[OP-F1] Rainbows!!! And New Friends

[XWuZHeAR 0]

"Ah ah ah hahaha nothing happened last night! Ohhhh baldur you card!" I joked along nervously with baldur while staring at Olivia.

I had actually grown quite fond of my new friends and I didn't want them to think I was some sort of alcoholic. In my nervousness I quickly backflipped onto the stool begind me.

"Animatingly changing the subject! You there behind the counter! Send a PM to that info broker uh Marco I like the crowd he drumbs up!" I said to the owner while balancing on the stool.

"Already did! As soon as I heard you were performing I got fired up and sent a pm to every info broker worth there salt!" The owner said as I saw a large crowd heading this way from outside. I quickly and acrobatically made my way to the stage. I slung my guitar around my shoulder and quickly strummed all the strings to crack my fingers. As soon as I looked up the crowd had begun pouring into the cafe bigger than ever before.

"Alright alright let's do this!, I got a special song in order to comend some new friends of mine!" I yelled out to the crowd as I began strumming in a layback tune.

"Somewhere over the rainbow... Way up high..." I began to sing in the most angelic voice I could manage.

I looked down off stage to my new friends and gave them a little wink while singing.

[Alyss 0]

Alyss had been sitting in her chair the whole time just listening and basically waiting for an answer about if they did serve wine instead of that mtn dew, she might have dozed a little off as she had seen two new people join there table but had not yet set a word to em, as she accepted the gift from Ariel and did put on the scarf and did throw her jacket into her inventory as she said "Thank you, Miss Ariel its an honor to make your acquaintance, i'm Alyss, Happy to meet you and i be your to remember your name with the gift, and you were Baldur right?, i'm also happy to meet you sorry for the late introduction i was waiting for X to ask the bartender to come with something other then this" she said and held up the cup and then said "I already asked him just before you came over Ariel if they did serve wine here but he never did answer me its as if his ignoring me just to stare at Olivia, typical boys" she said and grabbed the cup and as people started to come in she did throw her cup cross the room trying to hit X in the head with the cup, as a thank you for ignoring me brat.

 

After having thrown the cup she smiled at the three at the table and said "So what are you and Ariel doing here anyways?, you two i don't think i seen before around this town, might have been cause you two took off before i did" as she looks towards Ariel and just smiles as she waits for there response, having not forgot about Olivia so she just moved her hand over just to touch the coat to try feel the fabric

[Baldur 0]

"Wine? I'm sure they have something. I was enjoying tea just a minute ago."

 

With his height leaving him at least a head taller than almost everyone around him, Baldur waved towards a player, a serving girl

 

"Sorry, but the lady here would like to know if you serve wine."

 

Baldur gestured towards Alyss, and the young woman bowed eagerly to them all.

 

"Yes, we have a limited selection though. Red or white?"

[Alyss 0]

Alyss smiled at Baldur and said "Thanks" to him as she turned her attention towards the waitress

 

"I would like Red, since White is not much my taste" she said and smiled sweetly at the waitress and then returned to look at the other people around the table it was quite impressive what they had going.

 

The day started out with her alone, now she was with two other lovely ladies and a young man, and some brat boy. She did feel quite lucky to have meeten all those new people out here.

 

"So how much do you think X is gonna pay us for being an idiot and jump into the pond and soak us from head to toe "

[Baldur 0]

Baldur cocked a wry grin towards Alyss, "Obvious the boy needs to take you and the young lady here," he gesticulated towards Olivia, "Over to a certain very generous tailor's shop," he indicated Ariel this time, "and buy you both brand new dresses. It's the only proper way to apologize, of course."

 

His blue eyes danced with laughter as he listened to the kid play old American tunes.

 

"He's pretty good though, I will say. It's been a long time since I listened to anything that wasn't J-pop."

[Alyss 0]

Alyss smirked as she heard Baldurs offer "That only sounds reasonable that he buy us some new cloth, cause she spoiled our starter gear, after all Ariel given us more then he have and she was not even the one soaking us in dirty water from the pond" she said as the waitress came down with glass and had a bottle of red wine in her other hand.

 

"Here you go miss" as she did place the glass and poured a glass of red wine and left again with the bottle.

 

"Yeah the kid is not that bad, but he still got no manners you should teach him some maybe he listen and become a gentleman" she said and laughed

[Baldur 0]

Baldur chuckled at Alyss's comment that he could teach X manners. That sounded like a raid he wasn't capable of soloing.

