[PP-F1] Meeting and Re-Seeing (seul,lilly)

[Astropheric 0]

"hey, im at the gate, get your but over" I clicked the send button, I sent the message to lily. We hadn't talked today so I wanted to message her and meet up. I stood in the middle of the gate area where we had met the last time we went hunting, whether we would do that today or not, well I don't know. Lily was a strange character, and by now I'd learned that if she wanted to hunt, we would most likely do so, if she didn't, well you get the point. I wasn't a person to just give one what they want, but lily sure was a stubborn little girl, I still remember the time she tried to trick me into thinking she was hurt....yeah....that didn't work out for her, well she got what she wanted but I told her I new she was faking. But in any case, id call us friends at this point, we had done quests with each other and hunted together as well. But me being the cold person I am, I use the word friend loosely, but she was just as different as I. I looked around the gate to see if she was here yet, I did not find her though, just like the last time I realized she was short and would be hard to find so I quit looking. I began thinking that itd be rather cool to meet a new person to "hang out" with, I had really only talked to lily since the game started, but well see, weird that I think that considering I don't care for friends, this game is changing me I swear. AND I DONT LIKE IT.

[Lily 0]

With a sigh Lily walked out of the NPC Blacksmith that she had been basically wasting her time in. She was looking around for a new sword but simply couldn't find anything that she liked. Even though she was aware of multiple non-npc blacksmiths Lily simply didn't have enough money yet to buy a good sword so far she knew. The little girl, wearing a very intimidating purple sailor uniform, and armed with a not so deadly Short sword quickly made her way through the crowded street while looking for another blacksmith. After only about 10 seconds she spotted another blacksmith and quickly walked inside. As she took her time to look at all the weapons Lily's search was disturbed by a private message. She knew that it was Matt as he was the only one who would message him right now as Kitty was most likely busy with her shop. Upon reading the message Lily sighed because she didn't want to walk to the gate at all. Lily has always been a very lazy person but looking for a sword was a thing she was actually enjoying, walking to the gate on the other hand immediatly made her feel tired, even thinking about it made her legs suddenly feel very heavy. Lily had to fight the giant temptation to just say no but she didn't want to lose a friend and a tailor that could possibly give her some discounts. So to prevent Matt getting mad at her Lily walked out of the blacksmith and slowly walked towards the gate. As she started walking she kind of got excited to see Matt again.

After about 10 Minutes Lily arrived at the gate and looked around for Matt. It took her only 10 seconds to spot the tall man as there weren't a lot of people around. With a few hops Lily made her way to Matt and looked up at him while a simple "Haii." left her mouth in an unusual happy tone. Lily quickly hugged the man because she felt like it and looked back up as she let go. "Why did I need to come here?" she asked him because there was no information in the message he had sent.

Edited September 23, 2015 by Lily

[Seul 1]

It had been a long day and it wasn't even over yet. Seul figured had spent his morning touring the city with no real destination in mind. Watching people was a somewhat hobby of in his opinion the best place to do it was by a particular gate that lead to the fields outside. Each moment held the possibility for all sorts of characters to pass by. Each harboring their own story that lead them to that moment. It fascinated him to no end. He had been propped up against a lamppost just to the side of the gate when he took note of an interesting pair of players. A boy and a girl, who at a glance appeared to be good friends. His eyes fell to the ground briefly as he reflected on his own time in Aincrad. He hadn't made a single ally or even fought with his pathetic excuse of a dagger. What did other players possess that he lacked that let them reach such heights while he remained at the lowest of the low.

Well, he was determined to figure it out. But later. For now he needed to take steps toward growing stronger and the fastest was to do that was through forming bonds. The more people one knew, the better their chances of survival would be. Networking would prove useful at higher floors when tougher enemies arose or when something needed to be forged. Seul took a deep breath before casually strolling over to Astro and Lily. "This may sound strange, but I've been watching you two." He paused for a moment before cringing at his own words. "N-Not in like the stalker, serial killery kind of way! I mean like... I just happened to be around." He crossed one arm over the other and outstretched them in an effort to shake their hands simultaneously. "I'm Seul."

