{COMPLETE} [PP-F3] Acquainting Themselves (Piera)

[Jomei 0]

Jomei took a deep breath of the clean, fresh air that occupied the Third Floor town of Delilah Village. It was a small, county like town. The air smelled of flowers, for the surrounding fields were covered in dandelions and other flowers. It was a place Jomei did not venture to very often, but was definitely one of the most peaceful among those floors that were  unlocked. 

Jomei found himself sitting in the outdoor portion of a cafe on said floor. He was sitting alone at a table usually meant for two, sipping on a cup of tea. His chair rocked as he leaned back on forth on its back legs, looking up at the few fluffy, white clouds in the sky that just added to the beautiful scenery of this town. He had a slight smile on his face, taking a break was something he was not able to do much nowadays. He had been so busy with training and fighting in the Season that he barely had any time for himself. He looked down at the table when he heard light tapping on the surface of the wooden table, to see his owl, Adere, was hopping towards the small plate of meat Jomei had purchased for her. He smiled and picked up a smaller slab and held it up for her to eat, swallowing it whole as owls do. Jomei was finally happy to have Adere as a companion on his quests. She reminded him a lot of his old home in the real world, and felt it was a strong influence to get himself back to the real world. Jomei scratched her on her cheek, Adere turning her head almost 90 degrees so Jomei was now scratching the top of her head. He chuckled at the owl, and took another sip from his tea. 

[Piera 0]

The third floor was quite quaint, in the best of ways, at least from what Piera had seen of it so far. Lee was off leveling with a friend so she took the opportunity to do a bit of exploring. She hadn't been past the second floor yet and felt quite adventurous for having done so. Delilah Village sort of reminded her of Maine, though admittedly a lot prettier and with more people. Though compared to the previous two floors, there was practically half the population she was used to. She took a leisurely stroll through the village until she came across a little cafe with a nice outside patio where two or three patrons were enjoying themselves. One of them even had a familiar! A cute little owl that was getting its' head scratched by its' ginger haired owner.... "Jomei?" Piera questioned with a curious smile, stepping closer. Seeing his face now, and of course his name above his head, she grinned and raised a hand in greeting. "Hey. Haven't seen you in a while. How're you doing?"

[Jomei 0]

Jomei heard his name being called. Huh.. didn't think anyone was around. He picked his head up and looked at the oncoming figure to see if was Piera. "Oi, Piera! Good to see you lass" He gave her a smile and a slight wave. It had been a short while since he had first met the girl along with Lee in Tolbana square on the First Floor. That night ended pretty.... strangely. Well he proved he was strong enough to beat his friend Lowenthal in a duel, so that was good enough for him. He extended his hand out to the empty chair across from him to Piera, offering her a seat. "Yeah, its been quite awhile since we first met on the first floor. Im done fine myself honestly, tired from all the training I've been doing. How about yourself? Making trips up to this floor now already I see" he lightly chuckled, "Wheres Lee though? Thought he'd usually be with you." He knew the two were obviously individual human beings who could do their own thing, but figured hed ask how the girl's... boyfriend? he wasnt sure.. seemed like it... yeah..  how he was. 

[Piera 0]

Piera couldn't help but smile more at hearing Jomei's accent. It wasn't thick like her dad's, but still noticeable. It made her a bit wistful. "Good to see you too." Nodding in acceptance at his offer for her to take the empty seat across from him at the table, she pulled it out and sat down comfortably before staring interestedly at the owl on the table. She listened as he mentioned how it'd indeed been a while and what he had been doing in the meantime before asking her the same. "Heh, yeah this is actually the first time I've ever been above floor two. Seems worth it so far though. I've been doing a bit of training myself. With Lowenthal, Lee and another friend. Separately though." She didn't want to think that they were excluding him or anything. "It's paying off though, I'm already level seven actually." She knew that it wasn't much compared to Jomei's own level, but it felt like quite an accomplishment to her. As he brought up her other half she nodded. "You'd be right. We are usually together more often than not. He's off doing his own training with a friend right now. I'm keeping an eye on him though. What about you? Who's your new friend?" She gestured to the owl with a curious smile.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei smiled at her as she took a seat. It was nice having new company, and since he did not have the chance to formally meet Piera last time they were together, he was happy to get to know her now. He nodded as she mentioned who she has been training with, "Ah, good training partners indeed. And a new friend as well? Hah, really moving up in the world. Anyone I might know?" Jomei knew of many other players willing to help out newer people, even some players of lower level who assisted, so he would not be surprised if he knew the name of the man or woman who trained with Piera. After all, if someone else was as helpful as he hoped he was.. he hoped to make friends with them as well... Hell, maybe even make a guild for helping out newbie players. "Level Seven now? Thats great!" his smile was bright and true as he placed his hands on the table, leaning forward a but in excitement. No, level seven was not a high number... But to have shot up 6 levels since the last time the two had met was quite a feat. "Ive done a little bit of leveling myself.. not as much as you though" he chuckled and scratched at the back of his head. Just like all other video games, the higher the level you were, the tougher it was to bring in more experience points. At Piera's response to Jomei's question about Lee, he nodded. "Thats good to hear that he's off training. You guys need to be strong so you can protect each other" he laughed at his comment. He really enjoyed the fact that the two were able to bring such an awesome relationship into Sword Art. Still made him wish he could say the same about himself.

