[OP-F1] The Embarrassing Spoils of War

[Jomei 0]

Jomei stood there watching the two throw fists back and forth. It was almost like watching someone play a fighting game of some sort. "Your guild master seems like quite the fighter.." Jomei said to the group around him.. just not sure who exactly was part of his guild or not. "However.." before he knew it, Takao had grappled Mack's arm and threw him into the ground, claiming victory. Jomei smirked and clapped his hands together. Watching such a fight made him want to improve on his own <Martial Arts> skill.. But he knew he had more important things to focus on first. "So anyways" Jomei took a step forward, "What was the point of this fight anyway?" he scratched the back of his head, knowing he came in a few moments too late to hear why the two wanted to exchange fists. 

[Lawfer 0]

Lawfer had been late to receive the message from his guild master about the low blow and the punishment event that was going to unfold and to take place. He wasn't too fond of having a woman embarrassed but he was smart enough to know not to interfere with punishments. He would have gladly taken her place had he got there earlier. As Lawfer strolled up to the crowd, he realized that the only guild mates that he had actually met was Albalasster who was not present at the time. He had spoken with Mack before via messenger, but never actually met him. Catching the final blow of the duel, he was confused about what transpired. It looks like someone had stood up for Shirosu. 'Good for him,' he thought as a smile crept across his face. That guy was indeed strong. 

It looked like three congregated of his guild mates congregated near each other. A man clad in black, a woman who's physical features made Lawfer's heart skip a beat momentarily, and a long blonde haired teenager. His gaze was fixed on Opal for a moment, coming to his senses he broke the gaze. 'Its rude to stare,' he reminded himself. Scanning the scenery, he noticed a woman over another warriors shoulder. "That must be the accused." he said quietly to himself. Lawfer couldn't see her face, only assumed it was distraught. Walking closer into the circle, Lawfer didn't know what to do. All he could do is watch...

[Opal 0]

Opal expelled a plume of lilac smoke into the air and shook her head, massaging the bridge of her nose, "That boy has nothing but rocks in his head..." she said lowly. Apparently she was attracting a few more people to her vicinity, and attempted to wave the purple smoke from out of their direction...still forgetting it smelled like lavender. She gave a defeated sigh and looked to the Irish gentlemen who was going to defend Shirosu's honor. 

"Hello~, my name is Opal," She couldn't help but smile at him for his act of bravery against her own Guild Leader, and for looking up at such a massive hulk of man like Mack was, "Well, we recruits of the Crimson Blade including myself, must go through a set of trials before we become of the Soldier Rank and be an official member of the Guild. From what I have gathered in the message, a duel started between Mack and Shirosu to test her abilities or it might have been her final test. Anywho, the duel was anything goes...However, finding an opportunity to nail our Guild Leader in the balls proved to be a wrong move, and she ended up getting beat in her duel and thus...for attempting a nut shot on him, Mack decided to belittle the woman by carrying her over his shoulder and thus...the long string of events happened here. Many people came to her honor, but I am suspecting foul play in this duel. Despite it being a hand to hand duel with the first person reaching 3 hits to be the winner, its my reason to believe that Mack may have had an accuracy modifier item to be able to hit easier. I don't think Shirosu had anything like that on her. So I haven't said anything to anyone. BUT if I am right, Mack cheated by using extra equipment to up his accuracy..." 

It was a long drawn out explanation to the best of Opal's ability to say and reiterate what happened to the man beside her. She was still angry at Xion as well for his little action he made on her earlier, drawing a blade to her throat for harassing a member of the guild. It was just a light punch to the arm..."Ugh..." she raised her lavender scented cigarette to her lips and took an excessively long drag from it and exhaled slowly, opening her mouth partly and blowing while pursing her lips together.

"By the way, that was a pretty brave thing you did there standing up to our Guild Leader. You either got some balls of steel or a death wish." She folded her arms under her chest and leaned back slightly holding her cigarette between her two fingers and flicked it several times to disperse the ashes which came off like flowing flower petals in the breeze.