[Astropheric 0]

"You didnt have to, could hve said u didnt want to, but i just wanted to me up and talk" i rreply to lilys question. It was true, i hadnt met many other people and i wanted to become better friends with her so she may become less...serious around me all the time. As i was in my thoughts a boy came over and began speaking. He said he was watching us, then tried back tracking as he realized that  sounded kind of weird. I smirked as he did so as it was rathering humoring as he tried to fix his mistake. After trying so, he decided to just introduce himself, his name was seul. I looked him up and down, he looked like any other guy around my age, so i assumed he was. He was also just an inch or two shorter than me, i smiled inside when i looked at lily, she was a short little girl next to two somewhat tall guys. The man, seul oustretche his hands to shake ours, i didnt think lily would take it, but i myself didnt feel like being ruder, so i took his hand in a firm grip.

"hey, astropheric, Astro for short" i say coldly as i shake his hand. The cold emotionless tone in my voice would never go away for people i first meet. Sorry if that hapens to be you. The man seemed rather, active persay, watching us and then comming over to say hi. That wasnt the most common thing. Mostly for a person like me, who i was told was not the easiest person to approach. In any case i admired him in doing so, i just wondered if lily would as well.

[Lily 0]

Lily's eyes slowly fell down on his shirt as he told her that he just wanted to talk. There wasn't anything wrong with that at all and Lily found it somewhat comforting that he apparently saw her as a friend. "Kay" she mumbled while pulling both her sleeves over her hands. She looked back up at Matt, noticing a male player or walk towards them in the cornor of her eye. Lily stared at him for a bit as he came closer and suddenly said that he had been watching them. It Lily proceeded to stare right into the male's eyes as she didn't feel that comfortable at the moment. Luckily, Lily had apparently misunderstood the male which she realized as he corrected himself. When the player brought his hand towards her Lily glared at the hand with a rather confused look. She didn't really know if it would be smart to shake the man's hand but when Matt did it Lily realized that there wasn't anything dangerous abpit shaking one's hand and slowly lifted her hand. Lily carefully grabbed Seul's hand and shook it, her eyes darting back up at his face as she introduced herself. "I'm Lily. Nice to meet you." she mumbled while pulling her hand back. She had no clue what to think about the male other than him probably having problems with starting conversations with strangers as "I've been watching you two" wasn't exactly the best way to start a conversation, not that Lily could do any better. 

[Seul 1]

Astro and Lily. Yes, now he was sure introducing himself was the right choice. It couldn't even have gone over any better than it already had. Making friends was a piece of cake. Honestly, he had no idea why he hadn't tried such a simple thing much sooner. Maybe he'd have been on the higher floors if he did, but such thoughts didn't serve him any purpose now. What he need now was to try and put some charm of his devilish charm to use. Or at the very least figure out something to say that wouldn't make them leave. Or try to murder him the moment he left town. While his mind had wandered off briefly, he snapped back to reality and noticed that a good couple of seconds had gone by without any of them talking. His own initial awkwardness was making him fidget slightly, but he this subsided once his next words came to him.

"Well... I think the three future strongest players in Aincrad have just assembled!" He stated with a cheerful smile before giving an affirmative nod in the pair's direction. Smooth as usual. But that only served as a nice transition to his main point. "So, you guys wouldn't mind me tagging along with this merry, little band right?" 

[Astropheric 0]

I smiled inwardly as the man began to talk again. He was excited or something like it, that he had finally made what he seemed to think of already as "friends". I was not so inclined to think so, I didn't trust this man at all and to me, trust was needed in a friendship, especially in a game like this. I eyed the man once again before replying. "for one your wrong about the strongest players, I haven't fought a monster out of floor one yet while others are at floor 11, and for the other thing." I thought for a second before continuing. " I'm not too inclined to go out and fight with someone I just met, I don't know how much I can rely on you, but ill do it anyway. But its more lily's choice than mine, I tend to let her make the choices if she feels a way, so I recommend convincing her more than I, because I can handle a fight no matter what on this floor." I say coldly looking to lily for her response and back to seul to see if he may interject to convince lily. The guy was over friendly for both of us, but seemed like a good kid, I just hoped lily saw the same thing.

