[OP-F1] Better Off...

[Jevi 0]

~"Hm.. So this is Sword Art Online eh?"

 

The girl, clad in an orange shirt and black pants with a curved scimitar on her waist, stood with hands on her hips, gazing around at the scene that was the plaza in The Beginning City. It was in this same spot where Kayaba Akihiko revealed that all of the current players were going to be stuck here in this world until someone beat the game. She crossed her arms and scoffed,

 

 ~ "Beats the hell hole I call home at least.."

 

Where she was from, back in the real world, things weren't going very well. They never were in fact.. Thats why Alex.. well, Jevi now.. was looking forward to this game, to have an escape from it all. Well.. looks like she won a one way ticket out into this.. 'escape.' She decided only thing she could do now was live her life here, in Aincrad. Uncrossing her arms, she decided to slowly stroll around the plaze, looking for something to do. 

 

Behind her, Jevi suddenly heard the voices of three players. From what she could pick up, it sounded like the two male players were harassing a female player. Jevi closed her eyes and bit her cheek, she didn't want to get involved with those punks. It was when she heard the girl choking up on her words that caused Jevi to spring into action. She spun around quickly and stormed over to the players, a determined glare in her eye.

 

~"Hey. You punks. Why don't you leave the poor girl alone.."

 

Their reaction only made Jevi angrier, when they just started to laugh in her face. She growled and stepped forward, meeting them men in the eyes. As she opened her mouth to say another word to them, the larger of the men brought up his open palm, smacking Jevi across the face. The shock sent her tumbling into the ground as the men belted out in laughter. The other man then grabbed the smaller girl by the arm and the three walked away.  Jevi could only sit there on the ground, defeated.. scowling that she could not do more..

[Golden 0]

Golden had been strolling around in attempt to find some materials for his shop and he's spent pretty much the entire morning going through trees after trees... trying to find apples. As he was walking through the towns of beginnings to his shop which was located in the middle of the town... Golden spotted something, no someone, that looked quite unusual.

 

Golden likes to help out anyone that needs help and this female player sure needs some help. Golden was shocked that a player had been sitting on the floor. He didn't know whether the player has an unusual taste in the location she sits in but he decided to introduce himself to this player... in case she needs some help.

 

Golden walked up to the player currently on the ground before holding out his hand. "Eh... There are benches to sit on... you don't have to sit on the ground ya know." Golden said, not sure what had happened to the player... or if something had happened... He still found it quite unusual for anyone to be sitting on the ground.

 

"My name is Golden. Nice to meet you."

[Nelkeatye 0]

Hmm, what an interesting situation we have here, a death game eh? Well, I guess I will just have to strive to make it to the top. I do hope the other two are alright, I wonder why I can't see them around here?

 

Nelkeatye pondered his current predicament after the shock announcement by the game's creator, Akihiko Kayaba as he marveled at the feeling of his first time in virtual reality. He could see the reactions on many of the faces around him, some were clearly shocked, others in tears whilst others seemed to take some sort of sadistic pleasure from the fact that they were locked out from the real world, were their lives so bad? Mike, no it's Nel now isn't it? Thought back to his own life: his grades had been good, but now they would slip; he definitely hoped his health insurance covered being stuck in a coma-like state within a virtual reality!

 

Getting up off his seat in the grand coliseum, the Black haired boy brushed off his coat, combed his hair out his blue eyes with his hand and adjusted the Estoc on his left hip.

 

Wow, so life like, the blade feels just as heavy as mine back home, right enough messing around, I best try and find my friends, make sure they don’t get themselves offed by a Boar in the grasslands.

 

With this disturbing thought, Nel set off from the Coliseum in a rush, through the market where various NPC’s hawked their wares for all to see, though it felt weird opening up an inventory list whilst holding onto a potential purchase, Nel was sure that the feeling would pass and would become like second nature to him. Whilst he strolled in no particular direction, Nel marveled at the geography, from the bricks, to the sky, to the birds in the trees, everything had been perfectly laid out and planned, the coding almost flawless in re-creating the natural world they so took for granted back home. Hearing a commotion from up ahead, the sounds of a scuffle and the unmistakable slap of flesh meeting flesh, Nel rushed on, his hand on his hip; weren’t  towns meant to be safe? Maybe it was an event?

 

Head full of thoughts, Nel almost ran into a purple-haired girl sitting on the floor and a brown haired boy talking to her.