 

"I think I would have a better chance of soloing a floor boss." His eyes laughed again as he did, "but as a knight, it may be a worthy quest."

 

He turned a moment, to reach over to his old table and grab his cup of tea, taking a sip of the still mostly warm beverage.

 

"Still, for all his flaws, he has an infectious mood."

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

Ariel turned back as she heard a somehow familiar voice, she then next saw one of her clients,Baldur.If they were outside, this guy would shadow all of them with his height.  She silently listen to them making the proper greetings exchanges, then continued while taking a seat at the table: "Only X would jump in a puddle out of nowhere.. I don't know him that well though, we fought a field boss at the 2nd floor a while ago, but from his wild fighting style I could presume some aspects of his character, and guess I was right on spot:))."after baldur proposed the proper payment X should make for them, she showed a broad smile while continuing. "I guess you're right, but you girls can come to my shop, whenever you like. It's located in the snowy main town of the 4th floor. Its name is 'The Lion's Den' just look for a cozy building that has at the entrance a lion head wearing a crown.

 

Listening to X's song she remembered the first time she actually met him, it was at his shop's grand opening. He made her a couple of monster grenade. But her gaze got diverted to the waitress that brought in some red wine, "Did we ordered this?" she thought, but didn't powdered too much on it, must have missed it when the others ordered.Before the waitress left, she ordered a Green Lemon Ice Tea and directed her attention towards Baldur she had seen dozen of samurai imitations here, but something about this guy seemed different, except from the not-so-old fashioned fashion katana:

"Sorry to be so straightforward, but you seem like the usual samurai wannabe I get tired of encountering in this game. then again I can't shake the feeling that something at you is different from the rest..I don't know exactly why.. Do you have any direct contact with japanese culture? and please don't tell me you're an otaku, anyway you get points for that modern katana."

 

(FYI Ariel is half-japanese half-european, raised in japan:D

[Alyss 0]

She smirked and said "Thats so true, it would be quite the raid, i would not mind seeing that raid , hopefully you get to max lvl and unlimited sp for completing it, cause its impossible" she said and held out her glass of wine.

 

" A toast for stupid people like X" as she held her glass out to raise a toast.

 

and then turned her gaze towards the stage where X was still performing and trying to act cool to score some girls without any luck. but it was still quite the lovely sight to see she was not the only one that found him as a brat.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

I finished my performance and walked off stage heading towards the group. I noticed they were all hding up wine glasses.

"Really guys wine? Just because we're stuck in a middle ages type world doesn't mean we have to live like we are." I said as I changed paths to go to the counter.

"Break out the stuff." I said to the owner.

"X... no." He bluntly responded.

"Break out the stuff!" I yelled as I banged the counter.

"Fine but damnit I swear to god if you break another window..." Th owner sighed as he reached below the counter. He came back up with two clear bottles full of clear liquid. I took the bottles and some glasses he gave me over to our table.

"Alright were all taking one of these bad boys! Now this is a toast." I said as I opened one bottle and poured a small amount in each glass for everyone else.

I took the second bottle opened it then held it up.

"Cheers!" I said to everyone.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur raised his tea in toast with Alyss and chuckled softly, echoing her words, "To stupid people like X." He wore an amused smile on his face as he raised the cup to take another sip.

 

Then Ariel began asking her question. Baldur tried not to wince at the way it came out. Just another Samruai pretender like she hated in all the other games? Ouch. And hopefully he wasn't an Otaku? He figured everyone lining up for advanced limited pre-order for a Japanese VRMMO was an Otaku. Baldur steeped the bag of tea in his cup as he tried to think of a way to answer Ariel's question. How was he different? Was he?

 

"Hmm.."

 

"I suppose you could say I'm an Otaku, but perhaps I'm different in that I have actually studied." He didn't think that made any sense. "In the real world, I achieved first dan with the Katana, but I was also a championship fencer in college. I have studied martial arts my entire life, which is about how long I've been playing video games, and part of why I moved to Japan.." He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders, "I am sorry I don't have a better answer for you. This is just who I am."

 

When X finished his song, Baldur set down his cup of tea next to Alyss who was the only one drinking wine currently, and began to applaud loudly for the kid. Then he went over to the shopkeep and made a nuisance of himself, and Baldur could only shake his head with a rueful smile and sigh. He walked over with bottles of clear liquor.

