[PP-F7] The Howling Caverns (Dellis, Shard)

[Dellis 0]

Dellis was sitting alone in his inn room. A dim light shone down on his bed, while he flipped once more through the pages of his trustworthy Beta Guide. He had read that book uncountable times, and yet he still liked to flip through it when he was feeling nervous. It made him feel as if reading that little book could push away the day he would meet his end in this game.

He stretched his back, and fell down on the soft mattress, lifting a little puff of dust. *We're never going to finish this game...* He thought to himself.

Kayaba had thought of everything. You couldn't finish this game by yourself, it was simply impossible. Floor bosses required multiple people to fight alongside, or all the monster's attacks piled up against the only one which was fighting. Even higher leveled players than the floor they were in had no chance of winning, alone.

On the other hand, the system was made so players would fight one another. The key was the limited resources. In normal MMOs, resources aren't limited. Quests are repeatable, even rare monsters respawn. Yet... this way, the greediness of some players could impair the birth of great alliances.

There were too many individualists...

"We're never going to finish this game", he repeated, this time out loud.

He stood up from the bed, opened the door, and went into the corridor ahead. Morning light shone down from the windows, cheering him up a bit. The room had been dark, since the window was stuck shut, but here light came unimpeded into the corridor.

He went down the stairs, carefully treading as not to trip, and once he got into the common room he looked around.

"Morning, Kaya", he said to the NPC innkeeper that was behind the counter, washing dishes from the day before.

"Good day, Player!" She answered. The standard response. He sighed.

There was no one else in the room. *I don't know what I was expecting...*

Days before, he had put flyers all over the seven floors.

*There are too few people out here which decide to help others retain their lives. Too little support classes. It's fine to get by with dropped items at the start, but in later stages you need crafted items, and to be able to sell your goods and buy more. There are too few PC vendors...*

This was what he had thought at that time. There -were- blacksmiths, merchants, alchemists around. There just weren't any expert ones, and he had never seen any PC shop outside his own. So he figured he'd help how he could, training new blacksmiths. Telling them were to find the materials, good quests, weapon recipes, and the like.

So, he had put flyers.

The flyers, in little, thin, cursive letters, read just...

If you are starting out in the blacksmiths profession, and want some information, come to floor seven, at the Scorched Tree Bark inn. Ask for Dellis.

A week had past, and no one had showed up yet.

"I guess this was a failure, Izzy." He said to the little cave lizard on his shoulder, slumping down at one of the tables.

The little lizard climbed up on his neck, and nuzzled his chin. "Thanks buddy", said the weary blacksmith. "But if no one shows up today, I guess it's time I accepted this was useless."

[Shard 0]

<>

Shard stood near the transport entrance to the main town of the seventh floor, his eyes slowly moving across the scene before him. To say this floor was desolate would probably be an understatement, the the view beyond the various stone and woodwork buildings seemed to either be endless mountains or ceaseless barren wastes. Shard rolled his shadowy eyes as he noticed a river. Correction, there were rivers as well. Can't forget those.

Overall, the word Shard would use to describe floor seven was grim. Besides front-liners, there player population of the floor was quite small at the moment, giving the two a strange sort of fronter feel. Actually, this town was the frontier, so Shard supposed that made sense. Up to this point, Shard had never really bothered coming this high up before, sticking to floor's 5 and 6 as his main questing grounds. Most plays continued to live on the first and second floors, and he could see why. It would take a special kind of someone to want to live in a place like this. Looking up at the overcast sky, Shard frowns. Obviously it couldn't be a nice day out.

Shaking his head, Shard looks back down to the small flyer held in his gloved hand.

If you are starting out in the blacksmiths profession, and want some information, come to floor seven, at the Scorched Tree Bark inn. Ask for Dellis.

Shard had found quite a few of these things littered about his home on the second floor, and around his main hunting grounds on the fifth floor. Though it had been a few days since Shard had set up his shop, already having crafted a fair few items- some better then others, Shard realized he still had more or less no idea what he was doing. He didn't have much knowledge as far as materials, nor where to get them. He needed to know the proper quirks of blacksmithing, since at the moment he was mainly going by feeling.

