(PP-F5) Aftermath (Koumori) COMPLETE!

[Amira 0]

(OOC: Yeah, I get the title is a bit overdramatic.)

Manta exited the cave right after Koumori. They had just defeated a pretty hard monster, one that had caused them both to embarrass themselves in different ways. Koumori had ended up attacking the wall, while Manta had attempted to fly. It sounds a lot funnier than it actually was. Manta walked a bit faster in order to get up beside Koumori. They had a walk ahead, and she thought that they might as well make some conversation. She didn't know how long the walk would take, but in all likelihood it would take at least five minutes. "So what were you doing in that cave?" She piped up.

Edited October 23, 2015 by Manta Gaul

[Koumori 0]

(What's wrong with being dramatic XD)

Manta and I exited the cave and emerged back in the light. I had to stop myself from bringing my hand up to block my eyes from the blinding sight. I was in that cave too long. I came out before her so she hustled to come to my side. She must've figured it'd be a waste of time if we didn't at least talk so she asked what I had been doing in the cave. "Well I heard about this rare item that was supposed to drop in one of the caverns but I couldn't find a thing. Informant must've been pulling my leg." As I talked to her I couldn't tell if she was sizing me up or not. I was still a little off put that she outright didn't trust me but I knew I shouldn't judge her for it. In a game of life and death you have to choose your friends wisely. It would probably be for the best if I could break the ice somehow. "So, what about you? Looks like we're about the same level but I don't think I've ever seen you around."

[Amira 0]

"I.... Was gone for a few months..." She didn't put any more detail into her statement. She'd rather not talk about the time she'd spent by herself just sitting around and mourning. She thought she had a pretty cool reputation with him right now and didn't want him to think she was a wimp. "Still, before that I spent the majority of my time on the first floor. That's where my shop is, as well as some pretty good places to gather materials. I'm a level twelve right now, but I've been saving up skill points for a bit now." She felt like she was talking a bit too much at once, so she paused. She stopped walking for a moment and swiped the air to bring up her player menu. She unequipped the fancy golden armor, leaving her in her regular clothes, albeit with the coat she'd received from Sousuke over it. With a couple more swipes she had equipped her gauntlets. They were a pure silver color, and when the sun hit them you could almost see stars and galaxies in them, the same thing that happened with her sword. They were a matching set, and went perfectly together. She swiped in the air to exit out of the menu before continuing to walk. "I'm an idiot." She said, not elaborating. She should have had the gauntlets equipped in the first place instead of the armor. The gauntlets regen ability would have helped more than the mitigation effect of the armor.  

[Koumori 0]

"Oh, okay." Her answer seemed pained. It was clear by the way she paused that something terrible had happened to her, just like I thought. If she wanted to share with me she would have so I just left it alone. After a little awkward silence she spoke up again and told me about her shop on the first floor. I had never seen it, which was strange considering how much time a spent there. But I laughed at her comment about good material gathering spots. My awful attempts at gathering materials flashed through my mind. "There are? Well I must've been looking in the wrong place. Three days and 9 mats to show for it." As we walked and talked she began to fiddle around with her menu as flashes and clothing appeared and disappeared all over her body. She switched out of her heavier armor and into more casual clothes, albeit adding some gauntlets. I would've done the same...if I had a change of clothes. My battle gear and street gear are one in the same. At least I have pajamas. After she put on the gauntlets she insulted herself under her breath, to which I raised an eyebrow. "Huh?" We were walking at a pretty steady pass so it shouldn't take much longer to arrive in town. "So what's your take on SAO? I know it seems like a weird question but most people usually ask it to me so why not?"

[Amira 0]

"Trust me, I have yet to find good material gathering spots. But the best ones ive found are there. And their still pretty terrible." She heard him say huh when she called herself an idiot, and decided to elaborate a bit. "Better enhancements. Plus it goes with my outfit." They walked in silence for a bit, but unlike earlier it didn't seem all that awkward. When Koumori spoke up again, asking what she thought of the game, she paused, a thoughtful look on her face. Her expression seemed a bit happy and sad at the same time. Before, in the first weeks of the game she would have answered immediately, but now it required a bit more thought. "It's simpler than the real world. I think it's about the same level of danger as the real world. The real world just hides it better. I've met people here that cared about me, which already makes it better." That was all she said. There was definitely more to say, it was just hard to find the right words. "What about you?"

[Koumori 0]

It seems like "good" is a relative term when talking about material gathering. Is there really no better way to find the crap? "Well if you do let me know." I said with a laugh. She looked dissapointed that I had heard her whisper to herself but answered me anyway. "Hah. Well I guess that's as good a reason as any." I said with another laugh. Leave it to girls to think about matching. After that we walked a bit longer in silence but this time it was a peaceful silence. It was eventually broken by my question. When she heard me she paused mid step before resuming, a thoughtful look on her face. I could see the gears turning, and the emotions, as she came up with an answer. The one she gave me was more in depth than I expected. Up until that point she had been pretty vague to me but this time she laid more out there. Although there was still some held back. She turned to me to ask for my opinion on the matter. I only had to think for a few seconds before answering as I thought about this a lot. "I think that our purpose in here is to become better people. You could easily dissolve into a husk or a murderer or whatever, but I think we're supposed to come out better than we were. You know? Like there's something in here we're meant to do. I just don't know what it is yet. It's probably different for each of us."