Jomei's attention was turned to Adere, who had already grabbed another sliver of meat in her beak and let it slide down her throat. He chuckled happily, "This is Adere! I met her in the forests of Floor Two a couple of days ago." He scratched gently at her chin, Adere making a low 'coo'ing' noise. Adere was a small Tawny owl, almost looked like she could have been very young because of her size. Her eyes almost seemed too big for her head, but her fully developed, beautiful brown and white feathers said otherwise. Her attention then turned to Piera, and she hopped forward to greet the new friend. "Theres a quest that one can randomly get where they're given the opportunity to find and tame a familiar of their own. They're becoming quite common now, where they weren't when the game first started. But thats not a problem, just means more friends for Adere here." 

[Piera 0]

Piera smiled and nodded before her head tilted at his question of if her other friend was anyone that he might know. Shrugging she replied, "Dunno. You seem like you could know lots of people. She's around my level though, so not sure. Really tall, beautiful long red hair. Username is Carmine. She's really awesome." Her smile widened into a grin at the last bit of information. That was a key factor of the other girl's personality after all.

 

At his congratulations on her new accomplishment she couldn't help but smile to her lap a bit bashfully. It still felt good even if it wasn't a huge leap. She looked back up as Jomei as he mentioned that he himself had done some leveling. Her eyes widened in impression, "Wow. You're like at least level twenty right? I don't even wana think about how long it took you to level up. Well you deserve it. I know how hard it is to level when you get higher, it didn't take much to get me to seven honestly." She admitted with a sheepish shrug.

 

Piera's polite smile turned warm as Jomei stated that it was good they were both training so that they could protect each other. The brunette nodded and said, "I always thought that he would be doing the protecting. But I'm starting to feel that I can do my part to protect him too. It feels good." Even though she couldn't be his tank, she could do her best to kill anyone that tried to hurt him. And that was one of the best feelings.

 

She watched as the mini owl nibbled down bits of meat as Jomei explained her name and origins as the small fowl hopped forward towards her. Piera wanted to pet Adere, but felt that would be too forward. Instead she met the owl's large eyes and greeted, "Hello Adere. Nice to meet you. I'm Piera. I wish I had a treat to give you or something, sorry." She smiled up at Jomei and complimented, "She's beautiful. I've seen players around with little animals and such but not more than like three or five. And never an owl." She winked at Adere winningly. "Just out of curiosity, why do you think everyone's getting familiars now? Just for company or are there actual in game uses?"

[Jomei 0]

Piera began to explain her friend that had been helping her level with talking about her looks. Jomei sat back in his chair and crossed his arms listening, she did sound quite familiar, especially her being tall, beautiful, and had long red hair... or did she mention her hair was beautiful...? Thats when she mentioned the name as Carmine, and it was exactly who he was expecting. Jomei's face lit up as he sat forward a bit, "Carmine has been helping you out? Thats great! Im happy to hear she's making her way around meeting new people as well." He still had a wide smile on his face as he spoke about the girl. "Yeah, she is really cool..." his gaze moved down to the table as his eyes partly closed, but looked at ease and happy. 

 

Jomei nodded happily, "Yup, level twenty exactly actually. Nice guess" he chuckled. "Well, I could probably be a higher level.. but I was pretty lazy for quite awhile" he scratched his cheek, a bit ashamed of himself, laughing. "Thanks.. Well, theres a lot of people a lot stronger than me.. so level 20 is really nothing. But I appreciate the compliment." Jomei chuckled when Piera sheepishly admitted she didnt do much to get to level seven, "Hey! Leveling is leveling, doesn't matter what you do to get there." Jomei smiled back when she began talking about her and Lee being able to protect each other equally, "I know how that feels. its a very good feeling, especially knowing you'll always have each others backs." 

