[OP-F4] A Night to Remember [Limit: Reached] (Closed)

[Azide 0]

"I think we're alike in some ways, Rebekah," offered the brown-haired youth, though he hadn't felt it necessary to elaborate on the sentiment. Instead, he'd studied her features as she answered him, scanning for words which went unexpressed through her lips, but might otherwise be found in her eyes. "Is that hesitation?" he wondered, noticing the way her gaze faltered for a moment as she finished speaking.

"Are you worried?" asked Azide. He could sympathize, in this case, in spite of how it might come off to the average sibling. "It might sound horrible- to be afraid of a family member's return, but not every family works the same way," he thought. An image of his own folks flashed into his mind. "Even though I managed to break away before all of this, I could imagine how I might react if I'd found out that they'd me here." There was a certain darkness to the conflicting feelings brought on by such a scenario, but he accepted it.

[Rebekah 0]

Was she worried? That was an understatement to say the lease. She knew that more than anything it was going to be tough on her. The fact that she still had not met him worries her. Rebekah was not worried about him being okay, he is fine, however she knew he would fit well along with many of the most feared player killers. Perhaps even worst than Mari, but that was different since she still remember meeting Mari a long time ago, before she went on that rampage killing people. But she had doubted he had actually done anything yet, and that was what worried her. He is a mastermind strategist and looks out for nobody but himself. She was just more worried that things would get out of control, and that she would have to go to solve some of those issues.

 

"Well, whenever he shows up, I will be ready. In the meantime, there is no point over thinking what might happen," Rebekah spoke. She knew that regardless of what she said, she would still be thinking about it. It just gave her more ease at mind to not deal with that issue as much.

[Azide 0]

"I don't mean to impose, but maybe you could give me a description of this brother of yours," Azide suggested, though his intonation softened it into a question. After all, he figured that she might be reluctant to discuss her family any further. "I mean, what did I actually say about mine? Nothing concrete, that's for sure," he reflected. And this was assuming she'd even tell him in the first place. Him– someone she'd known for less than a night. "A name would help too," he added, "just on the off chance that he has a similar taste in usernames to his sister." He chuckled, hoping to lighten the mood.

"Also," Azide began; he brought a closed hand to his mouth and coughed. "If you happen to decide on entrusting me with that information, naturally it'd be useful for us to add each other," said Azide. He hadn't looked at Rebekah until after he'd made this second suggestion. Even then, it had only been a quick sideways glance of his eyes, just to gauge her response.

[Rebekah 0]

About that, she had completely forgotten to exchange friend requests on the interface panel that popped out with a few clicks. Well, she thought about how he would change his appearance but then realize that all players were given the gift of the mirror. That was why they looked like themselves in real life in this game. She spoke, "Tall, Blonde and really aggressive." It did not mean much but she had been on the outlook ever since last week to be honest. As for usernames, some people choose their real name such as herself, but she was thinking, he probably had more of a nickname or something that most people often use online for other games. That was why it would have been impossible to check unless you meet them.

 

"Well, at least you have less things to worry about," she replied. Although she knew that was probably a lie, as she had heard about the guild that he runs. It was a lot of responsibility trying to get a group of players together and to lead them, and that was why she had never created a guild. Unlike everyone else, she knew that even though she could challenge herself, it was a lot easier for her to join an existing guild.

[Azide 0]

"Tall and blonde, huh?" he repeated. He wore a wry smile, and found amusement in her characteristic vagueness. "With that sort of description, I just might end up finding your whole family before this time tomorrow." When he actually stopped to think about it, however, he realized that the only three blondes he'd actually met had been Ariel, Oikawa and Rebekah herself. But seeing as how her brother was decidedly male, the list of people that matching her broad description was cute down to a measly single player. "But unless Rebekah's last name is Tojo or something, I doubt her brother is the Japanese Oikawa."

His gaze faltered upon hearing the girl's next remark. Unexpectedly, her words cut him deeply. Not deeply enough to slice him in half, as he had done to more mobs than he could count- but it cut deep nonetheless. "Right..." answered Azide, his tone more pointed than before, and his eyes more narrow. "It's all rainbows and sunshine for Azide," he continued- his words sounding as if they'd been doused in bitterness and set alight. All things considered, he hadn't come to this cliff tonight for the hell of it. The longer their conversation had gone on, the further into his mind it had retreated. But it wasn't gone at all. No, it certainly wasn't gone at all.