[Amira 0]

(OOC: Sorry for the wait. I was going things in the shop section)

"I understand what your saying. I don't feel that way, but I understand what your saying." Manta answered him. She felt like whats-his-name just had some sort of god complex, but apparently Koumori had a more philosophical view of everything. She felt like she was a worse person than when she had entered the game, but that may or may not be he reality. Maybe she was supposed to become who she was now... Maybe she had hidden behind a smile too much and the world had gotten tired of her fake feelings and decided to change her. They continued walking, and eventually made it to the entrance of the city. In the space of about a minute she had completely changed her view on the game, due to what Koumori had said. "Maybe." After a couple of minutes of silence, that was all she said.

[Koumori 0]

Manta responded to my explanation with skepticism. This didn't throw me off, not everyone felt the same way. So it didn't bother me that she saw the game differently. "Right." But as we walked in silence I could see in her face that she was still thinking about it. I had gotten her to thinking about what she has really been doing in here. In no time at all we reached the town and she finally broke her silence. Huh? So she really was thinking about it. Better yet, she might even have been seeing things from my perspective, even a little. I smiled a little as we stop at the gates. I had told her I knew a place so I would have to lead the way. "Alright it's this way." I said as I pointed to off to the right. I led her to about the center of town and turned towards a modest cafe, NPC of course. I walked up to the door and held it open for Manta to enter and then walked through myself. The inside of the building was fashioned like a cantina. Everything was made of some sort of hardened sand, everything except for the tables. I lead her off to the side of the dimly lit building to one of the many alcoves that held booth seating and took my seat on the hard chair. I looked up at the domed ceiling to see a single beam of light shining through a hole directly onto our table. I thought it was pretty weird that it was aimed at us. I returned my attention back to the situation and readjusted myself in my seat and rested my elbows on the table. I looked to Manta and said "Well this is it. Doesn't look like much I know, and I feel like I'm gonna get mugged, but the foods good."

[Amira 0]

Manta followed Koumori into the city and into the NPC café. It seemed like a literal hole in the ground, but that gave it character, at least in Manta's opinion. The packed sand walls and domed roof gave it a rustic look, and the hole in the ceiling somehow made it seem less fancy, which was a good thing in her opinion, at least when applied to cafes. Cafe's were supposed to be places that put at ease, places where you could hang out, get some coffee or tea and read a book, or talk with someone. In the real world she had taken refuge in cafes all the time with a good book. "It looks like a nice place. It has that feeling to it... You can order for me. Im not picky, and I don't really know what they have. I have only one request though." There was a dramatic pause. "Please... Please don't order sauerkraut." She was certain they didn't have it, but that was the only food in the world she didn't like. And to her it was a big deal, worthy of the dramatic pause.

[Koumori 0]

Manta seemed to be somewhat intrigued by the place she had found herself in and I couldn't blame her. It wasn't everyday you walked into a place that looked like it belonged in an abandoned desert civilization. She sat down in front of me and took it all in before speaking up. She told me I could order for her as long as I didn't order sourcrout. I had never heard of that before. Was it some kind vegetable I had somehow never know about? "Sure but uhh..what's sourcrout?" I looked down and picked up the menu in front of me and examined the items. I figured that I might as well order the special for both of us and waiver over a waiter to take our order. 

(Yes I'm spelling it wrong on purpose)

Edited October 23, 2015 by Koumori

[Amira 0]

Manta scowled at the thought of sauerkraut. "Trust me, you don't want to know." She replied. Almost nothing was worse than sauerkraut, the thought alone made her want to gag. See as they were in a safe area, she unequipped her gauntlets, but left her jacket and sword on. It wasn't for protection, she just had a bit of an emotional attachment to the jacket, because of who had given it to her. "So what do you spend most of your time doing here? Do you have a profession?" She asked, making conversation. She was genuinely interested.

[Koumori 0]

Mantas face scrunched into a disgusted scowl at the mention of the offending food. Whatever it was she really hated it. "Okay I'll take your word for it then." I said with a laugh. Once she shook it off she returned to asking me about myself, this time specifically about what I did here. Jeez she had to ask that question. A loner doesn't usually have much to tell but I had to give it a try. "Actually I don't have a profession, and I'm not in a guild either. I usually just stick to myself unless something else pops up." I awkwardly looked down at the table when I finished talking before I fixed my demeanor again. "What about you? What do you do here?" I expected she'd give an answer similar to her previous one but u was hoping she'd spill the beans a little. I genuinely wanted to know what was bothering her so much. Maybe I could help. 