OOC: My dialogue was directed to Jomei, not Vasth. Sorry for the misunderstanding, unless Vasth is also Irish. Haha.

Edited September 4, 2015 by Opal

[Vasth 0]

Vasth listened, He finally opened his eyes he looked up at the lady who had introduced herself. Vasth smiled, "I am Vasth, pleased to meet you," Vasth slowly got up as Opal. Vasth chucked "You being a detective,well I believe that accuracy in hand to hand wouldn't be much of a cheat if you knew real martial arts,Since I am a top world martial artist I would know." Vasth smiled as he heard Opal's last comment, "hmm I'm not scared of anyone, beside I stand for the just things but Shirosu tried to kick a guys nuts, it would make him angry without a doubt.."  Vasth swings his shoulder around which was uncomfortable, Vasth grumbled, He grabbed his Dragon Spear and slammed the blade into the ground because it was blocking him from getting his uncomfortable shoulder fixed.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei turned to the woman who had addressed him, or at least who he thought addressed her, and flashed her a soft smile. He opened his mouth to speak, but another player had already began answering her. Judging by the fact the girl, who introduced herself as Opal, was looking at Jomei when she spoke.. he figured she was talking to him, but the player behind him thought other wise. He looked over his shoulder to the one names Vasth as he introduced himself and replied to Opal. Jomei scratched the back of his head, "Nice to meet you lad."

He turned back to the woman and chuckled silently, "Pleasure to meet you, Opal. I'm Jomei." he spoke, offering a gentle hand out to the woman in greeting. "Sounds like an interesting aspect to the guild, weeds out anyone who may not be able to make it in your ranks" he placed his hand on his chin in wonder about what type of trials. Jomei opened his mouth to continue speaking, but a slight laugh escaped his lips thinking of the humor of the situation, "Well.. In the real world, I guess I would understand Mack's anger.. being kicked in the balls and all." he chuckled again. "But here in Sword Art.. We don't exactly feel pain.. So I don't see why it matters." he shrugged his shoulders. "But I'm happy to see I'm not the only one with the mindset of how its not very fair.. and I guess Takao beat me to the scene, or I probably would have been the one fighting."

"And as for standing up to Mack, it really is nothing." He crossed his arms again and looked over at their guild leader, who had just lost his fight, "Like I said, if I showed up earlier than Takao, I probably would have been the one in there... But then again, Mack spoke to one of my former guild mates, and the two of them suggested an Alliance of sorts between the guilds.. So I would not want to mess anything as such up." 

[Xion 0]

Xion chuckled as he heard the conversation going on between Jomei and Opal ugh opal, they where both of the opinion that what Mack was doing was a little harsh, maybe even unfair. While Xion had to agree to an extent, he wouldn't go as far as accusing the man of cheating. Mack was rather blunt, and rough yes, but he was an honest man who kept to his word, and anyway, accuracy boosting equipment was part of the game like it or not. Xion sighed as he thought about this, far too many people complained about so many things, accuracy boosters, thorns, EVA, even Xion's favourite tactic para-locking. Yes, they made a fight harder, gave whoever had them an advantage, but they all had counters, people just weren't using them correctly. 

 

"Opal, accuracy is part of the game, Mack wasn't cheating by using the resources available to him. And Irish, apologies as I don't know your name, but I think the idea is that even attempting a nut-shot is a dirty move at best, and a dishonourable one at worst, we are meant to be an honourable guild, thus Mack is simply enforcing that fact. But this is all opinions..." he called out. loud enough for them to just hear him. Xion would have approached Jomei and introduced himself, but Opal was there, and doing that would be like walking into a minefield even though you know it is one: Just plain suicidal. 

 

 

[Mack 0]

"Well fought," Mack rumbled, accepting Takao's hand so the other fighter could pull him to his feet. There were, of course, no hard feelings between Mack and Takao. The only person in the game that the blonde axe-man genuinely hated was Koumori. "I owe you a discounted item. Let me know what it is and, if I don't have it in stock I can make it for you." Once he was back on his feet Mack turned his attention on Opal who was loudly complaining about the unfairness of using accuracy enhancing equipment.