It had only taken him a day to decide to make the trip up here, and he supposed that many other's must have decided to come as well, so what was the harm in it. He could get some experience, and be a step closer to his ideal of helping the people stuck in this world. Placing the note in his pants pocket, Shard brings up his menu, activating the town map. It took him a few moments to find the Scorched Tree Bark inn, placing a waypoint over it that he could see on his HUD. With a small nod, eyes cool in determination, Shard moves forward towards the future.

<

>

The boards of the inn's wooden steps creek as Shard's massive boot presses upon them. For a moment Shard simply stands at the entrance, scrutinizing the inn with his standard impassive face; eyes dark, mouth a thin line. Once more, Shard was unsurprised by the simple nature of the inn, though he had to give this one credit for some originality. His gaze moved up to the custom made sign with a tree imprinted on it, then fell back onto the inn, once more being a double story, but taking a much more interesting horseshoe like layout. Shard nods with approval- he liked this place better then the inn he frequented on the first floor.

Placing his gloved hand on the wooden panel door, Shard softly pushes it open, stepping into the establishment silently, moving his gaze from side to side. His gaze is largely placid as he scanned the interior, first noticing the odd lack of people. Shard counted two, and one of them probably wasn't even human. Shard's dark eyes move to the counter, where a sweet looking young woman in barmaid attire happily cleans dishes. Shard's eyes narrow, but then return to normality with a shrug. He was willing to bet she was an NPC- what kind of person enjoys washing dishes that much? No one.

Finally, his eyes move towards the young man sitting at a table across the room, slouching heavily. Shard does a double take, eyes going wide, then narrowing, seeing what appeared to be a lizard nuzzling the man. Shard's mouth opens slightly, but then closes, not wanting to suddenly blurt out a "huh" or "what?". Looking around and seeing no one else, Shard pulls out his flyer, reading the name listed.

"Dellis." Shard's voice is soft, as if confirming to himself that, that was indeed the name on the paper. With a small shake of the head, wondering why he had been standing there so long, Shard steps forward. Each of his heavy boot-falls making a deep thud on the wooden floor, Shard moves beside the young man's table, his massive figure looming over the man.

"You, Dellis?" Shard's voice is low, but the question in his voice was apparent. He looked down on the man with a cool expression, placing the flyer down onto the table...

OOC: As I was writing this, I realized that you never actually give Dellis an appearance here or in your journal. Think you could add one? It would help me a lot. xD

[Dellis 0]

(OOC: I actually imagine him very similar to my avatar, with green eyes instead of blue though. I'll add a description in the journal this night, though. Sorry for the delay in posting!! ç_ç)

Dellis' mind had since floated away when the big man came in, so he never noticed his entrance till he spoke.

"You, Dellis?" said the very high stranger.

"WOAH!" He screamed, almost falling down from the chair. "Yes it's me what did I do wrong?!?" He asked, almost frantically.

*He's a giant!* were his first thoughts.

*Let's hope he's here to kill you,* were Izzy's.

He stared at the stranger for a moment, trying to memorize his appearance. He did that with every new person he met.

*Ah, now I get it, he must be here for the flyers!* He thought.

As he took breath to begin speaking, Izzy fled to the backpack, as if to say ' If you make him angry, YOU deal with him.'

"Yes, it's me." He said smiling. "And you're here for the flyers, I assume, so you must be a blacksmith, right?" He asked.

He was a bit nervous about speaking to him, or even teaching him things, so he figured he'd do a bit of conversation first to get things going.

