PP-F4 'Something Wicked This Way Comes, with Piera and Clarence

[Aramail 0]

Aramail was walking around the fourth floor. Trying to find a decent place to set up her shop. She was, by definition a  'Merchant' or at least what the game called her. She was a fence, by the roughest terms. She took, 'borrowed' goods, and resold them to the public. As she was walking the plains, she noticed something peculiar in the distance. A large, circle. Curious, Aramail walked to it. After a few minutes she could make out other shapes. The circle was actually two circles, and several tents. Was that a, carnival? A carnival in SAO? It had been a long time since she had actually been to a 'carnival'. Last time, it was more of a fair then a carnival. Aramail smiled, and began to jog to the carnival. When she reached it, it was almost like a dream. People filled it's walkways, and the sound of various games and speak-easy filled her ears. First thing she wanted to do was ride the Ferris Wheel. So she quickly walked over to it, and saw that the line was huge. She sighed, and reluntically stood in it. In front of her stood a pair of individuals making idle conversation. One of them was a female, slender and cute. She had glasses, much like the fake ones Aramail was forced to wear at work. With her, was a man of, adequate height. He was cute, but not her type. He looked to, soft for her tastes. He too had brown hair, but violet eyes. As the line moved forward, Aramail leaned against the metal railing which kept the line in tow.

[Piera 0]

Piera had traveled up one floor in search of better materials only to find that this floor was vastly different from the previous one where her shop was. She had been here before but completely forgot that this was that floor. Shivering in her poorly insulated dark purple starting clothes, the brunette strode quickly through the winter wonderland, barely able to appreciate the snow covered landscape. "J-Just need to find some stupid mats an g-get back." She chattered to herself, stepping through the snow. As she went further and further into the snow covered area with no luck in gathering any materials whatsoever, she was about to give up and go home when she paused and heard something.

Quickly equipping her lance, the alchemist stepped closer to the noise and exited the woods into a large clearing and realized that the noise she had heard had been people. A lot of people. Mouth opening wide in wonder, the brunette looked around and realized that it was some sort of fair. No, a carnival. She'd never heard of one being here before, was this a limited event? She hadn't heard of any sort of event being advertised either though, but wasn't about to just pass this up. Figuring that there couldn't be any harm in it, Piera put away her spear and walked closer to the attractions, green eyes wide behind her glasses as she looked around.

Then she saw something that peaked her interest more than the entire carnival. "Clarence!" She called out in surprise with a wave before walking up to her guildmate. "Hey, you're here too? This place is amazing. Did you know this was here?" She asked with curiosity, not even noticing that they were in line for anything. "Are you on a date with Lowenthal?" She asked somewhat teasingly with a smile, not wanting to interrupt if they were.

[Clarence 0]

Clarence spotted this carnival from a distance and Clarence came bounding. When he stayed in his second Foster home, they went to a carnival and Clarence never forgot it. It was fun, there were games, music, funny faces, and good food. Clarence almost wanted to cry when he left that day, it being one of his very few special days in the real world. Seeing this Carnival was exactly the thing that Clarence needed to lift his spirits for a bit, even though he is in a perfectly fine mood.

Clarence ran up to the Carnival and was thrown into happy memories of his childhood, his body relaxing and his face going into a slight smile. When Piera approached Clarence, he didn't even see her at first, zoning out so bad. Clarence was startled back into reality and he smiled warmly, recognizing the person in front of him. "Hi Piera!" Clarence said back and turned to face the woman."Yes I am here too. I found this while walking a bit and I had to go check it out." Clarence smiled then it changed to a bright blush, Lowenthal was brought up. "No. We aren't on a date." Clarence said with a light smile, his fun birthday party still in mind.

Clarence noticed a striking woman behind them but said nothing, she probably didn't want to be bothered."What are you doing here? You meeting up with Lee or something?" Clarnece teased back, smiling more.

[Aramail 0]

Aramail rolled her eyes at the two people conversing. Their conversation about who was with who, was a tad bit annoying. If the person is question wasn't there, then it was most likely an obvious no. But then again, she wasn't here with anyone either. She didn't need anyone to have a good time, so was perfectly capable of having fun alone. She played card games on the office computer, when she wasn't busy to pass the time. And when she got home, she trained her body. As the line got shorter, Aramail looked around. Something about the place seemed 'odd'. Why would a carnival appear in the middle of nowhere on floor four? She did a short hum, and opened her menu. The menu didn't have a news button, or even an events button. She closed her menu and sighed in frustration. "This line is taking to long." She said, not meaning to ay it aloud but did. She realized her blunder, and sighed again.

[Piera 0]

Piera smiled and withheld a chuckle as Clarence confirmed her suspicions of him being here, as if seeing him wasn't enough to confirm it. "That's how I came across it too." She replied as he stated that he had stumbled across the carnival while walking around the floor. Her laid back smile turned into a grin as the other brunette blushed at her question. "Daw, well that's a shame." As he asked her nearly the same question, the alchemist shook her head. "Nope. Was going to try and gather some mats but this caught my interest." Though that was a nice idea. Perhaps once she was done talking with Clarence and investigating this whole thing she'd message him to join her.

Hearing another female voice behind her, Piera turned to see a somewhat tomboyish but nonetheless striking young woman lounging against the railing. It was her words that clued her in that the two had been waiting in line for something and she may or may not have cut in line. "Ehh? Wait what's this line for?" The spearwoman asked before also posing, "Say, so neither of you guys heard anything about this place opening up? Just...found it?" It struck her as more than a little odd considering the nature of the attraction. Perhaps it was kept a secret so it wouldn't be overrun by players?