"It is no more dishonorable for me to use accuracy enhancing equipment in a duel than it is for Takao to do the same when we dueled just now. At least, I assume you did Takao," Mack said, inclining his head in the direction of the brown-haired member of an allied guild. "After all, she was fighting with a dagger that carried the same plus one accuracy bonus as my pendant grants to me," the hulking blonde man continued. "You can go ahead and put her down now, Beoreson, I think she's learned her lesson." Mack watched as Beoreson set the silver haired woman down on the ground before addressing the myriad complaints about Shirosu's treatment being unfair.

"In this instance, fair and unfair is irrelevant," the blonde man said simply, crossing his arms over his chest and looking from Opal to Jomei. "While it is true that, in a duel, anything goes since they can be life and death situations. If she engages in a duel and attempts a low blow against the wrong player, regardless of the fact that SAO doesn't technically transmit pain, they may do far worse to her than simply embarrass her a bit. They may kill her," the blonde man continued in a coldly logical tone. "As for Opal, she's probably just jealous that she's not getting carried back to the forge. If you really want a ride, all you have to do is ask," the Guild Leader said, displaying the smallest of smiles.

"Anyway, back to business. Takao has won the freedom of fair lady and a discounted item from the shop, per the terms of our wager. So, we need to head for the forge. Opal, decide if you're being carried or not, and let's be on our way."

[Opal 0]

Jomei had introduced himself, she couldn't resist almost going dead in the knees from his accent. It was really hot and he handed out his hand. Opal gave him a beaming smile, a light rose of tint on her cheeks as she accepted it before the touch was dismissed, "Yeah, makes me wonder how I wasn't weeded out form the rest of the bunch. I can honestly say I am not anywhere close to as hard working as the rest of the lot is, but I guess they felt sorry for my or something. I don't know, maybe it had to deal with a previous member of the guild. I was there only link to his last known whereabouts, unfortunately he passed away in the game tracking down a guild of orange players..." there was a sort of melancholy in her voice, damn her hormones making this more difficult than it needed. She almost turned into a giddy school girl to an over emotional woman on her cycle. She took a drag from her cigarette, it calmed her somewhat but she sensed she needed something stronger, like alcohol as well. She shook her head and her attention was back on Jomei as he talked about some sort of Guild Alliance. She wasn't sure what he meant by that, probably something the Council was discussing. 

She gave a slight shrug of her shoulders as a plume of the lavender scented smoke escaped her lips once more, blowing the lilac cloud in a smokey stream upwards and then waving it about to disperse it, "Sorry...force of habit. I came over here alone so I wouldn't bother people with this." she said holding up the purple stick between her fingers. 

Of course, Xion was shooting his mouth off again. Her brows showed anger with the accompany her low narrowed eyes< "Maybe not cheating but an unfair advantage--" But Mack had disputed that Shirosu was also using an item that was increasing her accuracy as well, so it all was a fair duel. Of course Opal would never admit to being wrong, and her face turned red with anger and embarrassment, "This is why I didn't wanna bring that up..." she said more so to herself. Only moments later, Mack's way to break the tension was to fluster the woman yet again with a joke as he got everyone's attention as they would head back to the forge. 

"No thanks! I think I can do without...Ugh! You coming with us to the forge, Jomei?" she asked, almost forgetting that Grave was there as well. 

[Grave 0]

The amount of things that were happening around me at once were absolutely overwhelming.  Takao was fighting Mack (and ultimately the former won), Shirosu was being thrown about, two more people approached Opal and I... My head was about to spin off like a top.  Soon enough more conflict arose between Xion and Opal.  However, I refrained from letting out the ear-piercing whistle Mack and Takao knew so well.  My question was; who was worse?  Xion was defending the guild master's honour, but being highly obnoxious, while Opal was only trying to prove Shirosu innocent, but she just didn't seem to want to let it go.  I decided to stay out of the entire thing, and considered dropping out of the gathering.  In the end, that's exactly what I attempted to do; I tried slinking away while the chaos covered my ass.

