused for a moment, he really did want to join them. "I think I might have to stay with them a bit longer i mean.. if anyone can talk some sense into them it would be me.." Maybe they where a lost cause, maybe he should just give up with them. If the time arose where they got out of hand he would fight against them no questions asked. "I understand if you have to do what you have to do. There's no way i'd do anything to harm the players stuck in this game" He let a faint smile out "You really do care a lot about these people.. don't ever change that beautiful heart of yours" He got another ale and sipped it, thinking about the future ahead. "I want to fight on the front lines." His voice was stern and full of determination, with the crimson inquisition focusing on taking over the first and second floor by a certain date they're not very focused on breaking through the floor bosses. 

[Lessa 1]

Lessa took a sip from her drink to hide her embarrassed smile. But her blush was more difficult to conceal. "That is very sweet," she replied, truly pleased by his words. "SAO is a dark place, but I try not to let the darkness get to me. I've always been a pretty positive person. I don't want this game to change me." One finger traced the rim of her glass. "I think a little bit of light in this world could go a long way."

Then, as she reflected on the other things Life had told her, her smile faltered. Her face hardened, and she looked into his eyes. "If I may," she started, "I want to speak to you as a friend." She hesitated, then decided to put all of her cards on the table. "Like I said earlier, I respect any decision you make. I don't think that the Crimson Inquisition is 'evil,' nor do I think that all of its members are bad people." Her eyes bore into his. "But, I want to make sure that you're acting with your best interest in mind. When you talk about it, you make it sound as if the guild had you trapped or something. It should not be like that." Sighing, she sat back in her chair and moved her gaze back to Alkor. "You should find a guild that makes you happy. People that make you happy. That will make survival more bearable."

[Life 0]

He bit his lip frustrated with himself, he knew what the right thing to do was but he couldn't help but feel selfish for wanting to run off with them. "Sometimes you can't think about your own happiness, you have to do what's right even if the world heralds you as a demon and casts you into the flames" He closed his eyes and slouched back onto his chair "If everyones hate is thrown on to one person or say.. one guild then they can stop fighting amongst each other" He shouldn't be trying to convince her this was what he wanted but the words he spoke where true at least. He could stop the guild from doing anything too seriously bad and if they where hated then so be it. "Besides.. not everyone in the guild is bad.. there's Moartea, Akumu and myself.. maybe i should try and convince them to jump ship if the time arises, that time isn't now though.. we're only still scraping past the first 10 floors, there are still many battles ahead of us.. maybe in the future, i'll have to honour of fighting along side you and Alkor with a smile on my face but it's still much too soon, especially when everyone's still in a state of shock" He tried to fight back any of his emotions that would lead to tears and gritted his teeth, the voice in his head whispered non stop but it didn't seem to bother him as much as it normally would. 

[Lessa 1]

Lessa listened in silence, all of her attention on Life as he spoke. His speech had moved her just as it had moved him, and she found herself bothered by his words. He was painting himself as a martyr, taking everyone else's problems upon himself, and suffering for them. It was painful to watch.

She looked down at her lap, her hands clasped together there. Her blonde hair fell around her face, shielding her emotions like a veil. The young woman closed her eyes, and took a deep breath. Is that not what Alkor just accused me of doing? Taking everyone's problems on, and trying to make it work? Yet here I am, telling Life to do the exact opposite. She grit her teeth, squeezing her eyes closed tighter. I am such a hypocrite.

Finally, she looked back up to Life. Leaning across the table, she reached out and took his hand in her own. "Do whatever you think is best, Life," she told him, finally. Her voice shook, but the soft smile she gave him was genuine. "I will support you."

[Guest]

Alkor propped his feet up on the bar, prompting another hail of curse words from the NPC behind it. "If you ask me," he called offhand to Life, "there's enough about this game to hate without wasting time focusing your animosity on other players."

It was one of the reasons he resented player killers. Why would you go out of your way to kill someone in a game where everything was already trying to kill you? The statistics were so stacked against the humans who were surrounded on all sides by AI, just the concept of surviving was something that any sane person might laugh at. Why tip the scales any further in the wrong direction?

"But if you think you can cure the sickness, by all means, do it buddy." Alkor rose as Life finished speaking. "You can't keep treating symptoms, though." With a hand on the man's shoulder, Alkor's lips turned up in a soft smile. "The world- this one or the other one- is a hostile force. You can't take it on all by yourself. Don't forget that."

He took another sip of his drink, ever the alcoholic, apparently. "That's what Lessa's here for." He pointed to the tankard in front of Life. "And the ale. The ale's here, too."

[Life 0]

He nodded slowly, he knew they where right but he couldn't bring himself to accept it. "I guess.. I still have many commitments i need to fulfil first, i can't just leave even if they aren't the nicest people. I was promised a quarter of Aincrad, the southern part of it if i ensured their success" He hinted back to the mysterious setup he had shown Alkor before Lessa came. "I don't plan on ruling over it and i don't think i should continue to help them through this, i think it was time i had a guild meeting with them..." He downed some of the Ale "There is much to discuss but that was always the problem with the crimson inquisition. Most of them claim to be thinkers when they do not even come together to discuss pressing manners. That's the reason why I'm here after all. They just assumed your would join without taking you interests into consideration so i had to get your side of the story" He looked down, he had pretty much backstabbed his own guild with barely any benefit, if anything it exposed him. Argumail and Kazuya had killed before, maybe they'll do it again.

[Lessa 1]

As a few more bits of information regarding the guild's plan were revealed, Lessa's face hardened. So Life was not joking about the guild taking over Aincrad? Even the names of their ranks betrayed their true intentions. That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard, she thought to herself, shuddering. But Arg was a powerful player. She understood Life's fear, and could tell that his discussing this bothered him.

"I know Ryuu," she told him, softly, using the name Kazuya had given her when they first met. "He told me once that we were friends. I'd like to discuss this with him. I will be sure to leave your name out of it though, Life." She gave his hand another gentle squeeze. "Thank you so much for telling us all of this. I know how hard it must be for you. But I truly think that you did the right thing, for everyone. The Crimson Inquisition needs to stop concerning themselves with these side projects, especially considering we are only on the ninth floor. We have a long way to go, and frightening the players of Aincrad instead of raiding will do far more harm than good."

[Life 0]

L snorted "Ryuus the worst out of all of them if you ask me. His ego is larger than his sword" He took a swig at his ale. He was more scared for other players than he was for his own life to be honest, he didn't care what happened to himself. well just look at you, scared out of your mind? What happened to that cold blooded killer I met in my lair.. you where so... alluring.. i am not a killer!.. hmm.. that's not what i witnessed~ fufu we'll see about that my love~ the voice teased him like it was some sick twisted joke. He flinched in pain for the duration and chugged the rest of his ale to hide his pain. He felt the gentle touch of Lessas hand, he seemed to get light headed easily whenever the voice spoke to him. He rubbed the back of her hand gently and stared at it, he was still lost in thought. When he realised what he was doing he went red and looked away letting go of her hand quicky  "Anyway... thank you for all this, I needed to get this off my chest" He slid out of his chair and cleared his throat walking over to Alkor and patting his shoulder "You too Alkor.." He turned back to Lessa and smiled awkwardly "I think it's time we wrapped things up then.. it was great to see you two again" It was much too long, he thought. 

[Guest]

Completed.

All players gain 1 SP, Alkor foregoes Col, so Lessa and Life both gain 200 Col.