"And yet, she couldn't possibly know that," he reminded himself. At least, that that was what the objective part of him had said. Whereas many people pictured their voice of reason as tiny angel on their shoulder, he preferred to think of his personal equivalent as a mini scientist. And that was enough for him. "Sorry," he said, with an overdue sigh.

[Rebekah 0]

Even though she had remembered that they had received a mirror as a present on the first day here, she knew that it was impossible to find someone, as the majority of the population in hit his game is hiding. However, she could feel Azide's tone shift, and wondered if she had said anything wrong. She thought about what she had said earlier, but then heard the word sorry. That was strange, but she was not going to push the envelope any further. She was finally tired of laying down on the ground, so she got back to sitting upright with her legs dangling over the edge.

She was somewhat lost on something to say, but replied, "Maybe I will not run into him." She knew it was a lot easier for her to avoid that meeting for as long as possible.

[Azide 0]

"Maybe not at first," he corrected. He kept his glance to the side as he spoke. "But if it turns out that your rumor has credence, then I believe it'll only be a matter of time before he finds you." He shifted himself on the ledge and pulled his legs back from their spot against the cliffside. After crossing them, he went right back to the conversation.

He brushed his cheek once with the knuckles of his right hand before unfurling it. "Usually, the only time I would quote anyone is in a witness statement or in a research paper, but in this case I'll make an exception."

He turned back to the girl, his expression having softened back to their norm. A part of him still heard her accusation- her implications of having less to worry about. It clung to a faint desire to coldly rebuff her. "She's wrong," it told him. But this was not his debate team. There were no points to be scored, and all that would come of such a decision would be bitterness. She had been his company tonight, and had listened to him. It'd be childish to act so pettily, and turn their worries into some sort of competition. And so he silenced these thoughts.

"I apologize in advance for making another historical reference, but Benjamin Franklin once said, 'Those who fail to plan, plan to fail.'" He let the quote sink in for a moment before speaking up again. "Maybe I'm wrong, and you'll never see him. Maybe the rumor will turn out to be false. But what I mean to say, is that it can't help to be prepared."

[Rebekah 0]

Up until that moment, something had felt off. Azide was not 'himself', or at least not himself until he referenced another quote. That was the guy that he had met hours before, so he was back to normal again. Thankfully, he did not seem too bothered by her last comment. But she sort of felt the damage had been done, or at least for now, maybe she could make it up some other time? After all, she did enjoy trying to provoke someone, for some fun, however, this time it was the first time in a while where she did not do it intentionally. Whether or not he would believe her, is a completely new story.

 

"I really hope so, that I do not ever see him in this game," she replied. It had been such a long time since she had last seen him, but she could still remember what was the last thing that he had done, and it was not pleasant. She knew things were rumors for a reason, and she only heard a simple description of a player's personality, which vaguely resembled it, but not completely. That was the mystery after all, as people sharing common personalities are more common than sharing physical traits, or at least that was how it worked in her mind.

[Azide 0]

"For your sake, I hope so too," he said, nodding in agreement. He didn't know her family, but he trusted this girl's judgement. Normally, he might chalk up a rational explanation on how this might actually be her own fault, but the dysfunctional family was a subject that hit close to home. It was a story that he could buy.

He stretched his arms out wide, and brought a hand back to cover his mouth as a yawn made its way through him. His shoulders had gone slack over time, and he found himself having to correct for the droop that slowly enticed his head back toward the ground. His eyes were as sharp as always, though not as wide as they had been. How long had it been? "Long," he realized. He'd never been one to get very much sleep, and being trapped here in SAO had only marginally helped with that little deficit. And yet the call of sleep had slowly but surely worked to lure him into its embrace.

He glanced down at his wrist, only to remember that he had no such watch in this game. The virtual interface could probably give him an idea, though he couldn't be bothered to fiddle around with it at this hour. "If I stay here for much longer, they're going to find me buried under about ten feet of snow," he remarked. "And as cool as that sounds, I figure I'm going to have to head back to the old shop before I black out." He turned his face to Rebekah, looking a bit weary. "We should go hunting, sometime," he offered. It'd been a while since he'd exchanged more than banter with anyone else, and it refreshed him in a way.