 

As Adere hopped forward to Piera, she noticed the hesitation towards petting her. Adere cocked her head slightly to the side before hopping forward again, rubbing her small head on Piera's arm, wanting to be scratched. Jomei smiled and laughed, "She's very friendly, and looks like she's taking a liking to you." For a familiar that was once a wild, hunting bird.. Adere was one of the friendliest animals he had ever seen. Jomei scratched at the hairs on his chin, "Not sure, I guess its just become more of the norm for people here.. and the quest isn't too hard. Just might take you awhile.. two days in my case.." Jomei thought back to when he almost had a run in with some PKers back when he was searching for Adere. "Some familiars are just.. cosmetic.. for lack of a better term, some of them do help out players in battle though." Adere had hopped into the air and landed on Jomei's shoulder, "Like Adere here helps me out in battle by helping me pinpoint the enemy.. so I meet my mark more often." ((Fancy way of saying +1 to BD))

[Piera 0]

Piera blinked as Jomei mentioned Carmine by name, as if he knew her and apparently he did. Grinning at the coincidence, the brunette replied, "Yeah! I um..well I just bumped into her one day (literally) and we just really hit it off, did a quest together a few days ago." She noticed the ginger's very content expression and wondered if there was anything special behind the reason, but put it out of her mind...for now. "Yep, coolest chick in SAO."

 

"Twenty exactly? Nice!" She complimented him. To be honest, she had thought he was a few levels higher, but she probably wasn't the best judge of levels. But as he explained that his level was nothing since there were plenty of players stronger than him, she nodded seriously. "I mean I got the impression that you and Lowenthal were really high level and not just because Lee and I are like ridiculously low either. But I guess you guys aren't on the front lines every day or anything. Not that that's a bad thing! That would be...pretty..." Horrifying? Nauseating? Exhilarating? "...Yeah." She finished, letting the silence speak for itself as she shook her head, trying to shake off the unsettling feeling going down her spine.

 

Hearing Jomei mention about how he knew how it felt to have another person's back and them have yours made her ask with curious smile, "Do you have someone special?"

 

Adere's adorable appeal for attention certainly helped and Piera gave a small chuckle as she finally gave in and raised her right hand to begin scratching the little owl on top of her head before working down to a little between her eyes. "You are really friendly, huh? Isn't that weird for a bird of prey like her? Maybe it's just because she's been tamed?" She asked her owner. "I'm not sure it's an especial liking she's taken to me, so much as another pair of hands to scratch her itches and possibly feed her treats, heh. Not that I mind." The brunette added with a smile as she moved to Adere's ear tufts.

 

Her hand stilled when Jomei mentioned how long the quest took though. "Two days? Jeez... Why so long?" Maybe other quests took a while to complete and she just hadn't heard of them? It wasn't like she had much experience on the matter after all. As Jomei explained what sort of things Adere helped him with, Piera's eyebrows raised. "That's certainly helpful. I keep missing monsters right in front of my face and that's with an awesome spear Lowenthal gave me that has an accuracy buff." She sighed, resting her left elbow on the table and her chin on her left hand.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei smiled warmly as Piera continued to speak about Carmine, "Hah that sounds awesome. I met her after a night in a pub.. someone was giving her some trouble so she stormed out of the place. I went after her and consoled her, and after that I took her to get something to eat.. and we really hit it off." By now Jomei had a slight pinkness to his cheeks as he held his cup of tea in his hands.. "B-but let me not get off topic!"  Jomei scratched at the back of his head. It was quite.. er.. obvious.. that Jomei had small feelings for Carmine. However, since the two have no had many occasions together yet, he could not be so sure her feelings, or his deeper feelings for that matter. Despite, he wanted things to work out.

Jomei's smile turned into a slight frown when the front lines were mentioned. Jomei never thought about even trying to join those strong players fighting to clear the game. He would probably get laughed at for even trying. Lucky for him, he wanted to enjoy his time in Aincrad while it lasted, not risking his life every day. "Yeah.. The front lines are not a place for me.. Id rather.." he scratched at his arm, thinking of the best word to sum up his feelings "..survive..?" he slightly shrugged his shoulders as he said this. Wanting to survive was obvious, but what he really meant out of it was to live life to the fullest while he could. 

