[PP-F1] [[COMPLETED]] A Lull in the Storm (Elul)

[Koumori 0]

Sword Art Online. The most advanced an immersive video game ever developed. Nothing had ever matched it in any measurable category. Too bad it screwed itself when it trapped its first players in a life or death survival match. It made me laugh every time I thought of it. Kayaba definitely wasn't after money, and for a villain that's a little refreshing. But none of us could tell what he really wanted. For all I knew there could be cameras following us all around and making a reality show out of our failures. Now that would be something else. Or, on the other side of things, he could've just dumped us here and left. I guessed it was somewhere in between. That's what I was thinking as I sat on top of the clock tower of the large church in the center of town. I looked at the expanse of city and was amazed at the sight. If I didn't know any better I'd say it was all real. I sat there and soaked it all in, watching the people below and the trees in the fields. I wondered if there was a bail of hay below me I could jump into when I was done. 

Edited November 7, 2015 by Koumori

[Elul 0]

Elul looked around, she was confused as to her current location. She had been walking trying to exit the city to go out and find materials, but then she came across a wall that wasn't normally there. Elul turned around coming to the realization that she was completely lost. The only landmark which she recognized was a church, so she began walking towards it. The area around the church was nearly abandoned except for a moving cart transporting hay. Elul quickly caught up as it passed by the church and hopped on, sitting down to enjoy a ride hopefully headed to her destination.

[Koumori 0]

After a couple of minutes I saw exactly what I had been hoping for. I had to grab on to the ledge to stop myself from falling when I started laughing at the sight of the cart. Were there seriously carts of hay rolling around here? I regained my composure and stared at it. Should I do it? Would it actually break my fall? I figured that at my current height, the fall wouldn't be enough to kill me so the consequences wouldn't be all that bad. Without thinking anymore about it I pushed forward off the ledge and went into a dive right as the cart passed underneath. I was in free fall with the wind in my hair and it felt exhilarating. When I got closer to the cart I was something I wasn't expecting: a girl. There was a girl already sitting in the fluffy yellow mass. There was no way I could bail out of my jump to avoid her. If I didn't do something I might collide with her. "Look out!!" I screamed when I recognized the danger. I crashed into the hay with a muffled thumb. I came to a hard stop and laid there on my back. It did not work. The wood stopped my fall. Luckily though I didn't hit the girl, but I couldn't see her. "Oww"

[Elul 0]

Elul hadn't sat down for a minute before a voice from the heavens had shouted advice at her. Elul had never been completely religous, but the fact that some voice from the sky made her think of angels immediately. "Of what?" Elul looked around, nothing of immeadiate danger was-

Elul jumped as the hay in the cart shifted, someone groaning behind her. Elul turned and crawled over to the figure behind her. It was a girl, no, yes! Wait, no.

Elul mulled it over, coming to the conclusion that this was indeed a girl, probably a tomboy. Elul poked the stranger in the cheek, trying to get a response out of her. "Are you okay?"

[Koumori 0]

My head was spinning from the fall. I could just barely make out the silhouette of a figure appearing above me. I felt a finger touch my cheek and a mumbled "are you okay?" The girl I had almost fallen on top of had come over to me to see what happened. I started rubbing my eyes with my hand after I heard her voice. "Yeah I'm okay. I didn't hurt you did I?" I made an effort to sit up and slouched forward and sat cross legged in the hay. My head had stopped spinning and I could see straight again. I looked at the girl and smiled. "Sorry, I didn't see you at first. Stupid me." I said as I lightly brought my fist to me head. 

[Elul 0]

ID: 37388

CD: 7 (First aid success.)

"It's fine" Elul waved it off, "just b-be more c-careful." Elul sat back as the cart continued to move out in a hopefully correct direction. Elul brushed a piece of hay out of her hair, tossing it into the pile. "Y-you did scare m-me a bit. It's not ev-everyday a person falls from the sky," Elul took a glance ahead of the cart, "wh-where did you c-come from?" Elul looked up, the only place she could've come from was the church, yet she didn't see why she would be on top of it anyway. Elul glanced back at the girl in front of her, she seemed a little hurt from the fall. Elul activated the first aid skill, a bag with a small + appearing in her hand. Elul popped it open and took a roll of gauze bandage, quickly wrapping around the girl's stomach. Elul used her dagger to cut the Gauze and tucked the end into the bandage, putting the gauze back. Elul watched the bag shatter into pieces before turning, back to the girl, sitting back as if nothing had happened.