[Rebekah 0]

Before she knew it, they had been talking all night long. Even though it was not exactly morning yet, she knew that it was almost time to leave this place and head back into reality. However, that hunting trip had caught her attention, as the other small worry on her mind, was that even someone such as herself is out of materials. "I'll be interested in that," Rebekah replied. She knew that a hunting trip was something that she was looking forward to, as doing it by yourself is quite boring to say the least. It had been a fun night, but even she was starting to feel the effects of exhaustion from staying up all night. Thankfully, she could just sleep inside of her shop on the 4th floor, and did not have to go far, or burn a teleportation crystal.

[Azide 0]

The brown-haired male rose to his feet and cleared himself of the loose snow that'd accumulated on his clothes and in his hair. Even after his efforts, quite a few of the pesky flakes continued to cling to him all over, but he was content enough to let it go.

The view over the cliffside was as peaceful as ever, and the stars still twinkled in all of their delicate beauty. He wasn't sure how much longer they would be around, but he'd appreciated the sight of them tonight. It was almost a shame- that the night would soon be over.

"You said you had a shop on this floor," he said, turning his eyes to Rebekah. With a warm (but tired) smile, he offered a hand to the still sitting girl. "I get the feeling you like having your independence here in Sword Art Online," he remarked, his mind drifting back to the few words she'd spoken of her family life. "But would you mind if I walked with you?" he asked.

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah was still staring out into the distance when Azide had interrupted the silence. As he offered his hand to walk her back, there was no way she was going to reject an offer. Even though she considered herself one of the middle level players on Aincrad, she knew that as a girl it was still dangerous to be wandering by herself late into the night. Then again, she had arrived at this place by herself without any trouble, but it was one of the few things that she had tried to avoid, but not to a high degree of success. That said, Rebekah had not been attacked late at night by a player yet, monsters have gone after her, but she was easily able to kill those that came around.

 

She took up his offer, and let him help her up off the ground and onto her feet. It had been a while since she had meet someone as chivalrous as Azide in Aincrad. Most of the time, guys just left as soon as the event or party was over, but this was the first time where someone had offered to walk her home, in quite a while.

[Azide 0]

Rather than entertain him with a verbal response, Rebekah had instead chosen to simply take his hand without uttering a word. As he pulled her up to her feet, he couldn't help but hold back a laugh, covering his lips with the back of his hand. "I've probably said this a few times already tonight, but you're awfully quiet, you know."

He shifted his eyes to look more closely into hers. They reminded him of the slight blue sheen that one might see in ice if it caught the light in just the right way. A glow seemed to pervade them, and in the night that surrounded the two, they carried a quality that was almost luminescent. "Thinking about stuff, maybe?" he asked, with a slight tilt of his head.

A shrug of his shoulders freed her from any obligations to answer his question. It'd become increasingly clear to him that she was the type that preferred to reveal things at her own pace. It wasn't his place to impose.

With a few steps forward, he turned looked over his shoulder expectantly. "We'd better get going now, or we're going to be here until the sun comes up," he teased.

[Rebekah 0]

Well, it was not that she did not feel like saying anything. But, since she had pretty much shown her intention by taking his hand, there was no reason for her to say anything. Although someone such as Azide can argue that you should say something as well, she knew that it would be sufficient for her purposes today. Rebekah was actually no thinking about anything at that moment, if he would believe that, but there was no point arguing. She waited for him to lead the way, then she started walking with him. As he turned around to make that joke, she knew that she would actually have to respond to this one, instead. "Aren't you leading the way?" she quizzed him over it, making sure that she stayed relatively beside him the entire time as they started to walk.

[Azide 0]

Azide blinked wordlessly as she questioned him, then answered with a nod of his head. He scratched lightly at his cheek, and shot her a playful glance as the girl came to stand beside him. The two turned to face to the trail and began their trip down the rolling, snowy slopes as the snowflakes continued to drift slowly down. As they carried in the whispering breeze, he was reminded of fuzzy dandelion seeds that'd taken to the skies.