 

“S-sorry, didn’t see you there" he said panting, "are you alright? Is this one of those events?â€

[Jevi 0]

Without turning her head upwards, Jevi's eyes moved to the boy standing over him. She lowered her scowl and merely looked at him. Honestly, she felt weak at the moment.. and someone offering to help her up made her feel even weaker. Taking a sharp breath in through her nostrils, Jevi stood up.. not using the boy's hand for support. She looked at him again and crossed her arms, gazing the opposite direction.

 

~"I know that there are benches.. I can see them right over there. I just.. wanted to sit on the ground is all.."

 

She brought a fist up to her face, rubbing the cheek where she had been smacked. It stung, even took a chunk out of her health bar. The humiliation was worse though, all she tried to do was stick up for the girl. As she stared thinking, the boy introduced himself. Her eyes slowly came back to his, with a cold look in them.

 

~".. Jevi"

 

She then heard the approach of a third player, to which she let out a sigh. Of course this would cause attention.. That was the last thing she wanted, to be the center of attention. Being she was involved in a small confrontation on the first floor, she was not surprised however that people did notice and come up to her. The new player, upon showing up, nearly ran into the two of them, looking like he was in a hurry of some sorts. Jevi furrowed her eyebrows and glared at the new guy.

 

~"Hmph.. You should watch where you're going next time, or there will be an event.."

 

Her fist was clenched as she looked at the guy who almost toppled into her. After a moment, she released the tension and let out her breath. Seemed like the guy was looking for an event or something.. and he looked lower leveled as she did, so she could understand his excitement. Jevi could not blame him for running through the streets without looking.

[Haseo 0]

Had strained his eyes slightly, only to see three figures in the distance. He could have sworn he heard the noise of someone taking damage, but dismissed the thought. He watched the trio out of the corner of his eye, just in case, and came to realise one of them looked familiar. Haseo was convinced by his more social side to approach, but stopped merely three metres away, unable to allow any words to leave his mouth that would be considered social.

Having second thoughts, Haseo hoped he hadn't been spotted yet, especially since he looked extremely suspicious due to the shy posture that he assumed while in thought. If he had, he further hoped that none of the trio would want to interact. Retiring from his not-so-trustworthy expression, Haseo retreated slowly, hoping neither of the group would call him out. He brushed his bang aside, and seeing as things were under control, or at least he assumed so, Haseo walked over to a nearby bench folding his arms and leaning backwards as if in an attempt to sleep. He was far from asleep, however, and let out a small laugh when recalling one figure almost running straight into the other two. From the distance between Haseo and the group, they wouldn't have to strain their ears much to have heard him, which he was oblivious to.

[Golden 0]

Golden smiled uneasily as the lady on the ground ignored his hand before supporting herself up. Well... this one's got an attitude. Golden thought as his eyes twitched. However, he was able to control his warm smile, allowing it to remain even though Golden was quite amused at the attitude of the lady. Golden looked at the health point of Jevi and thought to himself, Odd. As he knew that the town was a safe zone, meaning no damage could be taken. Another arrogant player. Oh well. Golden thought once again as he judged the player's personality.

 

Suddenly, another player that he's never seen before came running in thinking that an event had occurred. Well, newbie anniversary? Golden thought as he saw the player running towards the two of them. However, Golden was too engulfed by his thoughts to realize the fact that the player was not making attempt to stop from charging into them. However, at the last moment, the player stopped and apologized so Golden payed no more attention to the player as he noticed another player hiding in the corner. He was high enough of a level to spot the hiding player but was sure the other two can't see him. Golden sighed. People here are so weird sometimes.

[Komuroto 0]

Elric had just finished locking his shop up for the night, and was heading to floor 2. He had heard rumors of a quest and wanted to check things out. So he decided to head through the Town of Beginnings on floor one first. As he went about his way with his hands behind his head in such a carefree manner, he noticed a familiar face. Ah it was Golden, the nice fellow from the restaurant who helped him out in his first days in SAO.

 

He saw a flock of newbies around Golden, and without paying much of a thought to it, Elric marched right on up to him.

 

"Hey, babysitting today or something, " Elric said to Golden, with a smirk?

[Nelkeatye 0]

Woah, hasn't she got an attitude? 

 

The thought sprang unbidden into Nel's mind before he could stop it, he did nearly barge into her and she was clearly hurt and most likely embarrassed, though he should really say something before this staring thing became just a bit weird. He cleared his throat and brushed back his hair, which as usual, had gone in front of his eyes, he really should find a headband or something.

 

"Yeah, sorry about that, I heard a slap and thought it was weird," he began, shaking off his nervousness "I didn't see you as you were on the floor, so i guess you were the victim. Are you alright? I'm guessing he wasn't the one who slapped you?"