 

Jomei sighed and took a sip of his tea when asked about a significant other. "No.. I do not.." he had a hint of sadness to his voice. Jomei was quite.. unlucky in that field. "I.. care about someone right now.. kinda.. But in that field I've been more than.. 'unlucky' lately." his eyes darted off to the side as he took another quick sip. There was a difference in tone between being 'unlucky' as in not finding someone.. and unlucky in other senses.. Jomei's tone was a combination of both, leaning more towards the latter. He tried to bring his mind off of it by giving Piera a slight smile, "Just, do me a favor... Lee too.. Keep each other safe... I want to see you both make it out of this."  He sighed through his nostrils after saying this, giving her a half smirk.

 

"Most likely because she's been tamed. I mean.. she's also a youngling."  He smiled as he noticed Adere's satisfied face from being scratched all over. He couldn't help but laugh at her adorableness. When Piera asked about the quest and why it took two days, Jomei slightly bit his lip and looked to the side. It was an equally embarrassing and horrifying story. "Well.. I decided to trek out into the forests of Floor Two a little later than I should have.. The first time I ran into another owl, I was not able to tame it.. so I had to travel out a bit more. I lost my bait from the first attempt.. and then it got too dark to travel, so I found shelter." Jomei took a nervous gulp of his tea before proceeding, "Then in the middle of the night.. I almost had a run in with a group of PKers.. and.." Jomei shook his head and stopped himself. "Sorry id... rather not talk about that part. Anyway, it was not until afternoon of the next day I finally found Adere here."

[Piera 0]

Piera listened as Jomei explained the occurrence of his meeting Carmine that sounded vaguely similar to hers, except for the part where someone was upsetting her, which of course made her worry a bit, but she was glad that it all seemed to work out in the end at least. She was more interested in the ginger's blush as he said that they had hit it off quite well before becoming flustered and changing the subject. Her lips twitched in a smile she tried to minimize, no need to get carried away. Yet. She'd develop a clearer opinion on the situation once she saw them together. Which would hopefully be sooner rather than later.

As Jomei agreed that the front lines weren't for him because he'd rather, and he too left a rather telling pause before saying 'survive', causing her to bark a short dry laugh of agreement, giving him a nod. "I hear ya. I applaud the players that are on the front lines, risking their lives to get us all out of here, or perhaps just themselves. But that's not for us I guess. I'm content just surviving as well, and enjoying the little things." She relaxed in her chair, leaning back a little.

Piera watched as Adere stared at her a little more intently than before and wondered why, while simultaneously trying to listen to her friend about his unluckyness. She perked up when he mentioned that he did have a sort of crush on currently and immediately she wondered if it was Carmine, given his earlier reaction. "Oh? Well at least that's something. And I don't think you've been unlucky per se, the timing just wasn't right. Either or them or for you. These things take time. Think of it like this, with thousands of people all trapped together in a death game, it's bound to bring people together! See? Silver lining." She laughed a little.

When the Irishman asked her to do him a favor, she nodded immediately, though her head tilted as he asked that Lee do the favor as well and she smiled a little sadly at the request, matching his smirk. "You know you're the second person to ask me that. Though the other demanded that I promise. I can however do my best to do that favor for you. For us both." Her voice spoke lightly, but her green eyes were heavy and serious as she met his olive ones across the table.

Sighing heavily from the rather heavy talk, Piera focused back on lighter and smaller subjects as she looked back to Adere, who was still staring at her with those adorable big eyes. The brunette slowly tilted her head to the right....which the owl did as well, and then to the left, which was likewise repeated. Grinning at the little owl, Piera shook her head, not meaning to be copied, but that action was mimicked as well, causing her to laugh. "She's so cuuute!"

The spear-woman looked back up at Jomei as he told her of his quest to tame a familiar and her smile completely dropped when he mentioned almost running into a PK group. "Jomei..." She whispered with horrified worry. Obviously things worked out, or he wouldn't be sitting with her currently, but she couldn't help but still feel concerned. Since he specifically said that he didn't want to talk about it, she bit her tongue to keep herself from prying and instead stated, "Well Adere here sure seems worth it. You're such a good little owl, huh? Yeeeeesss." Piera cooed at the fluffy bird of prey, giving her another scratch on her head, this time between where her cheek and chin, or beak, would be.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei sat back in his chair again, the back legs creaking as he rocked back and forth. He crossed his arms and smirked as Piera laughed, "Yeah. I appreciate everything those guys have done for us. But just like the militaries back in the real world.. Ill support them from where I am" he smirked. "I want to be able to enjoy my life here.. it was a dream came true for me to live in a world like this, so might as well make the best of it rather than risking my life to get out so quickly." As he leaned his chair backwards, he looked up at the sky, past the small umbrella that was blocking their view of the sky above them. His lips curves into a smile as he saw the bright blue sky and beautiful clouds. He let his chair fall back down into the right position as he grabbed at his cup of tea, which was nearly empty. 