[Lily 0]

Lily's eyes slowly wandered off as a silence fell for a few seconds. She looked around at the Npc's untill the male started talking again, saying something odd but satisfying. It was ofcourse a nice thought to be the strongest, not that that ever would happen as all three of them were probably never going to be able to catch up to those who were already fighting on floor 11. Lily was also not really planning to go for a Damage build but a Support-ish one. She wasn't completely sure yet but was definitely not going full damage.

As Seul asked if he could come with him or something like that Lily immediatly looked at Matt to see what he would say. She wasn't really sure if she was comfortable with the male being around her as he could lead them right into a trap, but she somehow felt a little safer with Matt around. When her friend basically gave her the choice if he was going with them or not an evil and satisfied grin appeared on Lily's face. "Go ahead, try to convince me" she said in a creepy tone on purpose. She tilted her head slightly as she stared right into his eyes, waiting for him to try and convince her. Lily was not only enjoying herself by being a little creepy, she was also testing the male to see if he was a scaredy cat that can't handle pressure. 

[Seul 1]

Yeesh, these two were something else, especially the girl who could've responded in a plethora of ways that were much less creepy. Though he did slightly cringe at the impromptu staring contest being forced upon him, all those years spent watching horror movies, and the fact that it was still light outside, finally paid off as Seul simply brushed aside her method of response to come up with something convincing to say. But what? Why should they take him along? He tried to come up with a feasible reason but nothing worth sharing stuck out in his mind. It wasn't like he could've robbed them... At least not on his own. It would've been simple to lead them to a place where a thief group was lying in wait, but what would thieves even do with low level gear and small savings of Col? Probably nothing. He could show them his empty friend list; maybe that'd be proof that he wasn't communicating with anyone who would potentially cause them harm? But they'd probably just say he deleted said person beforehand as part of the plan. He had to think. Then the words hit him. Harder than a wild boar against the ribcage of an inexperienced player. He cleared his throat before delivering the sappiest speech he could come up with in under a minute.

"Convince you? Well... Alright." He started before walking over to an unoccupied bench and taking a step up to it. "Good players of SAO, I have an announcement of the utmost importance. Naturally, heads turned and those who were curious enough stopped to listen to whatever it was he was about to say. "It was not long ago when we each lived in the real world. For one reason or another we all decided to log into SAO, only to be trapped on that fateful day. Many of us have moved past these parts but there are still those who remain here on the first floor. My question for you is this: Why? Is it out of fear of dying? Lack of trust for others? Well, let me tell you something. Each and every person currently on the 11th floor started down here just like us. With terrible gear, few skills and not a soul in this world to call 'friend'. What sets them apart? Where have they gotten their strength? From relying on others! To have people they know they can go to when the going gets rough. Yes, there are people out there that will try to take advantage of you, but that's just more of a reason to have good friends along to watch your back! The world ends with you.  The world is only as vast as you wanna make it and once you die your world is over. That's why it's better to expand your own horizons and in doing so allow other people in. Take chances, venture to other floors, make new friends... Okay, I'm done-" He states before hopping down into the now massive crowd blocking his path back to where Astro and Lily were standing.