 

He gestured at the brown haired boy, 'Golden' or some such, a bit higher level but that was to be expected, Nel had spent an age waiting for his friends. There was a crowd starting to gather now, looking on at the strange group surrounding a girl who had just been assaulted. It was at that point he realised he hadn't introduced himself. 

 

"Oh yeah, the name's Mi-," He began after a short pause, almost forgetting the faux pas of using your real name in game, "I mean, Nelkeatye, though Nel is fine, a pleasure to make your acquaintance."

 

As he finished his introduction, another player came across the group, making some wise-ass comment about 'baby-sitting'.

 

"Oh, very funny sir, here we are intending to help an injured player and you assume we are just hanging around this guy" Again, gesturing at Golden and feigning a yawn, "because we are low level? How witty"

[Golden 0]

Golden scratched his head, realizing that he was stuck in a difficult situation. Golden sighed, she's fine... the players shouldn't be able to inflict damage upon the player... Golden smiled as he entered a thought process that he was commonly known for. He was the strategist of his guild and known as being a genius around these parts... not that the newbies would understand any of the tactical parts involved with the game. Golden continued thinking about the situation as the rest of the players argued about attitude... Golden wanted to figure out the process but he couldn't concentrate with the chaos that was occurring in the process. 

[Jevi 0]

Jevi placed her palm on her cheek again, where the man had struck her, while looking at the floor. The look of anger in her face had been replaced with one of embarrassment. You're really not going to make any friend like that Alex.. come on now.. She was too busy thinking to herself, she had not even noticed the newcomer stepping into the group, apparently a friend of Golden's, referring to checking on her status as 'babysitting' .. and good thing she didn't hear it, or else that attitude would come back very quickly. Her eyes then moved up to the one who referred to himself as Nel.  ~"I-Its fine. I'm sorry for that outburst..No, Golden here came over to see if I was alright." Despite the sudden change in her mood to be a little bit kinder, Jevi still did not manage to crack a smile. It honestly took a lot to see a genuine one of those from her, ~"I'm Jevi, and I'm alright just... tried to bite off more than I could chew." 

[Komuroto 0]

Elric turned his attention toward the girl that gave Golden the cold shouldler, and a smile smirked across his face.

 

"Oh... excuse us, where have our manners gone?"

 

He gave a half assed bow, that may have come off as sarcastic even though it wasn't his intent.

 

"i'm Elric, and this tactless fellow is Golden. I'm not quite sure who the rest of these folks are....," he said starting to look around.

 

Suddenly the air of careless disregard disappeared from his face leaving nothing behind but a tone of seriousness, firmly placing his hand on her shoulder as he spoke.

 

"Biting off more than we can chew is what make us human, but its always what'll get you killed here in SAO.

 

The true test is, attempting to find the right balance between survival and maintaining your humanity."

 

and with that, Elric smiled again, released the girl, and started to wander off.

 

"I'm heading to a local tavern if anyone's interested, thats the best place for information these days," he added.

[Nelkeatye 0]

The girl's attitude seem to lessen slightly and Nel felt the tension drop slightly, it was good, he had come to make friends and help out someone in need, not get into a pointless brawl. He gave a short bow to the girl, who had just introduced herself as Levi.

 

"A pleasure Levi, sorry I was distracted, everything around here just seems so... real, it's disconcerting you know?"

 

He surveyed the rest of the gathering and had a look around, apart from the NPCs doing their daily routines and a few players in huddles, the only one to stand out was a player sleeping on a  bench, odd but I guess each to their own. Nel turned to the man who had just introduced himself as Elric, who seemed to be going through a veritable character change with each sentence, must be interesting being so eccentric.

 

"A Tavern sounds like a good idea, unless you want some Help Levi?" He spoke to the group, "who hit you, are they close or did they speed off?"

[Golden 0]

Golden smiled as he watched the new guys head off to the tavern for "information" but he knew that it was quite pointless. Not much players head off the the tavern nowadays... especially since it was on the first floor. Golden had some material gathering planned that afternoon so he was not able to go to the tavern with the rest of the guys. But... he could give a tour of the area outside the safe zone for the new girl. Golden could spare some time for that. "Hey... Jevi was it? If you want... I can escort you to the outside of the safe zone and give you a tour... and maybe I'll help you kill some boars as well so you can get some Col and materials." Golden said to Jevi. He wouldn't mind doing a low-leveled player a favor... After all, he used to be quite low-leveled as well.