[Koumori 0]

"Right, I will." I said in response to the girls shaky speak. She seemed pretty nervous or maybe rattled at what had happened. I couldn't blame her. Who wouldn't be freaked out by someone falling out of the sky? She looked up to the sky and asked me where I came from. I looked up too and pointed. "I was sitting on the tower up there. Thought they hay would break my fall. Apparently I was wrong haha." I started scratching the back of my head in embarrassment. I watching in curiosity as the girl reached into her bag and pulled out a first aid kit. "Huh?" Was all I said as she reached out and wrapped me in gauze. She cut it with her dagger and finished up. Some skill activated and I was healed right up. "Thanks. Hey I guess I should at least introduce myself. I'm Koumori, you can call me Kou if you'd like." I said smiling at her. I was now leaning back on my arms  in a more comfy position. 

[Elul 0]

Elul smiled, happy to finally be able to help someone. "I'm Elul." Elul continued checking for hay in her hair, throwing it around her shoulder so as to brush her hands through it, Elul looked up, Kou seemed happier now, or atleast more relaxed. Elul layed back, realizing at the last second that she'd have to brush the hay out of her hair again. She sighed, it was too late to worry about it, she gathered hay under her head to make a suitable pillow, staring at Kou since she was the only thing in Elul's sight.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Elul

[Koumori 0]

Elul smiled at my introduction and told me her name as well. "Nice to meet you, Elul" I said smiling. I watched as she played with her hair, attempting to get the hay out, before she saw I was getting comfortable and decided to do the same herself. She must've abandoned getting rid of the hay because she layed down and made herself a pillow. She started staring right at me too. It felt a little weird but I decided not to say anything. She was probably just trying to figure out what level I was or something. Well I wasn't going to say anything about that but I had to say something. "So I guess you weren't expecting to run into anyone in here huh? Where ya headed?"

[Elul 0]

"No" Elul turned her head flat against the hay, "y-your the fi-first girl I've met who jump-mped off a ch-church and tried to land in a hay st-stack." Elul looked back at the girl, she seemed relatively high level, but something was off, something she couldn't quite put her finger on. Elul sat up, she had no idea what part of the town she was on, "I wa-as headed to g-go gather materials out-utside the city, but I got lost." Elul's suspicions were right, she could feel the hay in her hair poke at her neck, she just went ahead and assumed that there was a ton stuck in her hair and tried to forget about it.

[Koumori 0]

Oh god. It happened with her too. I put my head in my palm and started chuckling when she called me a girl. Well I should've expected that. Nine out of ten people thought that. I brought my hand back down and smiled at her. "Haha, right." She'd figure it out eventually. The girl sat up and readjusted herself, but had a strange look on her face. She said she was looking for mats and got lost. I'd say. "A little bit." I sat forward and pointed over her shoulder. "The exit is that way." I looked over her and decided that she was pretty low level, probably started out not too long ago. "Do you want some help with anything? I've got some time to spare."

Edited November 5, 2015 by Koumori

[Elul 0]

Kou was laughing about something, be was in the pose her friend got in when something was ironic, yet funny, generally for her friend only. Elul raised an eyebrow, had she said something, oh he must be lost too.

Elul followed Kou's arm, sighing in defeat. She was having second thoughts about going out material collecting. After thinking for a second she had decided it'd be best to wait for her sister and Whit before beggining to gather materials. "I'm f-fine, thank-k you though." Something still felt off, something really familiar about this situation.

Hey, did I ever tell you about the time I mistaked this tomboy for a guy, she got so pissed. I still have a bruise from when she chucked that baseball at me.

...

As if someone had unlocked the door to reason, it suddenly made sense, the chuckling despite saying nothing ironic, it was her- him laughing at her ignorence. Elul's face grew red with her mouth open, "I- I-."

What do I do, do I go along with it? Do I ask? Do I- Do I-

Boss, we've got a problem, the system's been overheated, we accidently proccessed too much social pressure at one time.

Elul continued to sit there stuttering the same word over and over again, what could she do? She couldn't pretend to not know, she was a terrible liar, Kou would just have to take a look at her face and see that she would be blushing to tell that she was hiding something. If she said she had mistaken him for a girl, then he'd probably blow up in her face. So she continued staring off into space, repeating the same word as a defensive measure.

 

[Koumori 0]

I noticed the perplexed eyebrow raise of the girl when I started laughing to myself. She must've thought the seemingly random outburst was strange. She sighed in defeat and dipped her head when I pointed out to her how horribly lost she was. I actually didn't know myself how she had gone so far out of the way. It wasn't hard to get out of the town. She thanked me and said I didn't need to help when she started acting even stranger. She looking at me and leaned back a little bit. Then she started blushing. Before I could say anything she started repeating "I" over and over again. What was wrong with her? Did I say something to freak her out? Was there something on my face? Did I remind her of an evil historical figure? I titled my head as she continued to blush and mumble in confusion. I leaned forward and spoke softly to her. "Hey everything okay? Looks like you've seen a ghost."