[Amira 0]

"I make potions and sell them. My prices are pretty cheap compared to a lot of other shops. I'm not the best, but im certainly not the worst." She pulled out a health potion and set it on the table. "I made this one yesterday in case I ran into trouble up here." It looked like Koumori wanted more information. He seemed to be a pretty smart guy. It seemed like he could tell that there was a lot more to her story. She didn't want to tell her story though. Not to anyone. "Stuff happened all right? It's too soon to talk about it." She was certain that he wanted to help in some way, but she knew that he couldn't. It was something she needed to deal with.

[Koumori 0]

"Really? I don't think I've ever met someone with that profession. Sounds pretty cool." That probably said a lot about how prepared I was if I never bought a single potion or crystal. She then pulled out a health potion and set it out on the table. She said something about it making it in case she ran in to trouble, no doubt she was talking about those skeletons. "Good thing you didn't have to use it." After she said that she just stared at me for a second. Stared at me like she was reading me. Finally she spoke up, and in a surprisingly defensive tone. So she had known what I was thinking. "You could tell, huh? Guess I'm not as subtle as I thought. It's okay, you barely know me anyway." 

[Amira 0]

"That's the whole problem. There wouldn't be any problem whatsoever if I already knew you well." She said in a surprisingly calm voice. She wasn't going to get worked up about the situation, as there wasn't a lot to get worked up about anyways. "Like I said, its just not something I want to talk about." She picked up the potion from where she had set it on the table and put it back in her inventory. "I would have been fine without it if I hadn't forgotten about my gauntlets. Those things can make me almost invincible when combined with my evasion level. What about you? You have any strategies you'd like to brag about too?" She said, smiling. She wasn't grasping for information, rather than trying to start a conversation they would both enjoy. At least she hoped Koumori enjoyed talking strategy.

[Koumori 0]

"Maybe we'll be able to fix that eventually" I said with a smile. "Everyone starts out as strangers." She was calm as she spoke but undoubtably serious. She didn't have to tell me what happened for me to be certain it was pretty bad. The first thing that came to my mind was that someone she knew had died. "I respect that." I kindly said with my hands raised in surrender. She reached forward and grabbed the potion of the table while she talked about her equipment and skills. I was surprised to hear that she focused on evasion like me. It certainly wasn't a rare skill but not necessarily one that most people started with. As I matter of fact I was glad she brought this up, we could talk about it without any awkwardness. I was happy to answer. "That's funny I run a lot of evasion too. Other than that I'm focusing mainly on leveling up my sword skills. I figured up an aspect of my offense and my defense."

[Amira 0]

Manta smiled. "I didn't use my skill points very well at the start... That's why I was in that cave. I was attempting to both gather materials and get some skill points. I need to level up my sword skills as well. That's what im focusing on at the moment." She looked over at where the door to the kichen was located,wondering where whatever it was they had ordered was. "In my opinion, evasion better than damage mitigation. Evasion prevents damage entirely, while mitigation reduces it. If you add the regen enhancement into the equation, you become extremely powerful, even if you don't have a great offense." 

[Koumori 0]

(Crap I forgot about the food)

"I had a similar problem but mine had to do with not having skill points to begin with. I'm working on that haha" Looks like she and I were both suffering from skill point problems. I noticed her look over to the kitchen and I followed her gaze myself. I had forgotten about the meals I ordered. What was taking so long? She brought her attention back to me and continued. Health regen huh? I never considered that. People missing all the time because of the evasion while  you regain all of your health? That would be a sick combo. But at the same time I felt like damage mitigation had its values...maybe not as many but I couldn't admit that just yet. "Hmm, I never considered health regen. I had heard it wasn't very useful so I ignored it but the way you describe it makes it sound pretty op. But damage mitigation isn't a slouch either. It's helped me a bunch" As I finished I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. I looked over to see the waiter approaching the table with plates in hand. He placed identical dishes of rotisserie flamed meat (who variety I couldn't discern) and vegetable medley in front of me and my companion. He then bowed and left us to ourselves. "Sweet. Thanks for the meal." I picked up my fork and knife and started eating. 

[Amira 0]

Manta looked at the food a bit surprised. She had expected normal café food, like pancakes, or pie and ice cream. She associated pastries and breakfast food with cafes. She didn't have anything against this type of food, it was just a bit unexpected. Manta picked up her fork and took a large bite of the vegetables. "I hadn't actually thought about the combo until I was already using it. But trust me, as long as you don't run into a high accuracy, high damage monster your pretty much invincible. Speaking of fighting, have you ever done a PvP fight?" Manta cut a large chunk of the flamed meat and placed it in her mouth. She swallowed before continuing. "I've never fought one myself, but ive always been curious about what one is like."

[Koumori 0]

Manta seemed to be enjoying her food as we took a break from conversation to eat for awhile. Eventually she spoke up and continued from where we left off. "I'll take your word for it." When she mentioned the topic of pvp I paused. The only fight I had ever been in was with Mack, but there was hardly any danger there. "Well I was in a fist fight but that hardly counts." We both took big bites and chewed for awhile before going on. She told me she had never been in one herself. "They're probably pretty exhilarating."