[Astropheric 0]

         Lilys response to me giving her the power to choose was amusing, but not so much as the kid who I just saw jump onto a bench, and spill out his way to convince lily. I had to admire the kid, the speech was pretty good and he was right, there was only one way to grow stronger and it was to fight. And the more people you did it with the easier it was. I was convinced somewhat from the kid, but it seemed like he was more worried about us thinking him as a killer. Which wasn't what I was worried about, it was just more that he didn't seem like a good...fighter. But as he talked about weapons, I took out my sword. I had a sad look on my face, it wasn't bad...was it, it was the highest quality a blacksmith could do, and it had served me well. I put the sword back before looking back to my partner. "so... I like the kids" I tell her with a slight smile. It was true his speech was pretty good, and I was willing to take the chance of him tagging along, wasn't like he was leading us. And he looked harmless as a bat, and I usually had good reads. I was just hoping lily was as convinced as I was, I knew who knowing I was okay with it would help, but it was lily, and sometimes I just never knew.

[Lily 0]

It sure was a big surprise for the Performer when the man suddenly jumped onto a bench and started throwing out a load of words. Lily liked his courage but thought it was a little dramatic as giving her something to eat or carrying her was probably good enough to convince her.  She of course didn't give away any sign of liking it and kept a serious expression on her face for the whole time. Unlike usual, Lily was actually paying attention to what the man was saying and surprisingly liked it. The things that he said were true and quickly made Lily interested in the male that had introduced himself as "Seul". When Matt told her he liked the male Lily gave a small nod and looked up at him. "I like him too. He can come with us." she mumbled while her eyes fell back on the large crowd around Seul. He had definitely managed to impress the little girl with his speech and made her forget the rather akward start they had with him.

With a sigh Lily pulled her sword out of its sheath and slowly started walking towards the crowd that Seul was stuck in. As she got closer Lily tapped on the shoulder of a girl a little taller than her who was part of the crowd that had been listening to the speech and lifted her sword, aiming it at her chest as the girl turned around. "Go away, Now"  Lily mumbled as she stared into the girl's eyes. After a few seconds the scared girl quickly ran away. She slowly walked towards a taller girl who was standing infront of the one that she had just scared away and repeated what she had just did. This time the taller and obviously stronger player just walked away with a shrug instead of running, but Lily's attempt to break the crowd was sure working. About 75% of the crowd was female so she tried to take care of a few girls so Seul could actually move. She was aware that her chance of actually getting rid of the taller and stronger looking males and females was small so she had her eyes on the more innocent ones. After a minute Lily had managed to get about 4 girls away,  she had to mumble a few more threatening words to scare them off sometimes but it still worked, It wasn't going fast enough though. Luckily after a bit people slowly started to walk away, giving Lily the space to actually be able to walk to Seul. "You can come with us" she mumbled with her usual serious look as she got closer to the man. She didn't want to show him that she was quite interested in what he was like,

[Seul 1]

His speech actually worked? Seul never thought of himself as being much of a motivationall speaker, but he guessed some things just had to come from the heart in order to get the point across. But it was amazing! Though her expression hadn't changed much, the little girl finally accepted his company. He brought a hand up to scratch the back of his neck and ease the embarrassment of having been so flashy in his display. "Haha... Thanks." He said with a sheepish grin plastered across his face. Finally he'd have allies to rely upon. The thought only renewed his resolve to become stronger quickly so that he'd be able to pull his own weight in the group. "I'll do my best to protect you both." He said, somewhat cringing at the fact that he was starting to sound like a lame shonen manga hero.  

[Astropheric 0]

I smiled as the kid, seul seemed happy that he was able to tag along. But he clearly wasn't happy in the way he had to do it. As he said he would protect us I chuckled a little. It was a brave statement and sweet and all, but as far I could tell he wouldn't be able to handle what I couldn't. Hed be an asset in a fight sure, but I don't know about savior. But still it was cool and admired him a little more for saying it, which was weird considering I tend to hate people. Well I did before this stupid game, its changing me, and I don't know anymore whether I like it or not. "Thanks, ill hold you to that" I say to the kid with a smile, I looked to lily. "well I guess we should go somewhere, lead the way little miss" I say with a smile.