[Jevi 0]

Jevi crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow as the one who called himself, Elric, gave her a bow. His voice made it seem like a pretty sarcastic gesture, which only ticked Jevi off a little more than she already was. ~"Yeah. I know their names. You're a little late to the introductions.."  He then placed a hand on her shoulder and went on about how her choice to defend the girl was what makes us human, but puts us in danged... well he didn't know what she did. Before he could get on too long with his philosophical speech, Jevi gently pushed Elric's hand off of her shoulder. 

 

Jevi sighed and turned to Nel, ~"J-evi.. with a 'J'.." Even though it was not her real name, having her username mispronounced pushed Jevi the wrong way.. despite whether or not he even heard it right in the first place. ~"I could care less about the guy who hit me." She crossed her arms. ~"Id prefer not to even talk about it.. no offense."  her last statement was slightly softer, and it seemed the reason she did not want to talk about the situation was more for her own good, rather than sounding rude. 

 

When Golden mentioned going outside of the walls, it seemed to hit a nerve with Jevi. She looked towards the ground and scratched her arm. She almost looked scared, but only for a moment. Then she gently shook her head and looked back up to Golden, ~"Boars huh? I dunno.. not feeling too up to that today. Maybe Ill hold you to it for another time though.." Golden seemed like a good kid.. and she did not want to come off as rude towards the guy who tried to help her after her little mishap, "But you should go to the tavern.. I'll probably head in that way too. I honestly could use a drink after those guys." She then turned to the other two players already stepping towards the tavern, ~"Normally, I probably wouldn't go with you guys.. but I could use a drink. So I suppose I'll join you."

[Nelkeatye 0]

Nel blushed furiously when he realised he had got Jevi's name wrong and deserved her angry retort regarding it. He smiled sheepishly before apologising. "Oh...yeah of course it is, not sure how I got that wrong so soon, my deepest apologies Jevi." His apology was sincere and he was glad that the violet haired girl had decided to join them; he sorely needed allies if he was going to last in this game. It was good she had decided to ignore the bullies from earlier he was afraid she might do something she would later regret, though he doubted that it would be so easy for players to kill each other, especially in the town of beginnings.

 

As he was unsure of directions in the town so far, he let himself be led towards a likely place for camaraderie and information he was in sore need of a drink too. Maybe Kine and Katsu are at the inn? They could be waiting for me there. He gave Jevi a smile as she followed, before ruffling his hair in a nervous gesture.

 

“So, what is your role here?†He began, not sure how to make small talk in the real world, let alone a game. “I mean, combat, in AIncrad.â€

[Komuroto 0]

Elric paid no mind to any awkwardness or bitterness he may have caused. He gave off the air of a carefree spirit, and went about his way as some of the other players seemed to follow slowly behind him. He honestly had not frequented too many taverns, inns, and such, but he had a good feeling about one of the local establishments.

 

 

Without telling the other players he merely picked one at random, and walked in.

 

This place should do perfect he said aloud to everyone within earshot.

 

He waltz in, sat down, and browsed the selection.

[Golden 0]

[Let us keep this organized. Posting order: Golden, Jevi, Nelkeatye, Komuroto.]

 

Golden smiled as Jevi obviously didn't want to go fighting boars with him. He sighed, knowing that he'll just have to go to the inn with the newbies and waste yet another day socializing instead of boar fighting. However, despite this thought, Golden managed to keep a straight and cheerful face. "Fine! I'll go with you guys." Golden sighed on the inside. Well... I guess it never hurts to get to know some new people. Golden thought as he began following Komuroto to a bar.

 

After a while of walking, Komuroto finally stopped and went inside a random bar that they came across. As Golden walked in, he checked the place out throughly to see that the place wasn't at all populated and the seats were quite dirty. Some parts of the walls were stained with grease and other cooking dirts. He frowned, thinking that his cafe was a lot better than this. He sighed, for maybe the 5th time that day, and took a seat before ordering two bottles of Heineken.

[Jevi 0]

Jevi continued following the two, her thumbs slipped behind her cloth belt. She looked around at all of the other players walking around with a cold stare. She observed their armor, their weapons, even mannerisms. She wanted to know how to play this game to the fullest and not stay trapped behind the walls of The Beginning City for the rest of her life here. As she looked around she looked over her shoulder to see that Golden had joined the group as well, to which she gave him a slight nod.

 

After walking around, what seemed like aimlessly, Komuroto made a quick decision to enter some tavern. As the group walked into the place,  Jevi raised her eyebrow as she looked around. The place seemed rather empty, except for a couple of players sitting in different placed in the bar. ~"Fancy place you picked here" Jevi said to Kouroto in a sarcastic tone. She then sat down with them at a table.