 

"It's still too early in the day for that. I'm just going to enjoy my tea, but thank you."

[Alyss 0]

Alyss was looking towards the stage as the show ended, and was a little disappointed cause she knew that would mean X would come back to the table again.

 

Alyss had made a toast with baldur which she could easily see he was laughing his ass off cause of what they toasted for.

 

"Oooh watch out here comes X, and he brought what, i pass on that i stay with my wine that i at least know what is" she said and took a sip of her wine and smiled around.

 

"So X scored any girls?"

[Olivia Antheia 0]

For the most part, Olivia stayed silent through most of the conversation, drinking her "sacred tea" as she listened. The red coat helped to keep her warm, and the feeling of being around other people helped too. This is nice, she thought to herself, even if I was a bit embarrassed earlier... Olivia had not expected to have met Alyss and X in such an interesting way, but... It was an effective ice breaker? Hey, it got her a free piece of equipment from another person, that was always nice. X was playing a beautiful song, even if Alyss didn't seem to approve of it. Baldur suggested them getting some new clothes, something other than their current, standard clothing. Ariel mentioned "The Lions Den," a shop she ran on the fourth floor, to make armor. Olivia was starting to feel more comfortable around her new found acquaintances.

 

"I really appreciate all of this," she murmured to nobody in particular, tightening the red coat around her. "I'd love to see your shop, Ariel. If it's as lovely as this coat, I'm sure I'll love it." The girl beamed as her mood brightened, and she toasted with everyone else as they raised their drinks. I've finally found a few people, she thought. "To new friends!" She cheered, before downing the rest of her drink.

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

As she listened to Baldur's answer she couldn't restrain from smiling. She did understand him to some extend.. She was trained as well since she was able to hold a training wooden sword. But didn't have the luxury to choose hobbies like reading manga or watching anime..she was home trained by her father. A retired italian fencing world known champion.. and that would occupy almost all her free time, but she afforded one hobby, playing swordplay related games. She joined the toast with her iced tea, adding in the end:

"Well I wouldn't call X stupid..maybe undisciplined..lacking training." she then continued talking to Baldur:

"I do understand you..a little at least, If you're a 1-dan you can call me your senpai since I would be at the level of a 4-dan. Never actually been examined, but father taught me about kendo and bushido as part of my training, even examined me himself. But I started my training more earlier than most... since I was able to hold a s¡wooden training sword, he thought me the basics of swordsmanship.

I've tried the katana when I reached the age when I could chose the weapon in which I wanted to specialize, I think at about 13 or maybe a little more and in the end ended up with this.Choosing to step into my father's footsteps." She removes her rapier from her belt and places it on the table, with the pointy end towards the outside.

((Pic of the weapon she displays - "Thorny Nightmare" :

[XWuZHeAR 0]

After emptying about half the bottle I set it down on the table. This is great got some new friends had a hell of a time here. Alyss asked me about girls here so I decided to answer truthfully.

"I've seen a couple cute ones I might wanna talk too." I said to Alyss as I sat down laughing.

I looked around the shop wondering how I made it to here. Just an hour ago I was running on the rooftops. I took another drink from the bottle. And listened to what ariel had to say about me.

"Ariel, you know... I really am just an idiot. Like um... Imagine that nerve gear on my head... Yup I stole it." I joked to ariel while at the same time telling the truth.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur smiled at Olivia when she made her toast, and he echoed her words as well, "To new friends!" and then he took another long draught of his tea and then set the empty glass down. As Ariel pulled out her sword.

 

"It's a beautiful weapon. I really enjoy fencing, though I mostly only competed in college. I managed to place in the largest intercollegiate tournament, though only 7th, I feel like that was pretty good for my first attempt. Unfortunately school took over at that point, and I could only practice, instead of compete. Shortly thereafter is what I fell in love with the Katana. My first love, however, was always the long sword. I made my own wooden blades when I was a child, and handed them out to my friends and we would beat each other bloody playing with them and running around the hillside." Baldur's gaze suddenly grew distant, as if he were remembering something from long, long ago.

 

"I always wanted to be a Paladin, and the romantic notions of Bushido align well with those same principles. I've tried to live my whole life by those principles. In any game that would let me, I would play the Paladin or Knight or as close to it as I could get." he chuckled wistfully. "However when it came time to play the first VRMMORPG and they had a Katana as a weapon? How could I say no?"