(Unless someone specifically wants to keep Grave in;

*Grave leaves*)

[Jomei 0]

Jomei slightly slouched his body over to look Opal in the eye, being he was slightly taller than the girl. "Don't think so down on yourself, lass. You seem like quite the capable one.. so I'm sure it wasn't that they felt bad for you." She then went on to talk about one of her friends.. or at least a guild mate.. that was killed while tracking some other players down. His face turned slightly solemn, "Oh, I'm sorry to hear that.." he spoke softly, rubbing the back of his neck. He stood up straight as the girl took another drag of her cigarette. He turned his head away for a moment, expecting the smell of burnt ash to fill the area as she exhaled. However.. he was surprised that instead of that disgusting smell.. it was the calming scent of lavender. She then apologized for blowing the smoke in his general area, to which Jomei placed his hands up in front of him, palms facing forward. "No no, don't be sorry. It honestly smells kinda nice. I don't mind it if its not the smell of real cigarettes." he laughed lightly.

"Its Jomei," the ginger haired man said to the one called Xion, quite sternly.. only because of being addressed as his heritage.. rather than asking for a name. He was not disagreeing with what he was saying.. As a guy who knew the everlasting pain of taking a shot to the gonads, he knew it was a cheap shot. But he also knew that, here in SAO, where survival was crucial.. he personally would overlook such a dirty attack as a means of trying to stay alive. However, just so the situation would finally diffuse, he shrugged his shoulders, "I guess you have a point there" Mack then proceeded to join in on the conversation as well, only agreeing with what Xion originally told the two. Jomei simply nodded, not wanting this argument to proceed any further. Opal then asked if he would be joining them on the trip to Mack's forge. "Well, I had no other plans for the day.. and if you .. and Takao are heading that way, I guess I'll tag along." he gave the girl a warm smile, "Would be nice to make a new friend ... I also feel I should introduce myself to your guild leader. Should probably get to meet the man if he's going to be joining me on the front lines." he smirked as he stepped forward to meet the man, not realizing he just admitted himself to being a front liner.. which made him cringe slightly. 

Jomei walked past Takao, giving him a slight pat on the back for winning the duel. "Good on ya, lads. Quite a fun fight to watch it was." He reached out his free hand to Mack, "Sorry for the tension there earlier, I'm Jomei. The other co-leader of The Velvet Room. Its good to get to meet you."

[Takao 0]

Takao hefted the larger player back up to his feet, struggling only slightly due to the addition to his already high levels of equipment load. He returned the compliment by saying "You too", his words accompanied by a smile and nod of his head. The brunet glanced aside and called for his familiar, which had very little hesitation with approaching and returning to its place upon his shoulders. "I'll let you know what it is on the way."

He followed Mack's attention to the complaints about accuracy enhancements and shrugged his shoulders, agitating his familiar. "Is that considered dishonourable? I mean, technically speaking, I have a pretty high evasion modifier too. I thought the only stipulation was no weapons." He glanced down and drew his head back slightly as the aggitated shoulder-mounted familiar attempted to reciprocate its irritation by wrapping its tail around his face. The conversation between the rest of whoever was gathered continued while Takao fought to keep the draconic monster's tail off his face. He did hear Mack explain the exact extent of his accuracy bonus, and felt his mouth slightly purse at Opal's mention of an "unfair advantage". Between Mack's skills and equipment and Takao's own, it seemed to him that he had the advantage when it came to numbers.

Takao overheard a bit more of Jomei and Opal's conversation, though only the mention of the vanguard seemed to stick. "You're gonna be comin' up to the frontlines too?" the brunet said, turning his glance to look at Mack as he spoke. With how quickly he had noticed that guild of his growing, it was a wonder he had the time to organize and outfit them all as well as progress enough himself to join in boss battles. It was a pleasant surprise though, given that the two didn't harbour any ill-intentions for the other, and he was positive that Mack would end up a crucial part of the future raids. His thoughts were interrupted by a pat on the back by a certain ginger-haired player, who Takao offered a wide grin to upon noticing. "Thanks!"