 

Piera tried to bring light to Jomei's 'girl situation.' He smirked as he looked across the table at his owl for a moment, and then closed his eyes.."Well.. by 'unlucky' I meant that.. " he lightly sighed, "..well, upon realizing my exgirlfriend and her boyfriend were in this game.. he decided to try and pummel me into the dirt.. again... like he did in the real world.. As for.. after that.. the girl who you may have heard us mention before, Ahti.. Well like you know, Lowenthal and I both had feelings for her, unknown to each other.. Both of us seemed to not gain any grounds with her.. before she vanished from our lives.. Not long after that, a girl named Zandra began to show me slight affection and I.. guess I started to fell the same way. Again.. she disappeared. Im not sure if either of them died or just.. moved on to more important things.. But its just gotten me a little cautious is all. I don't want the same thing to happen with Ca-" he had spaced out while talking about his situation.. not realizing he almost slipped saying Carmine's name. "Anyways, y-yeah, highly unlucky haha! S-so tell me more about you and Lee!" He finished off the rest of his tea. 

 

Jomei let out a relieved smile and nodded, "Heh, I'm guessing Lowenthal was the person that made you promise." he placed his elbow on the table, his arm standing upright so he could rest his chin on his fist. He closed his eyes, "Thank you." 

 

He gave Piera a quick glance as she began to talk more about Adere and how cute she was. His eyes said, 'Thank you' to her for getting his mind off of such serious topics. He did not want to mention that he listened to the horrifying screams of a defenseless player as the PKers slaughtered him in the forest.. and that Jomei was too scared to even move.. He knew that would not be something she would want to hear, so he made sure to keep it to himself.. for both of their sakes. "Aye, she was completely worth it." Jomei reached across the table to scratch Adere's back, who then turned around to face Jomei. She hopped onto his wrist and walked up the length of it to perch on his shoulder once again. 

[Piera 0]

Piera nodded in understanding as Jomei compared the front liners to the real world's military and how he supported them both in the same way, from a safe distance. When he mentioned that it was a dream come true to live in a game she stated wryly, "Lee said the same thing. This world...it isn't so bad. As long as you don't think about our real bodies and how they're holding up." She shrugged before trying to add positively, "But you're right. There are a lot of perks. No more worrying about going to the bathroom. Disease. On the other hand, I really miss the internet." The brunette chuckled, shaking her head as she watched him tip back his chair, balancing on the back two legs. It made her wonder if he could fall. 

 

Looking back up from the chair's legs to Jomei's eyes, Piera's eyebrows raised as he told her of his unluckiness. She was silent as he explained, and by the time that he was done, she really got the feeling that he was unlucky... "Jeez Jomei... What happened to Luck o' th' Irish? I...I mean I want to ask if there's anything I can do to help, though I'm not sure what I can do. Can I help at all?" The brunette was honestly a little concerned for his mental state if nothing else. That was a lot of crappy things to happen in likely a relatively short amount of time given they'd only been in SAO for a few months. 

 

Momentarily distracted by his question about Lee and herself, Piera sighed and gave in. "Lee and I? Well...we met online. In a game sort of like this. We weren't stuck in it though." She smiled wryly. "He was just a casual friend at first. Then we started to get closer and chatted a lot, even called each other and talked." Piera shrugged and her eyes became sort of unfocused as she looked past Jomei, seeing with her mind's eye as she smiled softly.

 

"I had a crush on him for a while. He was very popular in the game. But I never expected anything to come of it. I was happy just to be friends. And then he confessed that he loved me!" She shook her head and let out a sigh. "It was terrible. I didn't know what to say, I had buried my feelings for so long, I didn't know what I really felt for him anymore! I didn't want to lie so I told him honestly that I needed time to think. It didn't take long to realize that I still really liked him...and had even fallen in love with him. It was a long distance relationship for a while. Games and Skype were a godsend. We first saw each other on Christmas Eve. He flew over to stay with me..." Her smile dropped slightly before her head shook and she continued, "And the summer after, I visited him. We eventually moved in together and then moved around for a couple years before settling down and here we are! I didn't know a thing about gaming before I met him, haha! Gah, I'm talking your ear off, sorry Jomei." The brunette apologized, just now realizing how long she had been gabbing on. 