[Shard 0]

Shard took a step back, eyes slightly wider as the smaller blond man screams, falling out of his seat. Face blank, Shard wasn't sure if he should be saying something to placate him or helping the man up. The scene almost seemed comical to Shard, as he stared down at the man, Lizard skittering around. A laugh was probably beyond Shard, but he did feel a the corner of his mouth twitch upward as the man asked if he had done something wrong. Shard's normal response probably would have been to grunt or stare menacingly, but instead, Shard chose to simple place the flyer down onto the table, leaning against it as to seem slightly less threatening.

Shard's face goes soft watching the lizard crawl into the man's backpack- seemed to be in a hurry too. Shard wondered why that was for a moment, before looking back up to the man, who was confirming that he was in fact, Dellis. Shard's dark obsidian eyes meet Dellis's ocean blue, Shard' seemingly content to stare at the man, before offering a gloved hand, helping the smaller man up off the cool wooden floor. This Dellis had a certain kind quality to him- Shard would use the word soft, but he felt that maybe a bit harsh. Even if it did seem to be true.

"I saw the flyers on the second floor," Shard's voice is low with a light raspy quality to it, his gaze once more moving away from Dellis, back to the flyer he placed on the table. Shard knew he was no beginner. He knew the basic's of smiting, and it was obvious just by looking at Dellis, that Shard was probably a more experienced fighter. What Shard needed was his know how to find new and better mat's. Also which were which. And Why he needed certain types for certain things. There was a bit of a list.

"I'm a smith. Opened my shop not long ago. Second floor," Shard nods, crossing his muscular arms, sitting down at the table. For a moment Shard looks off at the door, as if waiting for a drove of eager smiths to barrel through the door. All he saw was the NPC cleaning plates, smiling like she just won the lottery. Facing momentarily deadpan, watching the odd NPC, Shard shakes his head, looking back to Dellis with a calm expression.

"Shard. I'm Shard."

[Dellis 0]

The big stranger watched his show almost impassibly, if not for a little twitch of the mouth.

Then, he offered his arm to help him get back up.

He took his hand, and felt himself almost thrown airborne by his strenght.

Staggering a bit, he managed to sit on the stool again.

"Thanks, sorry about that." He managed to utter, shocked.

"I saw the flyers on the second floor," the stranger started, "I'm a smith. Opened my shop not long ago."

Dellis opened his eyes wide. He had been holed up here for a week, so he didn't know anyone else had opened a shop.

"Well, It's good to know there are other blacksmiths out there, I was starting to lose hope." he uttered, still looking at him warily.

The huge stranger leaned on the table, probably trying to feel less threatening, but only causing Dellis to feel more like Izzy in front of a giant.

"Shard. I'm Shard." He said.

"Well, pleased to meet you, Shard." He said. "I'm Dellis... wait, you already know that." He added, quite uselessly.

"And this one here..." he paused, reaching for the backpack, and pulling out a quite indignated lizard, "... Is Izzy, my companion. Bit sarcastic, sometimes, but a good lizard nonetheless." He concluded.

*NOOOO HE'S GONNA EAT ME! HE'S GONNA REALLY COOK ME IN A PLATE NOT LIKE YOU, YOU'RE ALL TALK HE'S NOT!* thought squirming the lizard. *Oh, Sweet Great Lizard, save me! Mom didn't raise me to become lizard macramè!*

"Macramè isn't something you eat, you stupid lizard!" Dellis whispered to the little lizard. "Though it does sound delicious... Anyway! There's n... nothing to worry about." he sentenced, while very coherently moving the stool a bit further away.

As an answer, she bit his finger and ran towards Kaya, hiding behind her.

"If you won't work as your meatshield job requires, i'll find another one." She said.

"Ssshh--sssh.....SSSSsshh... ssssh." They heard.

*I swear, you're becoming fixated on anchovies. You eat insects, you dumb reptile!* thought Dellis, who obviously didn't understand lizard tongue, even if he'd like that.

He gave a furtive look at Shard, which continued to stare with an undeciferable expression. He hoped he hadn't noticed the exchange, the last thing he needed was for him to think he thought he could speak to lizards.

He breathed deeply, then resolved to try and stay calm for the moment.