[Lawfer 0]

Lawfer couldn't help but Laugh as he watched everyone bicker back and forth. In a game of statistics and equipment the one who was able to stack their skills correctly and have the proper equipment would win. Sure, real world skills would help but to his recollection in the real world everyone didn't run around toting weapons. Well except maybe those who used firearms, but that was an argument all of its own. One thing was for certain though, he did ally up with the right guild. Even though two of the top dogs had thrown down, they still reconciled after all. Honor mattered but loyalty and comradary were the defining character traits of his new comrades, this placed Lawfer at ease. Grinning ear to ear Lawfer he trailed his teammates.

[Mack 0]

"Since Opal isn't interested in being carried, let's move out," Mack said, speaking in a loud enough tone to make sure he was heard by the entire group. Shirosu had been embarrassed enough, as far as he was concerned, so she could walk the rest of the way. Unless she was just dead set on being carried like a sack of potatoes to the completion of the journey. Moving to the head of the procession, Mack began leading the way back to his forge, falling into step next to Takao in the process.

"The only stipulation was no weapons, I'm not making any accusations of cheating Takao," Mack rumbled to the brown-haired warrior in response to his comments. "I also pay up on my debts, so let me know what you want. If I haven't got it in stock, I'll craft it if I can." The bulky blonde man lapsed into silence for a moment as he considered Takao's question about joining the front lines. "Reaching the front lines is the plan, but I also have duties in running the Crimson Blades. We also need to establish a protocol for what level players must be in order to move up to the front lines. I'll not be putting the Blades in any more danger than I have to. Koumori is the only one I'd hang out on a flagpole like a chunk of meat for the mobs."

[Takao 0]

Takao moved alongside Mack as he started in the direction of his shop, clearly demonstrating a higher understanding of the city's layout than he had ever bothered to learn. He nodded to the response he received regarding the discussions of cheating, but made no effort to continue that line of conversation, instead opting to let it end where Mack had left it. The brunet had given himself plenty of time to mull over the specifics of the piece of equipment, though the enhancements of such were much more important to him in comparison to the appearance. "I'm switching up my build to help with a quest," he said, prefacing his response with an unnecessary explanation of his reasoning. "So I'm looking to get a perfect quality shield, with paralyze taking up one of the enhancement slots and safe-guard taking up the last two. The appearance doesn't matter to me too much, so long as it's a round shield or kite shield. You can have creative freedom over the name, too."

He alternated from nodding along and chuckling dryly to Mack's comment about Koumori. "I heard there was going to be another meeting for the raid sometime soon, so if we manage to get the specifics of the boss there, you'd probably have an easier time coming up with the numbers. Would be nice to know what we're going up against beforehand. From what I heard about the last boss raid, it was a real pain for everybody, even the guys on dreg cleanup."

Edited September 7, 2015 by Takao

[Shirosu 0]

Finally able to stand again Shirosu didn't waste a single moment, she quickly ran in the opposite direction from Mack and Beoreson,  and hid behind the closest street lamp. "Thanks Takao!" she yelled from across the street then threw a glare in Mack's direction and made a hissing sound before flipping him off and trailing at the back of the group. Sure she was a solider of the Crimson Blades now, but she was still really, really pissed about the being carted around like a prized buck. At least Takao was getting a discount shield out of it, still didn't change one little thing, she was mad, end of sentence.

[Opal 0]

Her heart raced lightly as they were talking back and forth, Jomei and herself. What he said really brought a smile to her face that went from ear to ear and she took that to the heart. It was nice to be seen as something other than a burden. While she wore the crimson cloak, she didn't feel like she belonged. He was a sweetheart to say in the least, even after addressing the matter of her friend perishing from the hands of PKer. She was happy as well to know the smoke didn't bother him, "I know what you mean, doll. I smoke IRL and its a disgusting scent. I can alchemize items like this using herbs and flower scents, even fruits if I wanted to. I think my next batch might be something along the lines of a citrus fruit. I love oranges. I don't always eat fruit, but when I do...I eat an orange." she laughed lightly. 