 

Piera's head tilted as Jomei asked if Lowenthal was the one to ask her to promise before she shook her head. "No, it was a player named Sakuri. He was a bit...jittery when we met. I think he had lost someone. Why, did Lowenthal ask you to promise?" He didn't seem the type to ask for the impossible. She watched with a faint smile as Adere's attention was recaptured by Jomei and she hopped across the table to settle onto his shoulder, fluffing her feathers before getting comfortable. It was a pretty cute sight, the tiny fluffy owl on the shoulder of the tall scraggly ginger. "I'm glad you two have each other."

[Jomei 0]

Jomei could not help but laugh as Piera named off some of the perks of living in a video game such as Sword Art Online. "Ya know, after all these months.. it only occurred to me now that having to go to the bathroom was not a feature of the game" His laugh got louder as he thought about it and never felt like he had to pee once. "Miss the internet? Piera the reason we see each other right now is because of the internet!" Jomei could not help but laugh again. "Im sure the fact that we have been running the game this long, the electric bill is going to skyrocket!" Jomei pointed upwards as he said the work 'skyrocket', then he brought his hands back down to the back of his head. It was a sad truth, but he could not help but laugh at it. 

 

Jomei rubbed the back of his neck. Yeah.. the luck of the Irish definitely was not with him.. or maybe it was just being used in other ways. He heavily sighed, and let out a slight chuckle while doing so. "Probably not much you can do about the it.." he closed his eyes, "I mean.. unless you want to try and hook me up with one of your friends" he joked at first... but then it hit him that she was apparently good friends with Carmine. He kept quiet about it for now.. would not want to ruin anything.

 

Jomei's mood changed from frantic and nervous to calm and happy as Piera explained her and Lee's story. He smiled warmly as she went on to explain the two's relationship. It was quite a beautiful thing he had to admit. He listened intently to the whole story, ordering another glass of tea for himself and another for Piera while he was at it. Jomei could not stress enough how happy he was for the two of them. They seemed really happy together. "No no please, I really enjoy hearing about that. Its good to know how much one can love another.. Really gives me hope as well." He gave her a wide smile

 

"Sakuri?" Jomei questioned, he never heard of that player before. He shrugged his shoulders slightly, "Just seemed like something Lowenthal might say." Jomei smiled at his owl companion as it settled on its shoulder, closing its eyes to have a nap. It was a nocturnal bird after all. "Yeah.. Me too." 

[Piera 0]

Piera laughed at Jomei's 'sudden discovery'. "Your observation skills astound me." Chuckling some more she tried to defend her missing internet. "I know we're using the internet right now! But we can't go on our emails, on youtube or netflix or whatever! I miss doing that stuff! I was always on my laptop doing something." Giggling at the idea of a ridiculously long electric bill she retorted, "At least we won't have to pay it. That's the hospital's responsibility. Or at least it better be..."

 

She nodded a bit solemnly as he stated that there wasn't anything that she could do to help now...other than one thing. A small smile growing into a smirk, Piera replied, "I've never done that kind of thing, but there's a first for everything. Honestly most of my friends are guys, but I do know one girl..." She winked at him and wondered if he was purposely trying to lead her to this conclusion, or if she was reading too much into it. 

 

Piera smiled warmly as Jomei stated that their little love story gave him hope. "I'm glad. It's not that inspiring if you've lived it, but I'm glad it is for you. If anything, it certainly does tell of the strength of meeting online, on a game no less, and long distance relationships. Your soul mate could be wandering one of these one hundred floors of Aincrad." She shrugged with a light smile, liking the romantic thought.

[Jomei 0]

"Yeah I guess you're right.. Although playing games were really all I used the internet for" he chuckled as he sipped from his tea "The usual social media every once in awhile.. but it gets old." Jomei scratched at the back of his head as they laughed about how much the bill would be for running the NerveGear for this long.. for 10,000 people at that. "Oy they better pay it! I don't have the job to pay for something like that."

 

Jomei shrugged when she mentioned she never tried anything like bringing two friends together before, "Yeah I figured, I was mostly kidding hehe" He smiled back, and then when she mentioned all of her friends were guys, except for one girl, Jomei looked at his cup of tea and then back to her, "And I'm guessing that would be Carmine, right?" His friendly smirk turned into a warm smile as he mentioned the girl's name, and then quickly took a sip of his tea. A part of him almost considered bringing it up.. He knew if Piera brought it up, Jomei would probably get embarrassed and stammer his words, not sure how to answer. 