Their amble was a somewhat tedious labor, truth be told. Trudging through the snow at this hour wasn't exactly what he'd describe as a glamorous act. Yet, here he was; and he didn't hate it. Here on this snowy path, under a snow-covered canopy with frosted trees on both sides- it was almost like their own private parkway. A frozen, unforgiving parkway, but private. Peaceful.

"It's a little funny for me to take the lead, don't you think?" asked Azide. He turned his head to face her, but had to tilt it downward just the slightest bit. "Maybe not laugh-out-loud funny, but interesting. Usually, it's the higher leveled player that tends to do that." He raised a hand to his chin, framing it with his thumb and index finger before speaking again. "So it's a little unorthodox, but it feels a little more personal that way."

He wove his fingers into his nutty locks and scratched at his head as he turned his eyes back on the road. "Maybe that sounds like nonsense, but that's what I was thinking about," he said, chuckling softly.

[Rebekah 0]

As they made their way down the seldomly used trail, he had spoke once again. This time it was about why Rebekah was not leading him down the trail. Although she was a few levels higher than Azide, Rebekah knew that what he said would make no logical sense in the real world. "Aren't you a guy and older than me?" she teased. She knew that in this game, this would be a valid point in a life or death situation, especially when battling a boss, but this was neither of those situations in which she needed to take the lead. After all, it does feel refreshing once in a while to not lead something, since she was typically been the higher level player in most of her adventures so far.

[Azide 0]

Rebekah answered his question with a question of her own, to which he again replied without skipping a beat. "That's exactly what I'm getting at," he chimed. A gloved hand made its way back to his hair as he brushed away even more of the snowy flakes. Sweeping fingers dusted them from his head like small brooms, and he turned back to the girl beside him. "What I mean is that it's moments like these have been few and far between for me here, here in Aincrad. It's nice to have a bit of normalcy every now and then. Don't you think?"

His eyes drifted down the sloping path, spying nothing ahead at the moment. "It's nice to be able to walk around at night, without keeping a hand ready to draw my sword."

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah was not expecting that type of response. She was thinking that Azide was going to talk about how at the current situation it is in the best interest for both of them to have herself leading the way. It took her a second to find the right response, "Well, these moments of normalcy happen far more often than you think." Rebekah replied. Perhaps it was because she was a girl, and in most of her adventures, especially when she was a lot weaker, it was the guy who was trying to protect her, tanking up the aggro on the boss. She also added, "You have the option of being normal by real life society's standard, or Aincrad's standards. It is all about what you choose to do."

[Azide 0]

He aimed a quick glance over his shoulder as Rebekah began to speak. Not wanting to appear rude, he kept the gesture brief, before returning his attention to the girl that'd accompanied him for however many hours they'd been out there for- he hadn't been counting. Their footsteps trailed back further than he could see, until they became lost to the horizon.

Ahead of them, the edge of Snowfrost Town began to come into view. It wasn't a place he'd spent much time in- but it was the teleporter that he was interested in. Even if he'd been in the possession of a Teleport Crystal, he'd never be able to justify using it so frivolously as to shave a few minutes off of his commute. Indeed, he felt content to let his own two feet do what they did best.

"Choice..." he repeated. He turned his eyes to the side, taking into consideration the musing she'd imparted upon him. After a moment, his eyes drifted back to her, and he nodded. "I guess you could say that there's a time and place for both. But right now, I'm liking real life a little more," said Azide. He grinned, then turned his gaze back to the town ahead.

[Rebekah 0]

"Who wouldn't like real life?" Rebekah replied. Life here in Aincrad was in fact virtual, and she knew that as soon as they all escape, everyone would held their own direction in life. It was just something that she had been used to, when the common thing that binded people together was gone, everyone would go their separate ways. She thought of the world that hopefully one day she would be able to return to, but she knew that with only 1/10th of the floor raids cleared, and the clearing team had only cleared about 2 floors in the last 9 months was relatively slow progress.

 

Rebekah was used to this walk, she had walked everywhere, as she never had a teleportation crystal present, she found it as relatively needless, as many dangerous places were anti-crystal, so why bother. Even though she detested going back, she knew that hopefully this was just a temporary stop in life before continuing onwards, or at least she hoped she would escape. That said, she enjoyed tonight talking with Azide, and would be interested in meeting up some other time in the near future. That said, these memories in this games are ones that she will have forever, no matter if they may seem virtual, as they were living in this world.