[Elul 0]

Elul's mind came back into focus, she had decided to play along. "N-NO, no ghost, just th-thinking about how absolutely wo-wonderful this hay feels." The hay felt terrible, and Elul was sure her face had turned red from the terrible lie she spouted. Elul turned away from Kou, trying not to let her face give her away.

Geez, why did the first person I meet today put me in this situation?

Edited November 5, 2015 by Elul

[Koumori 0]

Elul looked at me with panic in her eyes as I got closed. She stuttered out an awful lie before turning away. I saw that her face was bright, bright red and she didn't want me to see it. I put on a blank expression and shifted myself to be in front of her. "You're a terrible liar. Come on what's wrong? Did I say something bad?" I didn't know what her problem was. Maybe the shock of me appearing out of nowhere and intruding was setting in. 

[Elul 0]

"I- I'm not l-lying-" Elul let out a shaky breath of air, "a-are you a g-guy?" Elul felt the weight of the question lift off her shoulder, straightening her spine and crossing her legs. "Pl-please don't be m-mad" Elul asked, "y-you're very c-cute for a b-boy." Elul coughed into her shoulder, hoping a compliment could soften any injury she may have caused.

[Koumori 0]

She got even more uneasy when I asked her again. Her blush didn't subside and she began shaking. She stuttered again and finally said what the problem was: she thought I was a girl. That explained it. I felt like an idiot for not realizing that's what was going on. She must've been really embarrassed about confusing me and didn't want to make me feel bad. A little while ago I would've been upset but not anymore. I was used to being mistaken for a girl, it wasn't her fault. I sat down in front of her and smiled. "Yep I'm a guy. It's okay you don't have to worry about hurting my feelings. I've been called pretty before so it's okay." I started laughing a bit at the situation. "Really, this happens all the time. Weird right?"

[Elul 0]

Elul smiled, "w-well, I'm gl-glad to hear I d-did not offend you." Elul relaxed, letting her back slouch as she leaned forward. "S-so how did you get up-p on the ch-church." Elul looked back towards the church, it was nearly out of sight. Elul didn't see any form of a ladder when she had hopped on the cart, so he had to have the athletics skill. Elul looked him over again, his idea of jumping into hay carts reminded her of the assasin games, and Kou didn't look like an assasin, but why would he try something so reckless anyways? He was a higher level definitely, but even someone with high health could die from falling.

[Koumori 0]

She seemed relieved that I wasn't offended and smiled. "It's really alright. I know I look like a girl so it's cool." I said with a smile on return. I had come to terms with it. I looked like a girl and sometimes I acted like one too. There was nothing I could do about it. It might even prove to be an advantage in the future. It could definitely be fun. Still, it was nice when people actually recognized me as a boy. Elul relaxed and sat back before looking back at the tower, asking how I got up there. "Ahh I just climbed up the side. I've got crazy acrobatics so it was easy. I did slip once though, that coulda ended badly." The acrobatics skill was awesome. I always wanted to do all the cool parkour that I saw and video games and I finally could. I made use of it often too. I looked back at her and saw that she still seemed concerned. She was probably wondering why I would risk my life like that. I decided to reassure her that I wasn't suicidal. "Before I jumped I made sure I had enough HP that I wouldn't die. I'd be really close, but I'd be good haha. It would be embarrassing to be done in by the pavement." We had traveled far enough in the cart that the church was out of view. It was strange that neither of us had made a move to get out yet. Maybe Elul thought it was comfy or maybe she was bored or something. I layed back in the hay to make myself more comfortable before I thought of something to say. "I like to just relax. Sometimes you just don't want to fight."

[Elul 0]

Elul nodded, amen to that, if fighting wasnt how you beat the game, I'd probably never leave the city. Of course as she had showcased earlier, she had never planned to fight, leaving that to those who knew how, and supporting them with gear and healing. If only it'd heal for higher amounts, then she wouldn't have to worry about other people dying so much! Elul sighed, she'd have to worry about it later, for now she'd just relax. Elul fell back, hay scattering as her head hit the small pile she had formed earlier. She had absolutely no idea where she was going, wait, Kou seemed nice, why not just spend the day with him? "Um" Elul turned her head to face him, "d-do you m-mind if I hang out w-with you?"