[Lily 0]

"I'll do my best to protect you both" it made her chuckle inside but she sure did appreciate it. Matt was most likely going to be the one that was going to protect both Lily and the Male but was nice to kniw that Seul actually cared about their lives other than just skipping along for some easy col. As she was told to lead the way Lily nodded and grabbed Seul's hand as she tried to pull him after her. She would let go if the man resisted but proceeded to walk out of the gate and immediatly into the grassfields. She could see a group of wolves to the left so stopped about 8 meters away from the group and started talking without even looking back if Matt was around. "Matt has to go in first." She mumbled while pushing a lock of hair out of her sight. Lily was quite confident, she didn't really see the group of 3 wolves as a thread for 3 real players, and she also knew that Matt had a nice weapon. She wanted Matt to go in first as she knew he was stronger than her and didn't know how strong Seul was. Lily wasn't really scared of him dying as they would need very bad luck for that to happen.

Edited October 5, 2015 by Lily

[Seul 1]

Feeling accomplished, the boy didn't really mind being pulled outside of town. The wolves they found weren't too menacing on their own and for a party of three they wouldn't pose much of a threat. Turning his gaze back to Lily as she spoke he simply shrugged in response to her statement. "Works for me... But uh... Where'd he go?" Glancing about proved pointless as he didn't seem to be around. It was only a short walk between the gate and their current spot so all this time Seul just figured he was being quiet for some reason. Did he stop for a snack or something? He imagined so as he doubted anything else would've been able to separated them.

[Astropheric 0]

Lily pulled the new guy away, seul his name was. Anyway she pulled him away quickly towards the gates and I stuffed my hands in pockets looking down. It would have been epic if I had a toothpick, it helped with the empotionless a hole status I had in the real world. But I continued walking, I was rather far behind but I heard lily say I needed to go in first, I wasn't surprised considering I was probably the strongest, but still...just throw my life away why not. I then heard seul turn around and ask where I was, considering I was so far back. After a minute I appeared, in his vision, and continued walking with my head down, hand in pockets.

I continued this walking past seul and lily until I got to the wolves, I unsheathed my sword slowly, and did a high pitched whistle, my signature way to get mobs to attack me, and they did. The pack of four wolves quickly jumped at me attempting to bite or claw me depending on the wolves preference, but they were slow and I was easily able to sidestep each of them back to back, as the landed I slashed Each one once, before jumping and unleashing my sword art -rage spike- my favorite one as it was an aoe one, helping destroy the mobs, I hit each of them but sadly only did enough damage to bring them to half of their health, but not killing them. I looked back at lily and seul, and with no expression, none of worry or need of help said "If you want, you can help, doesn't really matter to me" Before looking back to the pack of wolves

ID:33967

BD:9

MD:1

ENE:4/8

Sword art- rage spike 1*2 aoe

Astropheric 32/32 Hate:2 (crit)

Lily ???/???

Seul ???/???

Wolves (4) 8/16 (5 base+1 crit=6*2=12-4 mit)

[Lily 0]

Lily puffed her cheeks as she didn't see Matt. She thought he hadn't been talking but apparently he wasn't even following them. Luckily he showed up after a bit and immediatly started a fight without even warning them, but that didn't really matter. Immediatly after Matt engaged and grabbed 4 wolves' attention, Lily immediatly ran into the fight and focused to activate the same sword art Matt had used, Rage spike. It was a big surprise for Lily when she managed to activate the skill just in time and hit every single wolf in the face or neck. It was really satisfying for the performer that she actually hit all 4 of them and dealt quite some damage. Even though Lily was going for a support build and wanted to heal instead of fight, both Seul and Matt didn't take any damage so there was no need for her to stay back.

It took her about 10 seconds to realize the giant mistake she had made right now, she hit all of the wolves and they were now staring at her, ready to attack. Lily was sure that there was no way she could survive 4 attacks, it was just impossible. She was now getting quite nervous but knew that if Matt or Seul were able to grab their attention she would survive. Lily slowly backed off and eyed Matt with a concerned look.