Xion was being a Butt again, addressing her new friend as the Irish, she would give him a death glare but that would only set off some more dynamite between the two, "He's an ass..." she whispered low to Jomei's ear, "But I guess he's alright. We don't see eye to eye on many matters..." flicking the lavender stick of its ashes, the small specs bloomed into lavender petals once more. 

Opal was still listening to Jomei as he spoke and then mentioned about needed to meet the Grandmaster since they will be on the front lines together, Opal almost coughed when he said that, front lines? This handsome devil? "So...you are pretty far up on the ladder then when it comes to power? I'm not going to lie...that's a pretty big turn on. Hahaha. A guy who is strong, a charmer with that accent. You must have the women lining up for a taste of you..." 

Her sentence cut short after Mack had bellowed out they were going to the Forge, they were already walking towards the destination, "Ugh! That place is a swelter box..So, the front lines then, huh? Well, I hope you stay safe. I am far from being powerful enough to be going there...But hey! If you ever need healing potions, come by my shop, ya know? It's actually closed at the moment though...BUT I'll be sure all those fighting in the raid will have an ample supply of healing items. I wouldn't want you dying up there...." 

[Beoreson 0]

Beoreson fades into the crowd. An incredible feat for the man, as he was normally a quite a outspoken person. He knew that he wanted to at least be near but, didn't care much about what was going on anymore. He noted that he was starting to care less and, less. He kept that to himself though as most pf the people in the guild would most likely make him go see one of the counseling people that had opened shop. If anyone needed him they would be able to easily find him but, it was clear that he was trying to tip toe away.

OOC: I'm not leaving the thread but, I am taking a backseat now. I'm busy with IRL stuff.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei was interested in what Opal was talking about. He was not a fan of smokers.. but here, it was just a game.. and her cigarettes here not only smelled nice, but could be used for apothecary purposes. He laughed, rubbing the back of his neck, "Keep talking about how good they are and I might even have to try one." he said sarcastically, knowing he would most likely never smoke something.. even if it was just a game. "Either way, I may have to check out your shop sometime.. just to check out what you've made." he said with a smile. She then proceeded to whisper into Jomei's ear after Xion spoke to him.. apologizing for his actions and calling him an ass. Jomei smirked, "Its alright. I took no offense to it." 

He had now stepped forward to meet up with Takao and Mack, telling Opal about the whole front line deal. She seemed quite surprised in the least, and Jomei turned around to look at her as she spoke after a few steps. Jomei smiled when she called him powerful.. she even went on to say it was attractive. Jomei blushed and rubbed the back of his head, not sure what to say. He cleared his throat and shook his head, "No.. I don't have women lining up for me." he chuckled and turned around.. thinking of the exact opposite, all the unlucky moments he had in that field. Afterwards, he turned back around to introduce himself to Mack and greet Takao. As the two walked past him, Jomei retracted his hand he put out to greet them and shoved it in his pocket. Walking back into the group with a small pout on his face. 

[Mack 0]

OOC: In the interest of getting this thread done and closed... I'm ending it here. Takao, swing by Mack's shop and I'll fork over the weapon I owe you for the bet. Sorry for letting this one lapse, everyone. My fault.

It had not been Mack's intention to slight Jomei, but the blonde blacksmith had been so deeply engrossed in his conversation with Takao that he hadn't noticed the ginger headed man offer a hand to shake. "Yes, I'd also heard there was going to be a Boss Raid meeting soon up on the eleventh floor. The Blades have garnered an invitation as, I assume, both you and Lessa have as well," he continued, speaking in a low tone to Takao as he led the group off in the direction of his forge.

REWARDS:

800 col/10 Players = 80 col each

Takao:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Mack:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Shirosu:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Grave:
+ 1 SP
+ 80 Col

Beoreson:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Carambit:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Jomei:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Xion:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Opal:
+1 SP
+80 Col

Vasth:
+1 SP
+80 Col