 

Since Ariel had whipped hers out, it was only fitting that Baldur do the same. He pulled his Katana and saya out, then carefully drew the blade, but he held it against his forearm for the others to see rather than placing it on the table.

 

"It is named for the legendary sword Ama-no-Murakumo-no-Tsurugi - The Sword of the Gathering Clouds of Heaven."

 

 

 

 

Once everyone had a chance to see it, and they could tell he was obviously extremely proud of the weapon, he sheathed the sword away with a deft, practiced motion, and then slid it back onto his hip

[Alyss 0]

Alyss was following Ariel and Baldurs talk as she would toast to Olivia's toast "For new friends" as she took a sip of her wine.

 

Then first came Ariel showing off her weapon it looked quite beautiful compared to what she had her self since it was just a basic weapon nothing special about it at all.

 

Then came Baldur with his katana and like any other who respect there weapon did not put it on a dirty table "Those two weapon are quite beautiful compared to what you start with here" she said and pulled out her Kiri and did put on the table beside the Rapier and katana it looked more like a butter knife then a weapon, but then again would be a horrible butter knife due to the curved blade.

 

"This little thing is all i got so far, hopefully i find something else at some point" she said and smiled.

[Olivia Antheia 0]

The conversation about Baldur and Ariels' training soon began to surprise Olivia, learning about how hard they had trained and how much they had fought outside of SAO. Would it be easier if I actually fenced in real life? She wondered, especially as Ariel defended X. This left her a bit worried.. Maybe that was why she was so afraid of fighting, was because she had never done it before... Oh, who am I kidding. I would be scared either way if I was told I could die. She still was kind of scared, despite meeting two people who she had fought alongside. It was nerve racking to hear about the latest feats of the front-liners... All those people fighting... And dying... Just to escape. To free all of us. And here I am, sitting in a bar, letting them sacrifice themselves for me, for all of us. It's not right.

 

All of this raced through her head and more, but she tossed it away as if it was nothing. There were happier things to be talking about. Alyss lay down her weapon, and feeling like she'd be the odd one out, she felt the need to say something about it. "I mean, you know us starters!" Olivia chuckled nervously, a somber smile on her face. "Just kinda left to work with whatever we can get. Not that there's anything wrong for most of us, just trying to get by... It's not exactly a life of glory though, and doesn't bring in weapons as awesome as yours!" She swiped the air in front of her to bring up her HUD and spawn in her starter rapier--comparing it to Ariel's, she likened her weapon to be about as deadly looking as a rose's thorn. "But hey, now I've got this coat! That means something, right?" The red coat was tightened around Olivia's body as she let out a small giggle, which died down as she glanced downwards.

 

"... I was lucky enough to avoid most of the reasons to fight," the girl murmured. "I would never have been able to fight someone before I ended up here. Kind of a wimp back at school, never really got noticed much..." Quickly realizing that would really kill the happy mood of the conversation, she shook her head, looked up, closed her eyes and beamed. "Nothing like a game to get some friends, huh?" Time to find something to say about herself... "I chose a rapier because, uh... I'm a very avid plant lover... If that makes any sense... You know, thorns, poisonous plants, stuff like that...?" She gave another awkward laugh, trying her best to get into the conversation.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

I listened as oliva talked about her IRL life. She never really faught before and said she wasn't noticed in school. I personally didn't think she was that bad looking. After she finished I responded trying to keep the happy mood.

"Belive it or not back then in school I got into lots of fights. Over stupid things of course but somehow I always and I still do belive I am on the right side of things." I said with a joking attitude.

I took another drink from my bottle and had a little trouble swallowing it. I looked down at my cutlass just the starting one. I looked back up and continued to listen to everyone's converations.

[Alyss 0]

Alyss had noticed it was getting dark outside as she got up standing and said. "Lets call it a day shell we?, cause its getting dark, and you guys prob already have your own houses and stuff you need to get back to before its all too dark" as she took a last sip of her wine and then, did grab her Kukiri and placed at her side and then started walking out of the bar, and as she reached the door she looked back "Hope to see you all again some time" she said with a smile and left the bar.

 

She then went to the nearby orphan to help out lay the kids to bed and used one of there beds for her self.