[Clarence 0]

Clarence turned when he heard someone else's voice. The striking woman from a little behind them spoke up about the length of this line and Clarence turned, seeing the exact same people, in the exact same place. "No one has moved..." Clarence trailed off and looked around the Circus. Taking a closer look everything seemed a little off to him. Maybe it was because they were in the game and the scripting wasn't the best. But, something didn't sit well for Clarence.

"I have not once heard of the place. I found it in the middle of no where." Clarence said and thought about what Piera said about it not being over-run by players. "Yeah I guess. The only thing is, there was nothing about it coming from any players. Like NO ONE heard of it." Clarence said out-loud and turned to the woman, smiling lightly. "I'm Clarence by the way. Rude not to introduce myself."

Clarence looked around and the line did get shorter, Clarence noted, but it looked like no one left, like they just vanished. Clarence tapped the shoulder of the person in front of them and he didn't move. "Hey, do you know what this line is for?" Clarence asked but got no response. "Ummm, this place has 'Shady' Written all over it." Clarence told Piera and the girl.

[Aramail 0]

Aramail looked at the two actual players, that were not NPC's. One of them, the cute male, introduced himself as Clarence.  "I'm Aramail. A pleasure." She said. "And I agree, this is all too strange. But then again, name the last carnival you went to, that didn't have a creepiness modifier." Aramail jested, as the line now moved forward. "At least the line's moving now." Aramail said. "And creepy carnival or not, I'm aiming to have at least a little fun." She said, crossing her arms and moving forward. "How about we enjoy this Ferris-Wheel first, then we can investigate." She said, smiling for a change.

[Piera 0]

Piera frowned as Clarence stated that no one had moved and looked around as well, craning her neck to look ahead of the line. It hadn't budged since they had gotten here and it seemed a bit quiet for a carnival, especially with people about, even if there weren't very many. Her brow furrowing as he said that no one had heard of this place she replied, "That's hard to believe considering this isn't a very high floor, even if it's a little out of the way, a player had to have found this place before now unless it wasn't here until like an hour ago. Which is equally hard to believe."

 

Her expression smoothing somewhat as her guildmate introduced himself to the woman they were standing next to, Piera gave a small smile and nodded her head in greeting to Aramail. "My name's Piera." Giving a small wave of her hand before letting out an amused chuckle at her true statement concerning the creepiness of carnivals. "You've got us there. Still seems a bit odd since it's in a game and all. Real life creepy carnivals are allowed, but we've got too much [censored] to deal with already in here."

 

As the white haired woman remarked that the line was moving, the alchemist turned to look and saw that there were less people in front of them now. She was starting to feel uneasy though as the person that the male brunette tapped and spoke to didn't acknowledge him in any way. "Are...they NPC's?" She asked hesitantly, not quite able to see if there was a cursor. At Aramail's enthusiasm, Piera tried to return the smile, but hers was a little wan, especially since she had mention what this line was for finally. "Ferris wheel? Uhh...hm. M-Maybe I should get out of line...." The spearwoman said hesitantly, not eager to get on this particular ride.

[Clarence 0]

"Well, Aramail, it is a pleasure to meet you." Clarence smiled and heard Piera laugh at the Creepiness comment from Aramail."True true, only have been to one other Circus, I was like 5." Clarence commented and smiled warmly, thinking back to it. Clarence was still slightly on edge. The person in front of the trio was Either a NPC or just a rude Player."And yes, I do think this guy is a NPC. Which makes no sense, NPC's don't usually wait in lines for rides..." Clarence trailed off and noticed the Ferris Wheel. A lump formed in his throat but his pushed it down, not the biggest fan of heights.

Thinking back to town, it almost seemed like no one even heard of a random circus in the snow. Clarence sighed and looked around. The place was slowly thinning out to just the NPCs and the three players in line, which was now getting even smaller."Why is there a circus in the Cold. Wouldn't it make more sense for like Floor 1 or 2 or even 3. Not on a winter floor." Clarence sighed and scratched the back of his head.

 

[Aramail 0]

Aramail nodded at the two players. "I don't think floor has anything to do with it." She said, rubbing the back of her head. She looked at the both of them. She smirked. "What's the matter, scarred of heights?" She asked, teasingly. "Do you need me to hold your hands?" She said, laughing gently. "Besides, it's not even that high off the ground." Aramail said, trying to console the people standing in line. "Besides, this is the only 'ride' here other than a carousal I passed by. Some carnival. Humph." She said, huffing and crossing her arms. She paced along the line, until it was the trios turn. "C'mon. The seat holds 4. I wanna see you two fight to see who sits next to me." Aramail said, getting onto the ride.

[Piera 0]

Piera nodded in agreement as Clarence stated that a circus would be much better in a warmer climate floor. "Just adds to the mystery I guess.....and creepiness..." When Aramail teased them about being scared of heights, the alchemist's ears went pink slightly as she glanced at the other brunette, guessing that he was not fond of high places either. She shuffled her feet as the white haired woman offered to hold their hands while simultaneously reassuring them that it 'wasn't that high', causing her to scoff as she looked up before immediately looking back down again. "It is high. Anything above a one story building is 'high'."  Piera perked up at mention of a carousal, but frowned as it was scoffed, guessing that Aramail wasn't a fan. As their turn finally came up and the other woman climbed into the rocking seat, the brunette looked at her guildmate with unease before saying, "I'll get on if you get on...."