 

"You're happy. Thats all that matters." He grinned at her, "Doesn't matter how it started. It also really helps us all realize what we are fighting for in this game. Which is why I asked you both to promise to protect each other and make it out of this together." As she mentioned that his 'soul mate' could be someone wandering one of these floors, he chuckled. He wasn't one much to believe in having a soul mate.. but who knows, he could be proven wrong. He placed his hand on his chin and looked out at the scenery to the side, "Yeah, I guess you're right." 

[Piera 0]

Piera sipped the tea after murmuring thanks to Jomei for ordering it. As he spoke of how social media and the like got old after a while, she nodded thoughtfully. "I suppose you're right. It's just...hard to keep things into perspective, you know? Do you read the Aincrad newspaper? The articles about new shops opening, obituaries, front line reports. After living here for so long, sometime's it's a bit too easy to forget where we came from. What's outside...what everyone's working towards...or against. I wouldn't be surprised if there was some sort of crazy PK group dedicated to stopping the front liners from succeeding. It would be horrible...but not surprising." She shrugged and realized that she had gone on a sort of philosophical ramble and studied her teacup very closely to avoid meeting Jomei's eyes. 

 

Smiling up at the ginger as he made the comment of the hospitals paying the bill, Piera nodded. "Yeah, me neither, heh. I'm sure they will. I just hope there's not a power outage or something like that..." Her shoulders shivered slightly as she remembered back to the first week or so of the game, when people began to drop dead or just simply go limp or 'afk' for a few hours before finally returning. 

 

The brunette's blank expression slowly drew into a playful grin as Jomei guessed that her only female friend was Carmine. Nodding, Piera asked coyly, "I don't suppose you have any objections if I try to play matchmaker? Or at least ask what she thinks of you. I didn't even knew you two knew each other. But then again I haven't seen her in a week or so." She shrugged casually, not trying to make a big deal so as to not embarrass the man. 

 

As she brought her cup back up to her lips, Piera paused as Jomei stated quite wisely that it didn't matter how a relationship starts as long as you're both happy. Smiling gently, the brunette took a long sip before setting her tea back down as she nodded. "Lee is the main reason I'm not still hiding in the starting city back on floor one. You and Lowenthal certainly helped as well though." Piera flashed the ginger a smile before continuing, "I want us to be able to protect each other. So we should all do our best to make it out together."  

[Jomei 0]

Jomei smiled when Piera thanked him for the tea. It had been awhile since he has had a conversation as such with anyone here, so he really was appreciating her company. "Honestly no.. I don't read that news very often. I was never one to keep up with news.. even in the real world" he laughed at himself, "Usually if its that important.. I hear it around. Perks of playing a bard I presume." Jomei took a sip of his new tea, which was now fresh and hot. "Being that I don't understand why PKers would even murder someone here in the first place... I would not be surprised.. Another reason I prefer to stay off of the front lines.." Jomei sighed sadly. Jomei did not even want to think about if there was a power outage.. He hoped to God that he was moved to a hospital, the apartment he lived in had a history of the power going out. Jomei quickly shook off the thought.

 

Jomei almost fell backwards in his chair as he was leaning on the back two legs. Swinging his arms in the air, he managed to bring the chair down properly, spilling a bit of his tea over the brim of his cup. "W-What? Why would you want to go and do that? o'I mean.. Y-you only just met the girl yourself.. d-do you really think she would even l-like a lad like me?.. o'I mean she's really cool..and really p-pretty an-" His face blushed as his accent truly began to come out through his stuttered words. He thew his hand over his mouth when he finally caught on to what he was saying, revealing his true feelings. He brought his hand away and let out a heavy sigh, looking towards the table. He brought a guilty gaze up to Piera, his eyes saying 'you got me.' 

 

"I promise we will all get out of this together" Jomei grinned at her confidently. He was going to try his best to make sure they all made it out of this game alive, even if it meant putting his own life on the line to at least get them out. 

[Piera 0]

Piera shrugged as Jomei admitted that he didn't keep up with the news in SAO or real life for that matter, preferring to wait to hear the important things by word of mouth. She perked up when he mentioned that he was a bard. "Really? I didn't know that. A bard huh? What instrument do you play? Or do you sing? Or maybe both?"

 

She took a sip of her tea as Jomei stated that it was just another reason he stayed away from the front lines. Piera shrugged nonchalantly and stated, "I'm sure there are some good reasons to kill someone. Not many, but a few." She was a firm believer in the death penalty and a healthy dose of revenge. If someone killed Lee, there was no way in hell she'd let them get away with it, even if she wasn't able to get her revenge with her own hands, she'd make it happen. The brunette's head tilted as a thought came to her, "You know I don't think I've ever met someone that fights on the front lines. Probably because they wouldn't ever have a reason to come back to these 'lowly lower leveled floors'. Too busy leveling up on the higher floors." She shrugged again and glanced around at the few other patrons of the cafe, wondering if she'd even be able to pick out a front liner in a crowd.