He turned back to him, now serious. "Well, thanks for having come here." He said, fidgeting. "I'll try to answer every doubt you might have, and give you some pointers." he added.

"Well, even if you'll probably know all the basics, judging from the fact that you've already opened your shop." he smiled.

"Still, I think there are still some things I can teach you that you could benefit from." He concluded, looking at him.

In the corner of the shop, Izzy peeked from behind the counter.

*I wonder how dellis macramè tastes like.* She thought.

[Shard 0]

Shard watches with a deadpan expression as Dellis pulls the lizard out from his bag, it squirms as if it thought it was about to be turned into a stew, or maybe roasted with some herbs... As Dellis begins to describe "Izzy's" personality traits, Shard's own mind begins to wander, dark eyes locked on the panicked lizard. Why did he always find the interesting people- Shard didn't know Dellis well enough to call him completely nuts, but watching as the smaller blonde man quietly whispered to the lizard, Shard's eyes begin to dim, moving his gaze up to the ceiling. Why him? What did Shard do?

Hearing the shuffling sound of Dellis's stool moving, Shard's gaze moves back down. Though his face remains painfully blank, Shard's eyes narrow slightly. He could tell the guy was terrified. In a way Shard had to give him props, since most people would have tried to run off by now. This much smaller man was trying his damnedest to help the people of Aincrad, even if that meant teaching and putting up with a scary son of a bitch like himself. A twinge of pain runs through Shard, forcing his aloof expression away, replaced by a tiny grin as he watches Izzy bite Dellis, then run behind the NPC, hissing back at her owner.

Shard snorts in amusement, his arms still crossed, watching as Dellis glares at Izzy. Okay, so maybe he was a crazy lizard whisperer, he didn't seem like a bad person. As Dellis looks back to him, Shard tilts his head, a single eyebrow raised. Though Shard wasn't exactly laughing or smiling, his face was visibly less stony then before.

Shard nods almost invisibly as Dellis thanks him for being there, removing his arms from their crossed position, turning his head to the NPC, which he waves over. As Dellis continues to speak, Shard making sure to note each word in his mind, Shard nods to the smiling NPC.

"What can I get you, Players?" the NPC's voice is cheerful in a terribly lifelike way, only accented by the way it pushes strands of hair from it's hazel eyes. Shard raises a hand with two fingers held up, before turning to Dellis once he had finished speaking. For a moment Shard seems to study Dellis, hand still raised to the NPC, before nodding, as if agreeing with more or less all of what Dellis said..

"Want a beer? It's on me." Shard's voice is a deadpan, his dark eyes glimmering somewhat as he watched Dellis expectantly.

[Dellis 0]

Dellis visibly relaxed noticing Shard losing his hard expression a bit.

*He's still quite wary and serious, but I guess that's to be expected, in a game like this. I kinda freaked out too, even if we're in a safe area, so I guess it's understandable.* He thought, glancing at Kaya for a moment.

"What can I get you, Players?" asked Kaya, from behind the counter, smiling. She interrupted his train of thoughts.

He stared at her hazel eyes. Sometimes, it was easy to forget she was an NPC.

He had always treated NPCs like real people... as he did with Izzy. He didn't percieve much the difference. Not between this world and reality, not between its people and the ones he knew before. They were both just as real to him.

"Want a beer? It's on me." Shard's voice sounding loud in the void room.

He nodded. "Sure. We may as well speak while we drink some." He stated, deciding not to mention that he didn't drink alcohol, and for good reasons.

"Well, what should we start from?" He asked him, while Kaya brought them two glasses of red ale.

"I've already some expertise in many fields. To a starting blacksmith i'd lose two or more hours speaking about the crafting processes, and how to get your shop up and running and what not, but we can avoid that." he smiled.

"So, shoot. By the way, there's a reason I decided that the meeting place would be this Inn in floor seven, but more on that later."

He took a sip off his beer, trying to act cool.

That was ruined by him almost choking down on it, but hey, not everything goes like planned, right?