 

 

~~~

ID: 34027

BD: 10 [+2 Dmg]

~~~

Wolves (4) 4/16 (1x2x4 = 8 dmg -4 Mit = 4 DMG)

Lily 20/20 [HATE: 2] [Energy: 1/5]

Astropheric 32/32 [HATE: 2]

Seul ??/?? [HATE: 0]

Edited October 5, 2015 by Lily

[Seul 1]

The other two had already started engaging the wolves with little to no communication over the terms of a plan. For monsters found on the first floor they were pretty durable and Seul figured it would've taken quite a bit of luck, or time, to slay at least one on his own. One of the few drawbacks that came with using a dagger was that the weapon was designed for one on one scenarios where the user could focus their high burst damage on a single target rather than try to knock out multiple enemies at once. His limited skill set didn't provide as much in terms of diversity and he figured that regardless of the move he used the wolves wouldn't be dying. In the end he went with the only AoE move he had in his arsenal: Round Accel. Swinging his dagger in a circular motion caused small tempests to erupt from the blade and actively hunt down the wolves. Each beast only suffered minor damage, but still it was better than not doing anything at all. "M-Maybe it'd be a good idea to finish them now?"

|~Results~|

ID# 34054 | BD: 8 (HIT) | Sword Art Used: Round Accel (2x1 & AoE) | -4 Energy

Wolves (4) 3/16 (1 Base + 1 Rank One Dagger x 2 Round Accel -4 Mit = 1 DMG)

Seul [HP: 32/32] [Energy: 4/8] [HATE: 1]

Lily [HP: 20/20] [Energy: 1/5] [HATE: 2]

Astropheric [HP: 32/32] [Energy: 4/8] [HATE: 2]

[Astropheric 0]

ID:34057

BD:2

MD:4

ENE:3/8 (1regen,2miss)

Astropheric 32/32 Hate:2 (crit)

Lily lily 20/20 2 hate

Seul 32/32 hate 1

Wolves (4) 3/16

After I saw lily, and then seul attack the wolves, I decided I should probably jump back in. Sadly I was the only one in the group who was doing a large amount of damage, so I needed to hit, and finish them off. Lily and suel together had brought the wolves to just under a fourth of their hp, making a finishing move easier, but first the wolves jumped me in my thoughts, as I was thinking they decided to run over and some clawed, others bit. I stuck my sword in ones mouth catching its jaws, while jumping back a bit from the second, I then pulled my sword out, smacking another jumping wolf, sadly doing no damage, before rolling away from the third, I quickly dashed back in after the last one that hadn't recovered, but quickly stopped as I saw another wolf jumping at me already. Mid stab I pulled back, using my forward momentum to roll past the wolf I was stabbing and out of they way of the attacker. The wolves were now between me, and lily/seul. so this was not the best situation, just needed lily and seul to hit, and wed be fine though. Or just not die,

Edited October 6, 2015 by Astropheric

[Lily 0]

While Matt was fighting with all four wolves, Lily positioned herself about 3 meters away from Matt so she would be able to use her first aid ability if needed. After he didn't take any damage for quite a while Lily was ofcourse happy but also dissapointed that she wasn't able to use her ability. 

It was relieving that Matt had attacked because the wolves now were mainly focusing Matt instead of the little performer. Even though she had the urge to attack again it wouldn't  be a smart move at all as she would probably make the wolves target her again and she wasn't sure if she would survive 4 attacks.

Lily slowly backed off while keeping her eyes on the group of wolves. She wanted to try and atleast have some more space between her and the enemy so that she had a longer time to react if the mobs would decide to attack her. She tried to be as silent as possible to make the wolves forget about her but that didn't seem to work as the wolves still looked back at her from time to time. 

~~~

Wolves (4) 3/16 (0 DMG) 

Lily 20/20 [HATE: 2] [Energy: 2/5]

Astropheric 32/32 [HATE: 2]

Seul 32/32 [HATE: 1]