 

Looking back at Jomei as he sputtered and stuttered at her suggestion of mentioning him to Carmine, her grin returned wide and strong, simply listening to him dig his hole deeper and deeper. Propping up her elbow on the table and then resting her cheek on her open palm, Piera stared at the blushing ginger as he realized how badly his accent was coming through...as well as his feelings. "You. Are. Adorable. You have the biggest crush on her Jomei, just say it and embrace it."

 

Piera chuckled and stirred her tea with her free hand before placating, "Don't worry, I'm sure she already likes you as at least a friend and that's always a good place to start. I'm not proposing that I'll try and get her to...well propose to you or anything, hehe. Just might mention that I know you and you're a good guy. Pretty cute, funny, and who wouldn't love that accent?" She winked at him teasingly before taking another drought of the tea. "It's just small talk. Chatting and gossiping." She wouldn't try to forcibly push the two together before finding out how both parties felt about the vague idea after all.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei nodded, "Yup. Guess its something I forget to share when I first meet people, unless you find me in the pub," ending with a laugh. "Well.. technically, being a performer in a game.. I have the ability to play any in game instruments.. but I prefer the lute over the others. Easier to carry, and a sound that can get a whole room dancing. The singing.. well.. not so much, in public at least," he scratched at his cheek with his index finger. He was working on his singing in his free time.. that, sadly, was not a skill that came with the game. He did not find himself a bad singer, however.. just was usually shy doing such a thing around others. 

 

"Im sure there are reasons.. but here, we are all in the same boat, just trying to find our ways out of here.. Which.. would add plausible cause to your suggestion before." Jomei sighed, he was highly against killing another person. It just.. was not in him to do such a thing. Even in other games where real death was not a possibility.. Jomei would avoid killing other players out of respect. He was never much for PVP gameplay. Honestly.. it worried him to see if there would ever be a day where he would be pushed to take the life of another player... just, what would bring him that far to really do so without second thought? "Ive met a couple of front liners before... Lets just say they would be another reason id like to stay away from there," he chuckled. 

 

Jomei crossed his arms and slouched in his chair a bit, looking defeated. His eyes darted to the side as he mumbled to Piera, "Fine, you got me.. I do. I mean.. I only just met the girl.. but theres just something about her." His accent had gone back to normal, but his blush did not. He picked himself up in his chair and took another, longer, sip of his tea.. wishing it was a hard ale right now. He listened to Piera's helping words, nodding slowly while looking down at his feet under the table. He felt a light, fluffy ball nudge him in the head, and as he looked up, saw it was Adere trying to bring Jomei's focus back to the conversation {Smart little bird, aren't ya..}. "Thanks Piera, id appreciate that.." He smiled at her as she went on, stating on reasons why she should like him. 

[Piera 0]

Piera smiled, easily being able to picture Jomei in a pub or the like, but not quite playing some jaunty tune. "I'd like to see that one day. And I'm sure you sing fine. Just need to build up some confidence. Keep practicing in the shower...or whatever the equivalent is in Aincrad." She shrugged, kind of missing showers. The closest one could get to here were hot springs or something but she hadn't encountered any. Must be up on higher floors. "Do the buffs help you much in combat?" She was curious about the performer profession, having considered it briefly before settling on being an alchemist.

 

The brunette could tell that the entire talk of player killing and death in general was making her companion uncomfortable and so tried to shift the conversation. "I wonder how many people are on the front lines. We started out with ten thousand...and now are down by, what a thousand? Two? Makes me wonder how many players are actually fighting on the front lines." Piera sipped her tea thoughtfully before looking back up at the ginger as he mentioned that front liners were part of the reason he didn't go to the front lines. She frowned and asked, "Really? Are they that bad? I mean, I know they must have some ego, but...." She shrugged again, not knowing what else to say as she hadn't met any herself.

 

Piera smiled kindly across at Jomei as he admitted defeat and nodded as he explained that even though he hadn't known Carmine for long, he was very much attracted to her. He seemed to just soak up her words and reassurances until Adere nudged his cheek to get his attention. She shook her head as the man thanked her. "No problem. I'm doing this for completely selfish reasons. It's nice to see my friends happy and maybe this can help."