Well met. I can't think of anything better to do than to fend off impending death from a crazy game with loyal companions. Impending death? Did he mean the game itself, or was this poor bloke dying in real life? Suki decided not to ask, but she couldn't help but wonder. "Fancy bread for breakfast!" She smiled, happily enough for now, and she looked to Umichi with a smile, now intending to respond to his comment earlier. "I've never really craved the company of other women. I have seven brothers"

She was going to say more, but someone tugged on her sleeve. Suki blinked, looking about, and seeing a girl, smaller then her, and that was saying something, really. How old was this girl? It was somewhat impossible to tell, really. But she asked about weapons, and Suki was about to answer, when Umichi did. She obviously wasn't the only one that had explored the torn last night.

The girl seemed timid, and Suki couldn't help but soften, cute and small, the girl just seemed cuddly. At Umichi's question to the girl, Suki couldn't help but think that it was obvious the girl was alone. "We should think about better weapons too. We could join her, after breakfast, if you want to tag along" She said, looking to Umichi and Tatsumi, and the the girrl, eager, and happy, for now.

Yui was caught off guard by the larger boy with dark hair, she first stared at the boy feeling rather startled by him before turning her full body at him. At a first glance it looked like the boy was about the same height as her but that was only to comfort her a little bit more. Most taller people would do that to her so that and her neck wouldn't get stiff and she would feel a whole bunch more comfortable than frightened of being stepped on. He seemed to know his way around the city and she felt kind of glad that he approached her. He did have a somewhat scary face which putted the mood out a little but he didn't seem to mean any harm to her. The weapon shop was at other side of the city. Well that gave her at least some clue on where to look for the shop. She gave a nod of understanding what to do and immediately tried to walk around him so that she could go look again but he wasn't completely finished with her yet. She took a step back and heard him out on what he had to say to her.

She was quiet for a bit not really knowing how to reply to someone like him. After having carefully picked her words to not annoy him she started talking "I used standard one handed swords. What weapon do you use Onii-chan?" She angled her head when she asked the question to the older boy. She gave a nod as he asked if she was by herself, or maybe she had to say no to him so that he knew that there were other people protecting her. What if he was just pretending to be nice and he would try something bad later. She took a small step back out of caution and heard the girl that she wanted to talk with in the first place talk to her. They both didn't look like bad people and they seemed to be friends already so it couldn't hurt to just go buy a weapon with them. If they even were remotely close to trying something she could run away. There was alway the trustworthy city protection that would save her as back up.

Tatsumi

He unequipped his knife, and looked at Suki. "The first thing I did yesterday was save up to buy that knife I was tossing up and down just now." He sighed. "But I am in this party now, so of course I will come." He looked at the kid. He was good with younger children at school in the real world. He got down to eye level. "Hi there, my name is Tatsumi." He smiled. "Do you mind if we accompany you to this town's weapons store?"

@Little_Ninja @Eklispe @Thanatos @Animus

Masae nodded to the old man. "It is nice to meet you, Akita-san," she tried to be very careful with her words, pausing to make sure if she said that right or not. They were in a game, but Masae wondered if she really needed to take real life manners into the virtual world. Quietly, she followed Akita and Yukizawa, though she didn't really see the two follow them. Maybe they went off to do something else...after all, the two were too old or too young to fully defend themselves.

But at the same time, it didn't feel right for her to just leave them there, and checked the map while she walked, checking any nearly villagers. If they were for it, the three...or four, if Jax was still around and interested, the party could set off for Horunka the next morning. They had to buy a few healing items and food for the trip, though. "Should we share one room's rent, or have two separate rooms? I mean, if you're fine with it, I can sleep in the same room," she asked. Honestly, she was willing to share rooms, just to have the feeling of company, but she doubted they would let a strange bunk with them. "The starting city inn rooms are pretty cheap."

Jax voiced his opinion on the matter as he followed to the inn, "I think we should buy two person room for Akita and Yukizawa then Masae and I can both afford our own. After that we can go monster hunting and get our cash back plus some." It made the most sense to him, he felt uncomfortable with the though of sleeping in the same room as a girl. Since the rooms were cheap those with a little bit of hunting they should be able to make up the cost in no time. Assuming the little girl still slept in the same room as her grandpa, eh it'd be fine.

@Little_Ninja@Thanatos@Animus@Stale Pizza

"I've never really craved the company of other women. I have seven brothers" Suki had replied to Umichi. "Oh, that's quite a big family you got there. I guess you are used to being around guys then." Umichi replied back.

"I used standard one handed swords. What weapon do you use Onii-chan?" the young girl replied and asked back at Umichi. She also shook her head in reply to his other question. "I also happen to use one-handed swords. Since you are alone, would you like to join us? We have room for another. We are just about to head off to eat. That is alright with you two yeah?" Umichi lifted his head and turned it up a bit to look at both Tatsumi and Suki. Turning back to the girl, he smiled and introduced himself. "My name is Umichi, and this here is Suki and Tatsumi. What's your name?"

Standing up, his right hand swiped down, opening his menu, and he navigated to the party section to invite the young girl.

@Caits @Savo @liferusher @YipeeXD

---

Holding the hand of her grandfather, YukiHana, followed to the inn. Jax-onii-san, Nagayama-onee-san and Ojii-san seemed be discussing the accommodations at the inn. Yawning one last time, before reaching the inn, YukiHana was nodding off, difficulty with even standing. "Oya...sumi... (Good.... Night...)" she called out to the other two before falling asleep in bed.

---

Waking up, the next morning, YukiHana nudged her ojii-san. "Ojii-san, wake up. We still need to find onii-san and onee-san!" She remembered that her cousins were also in the game, and that they would need to find them.

@Stale Pizza @Eklispe @Thanatos @Animus

Suki saw that the girl was a bit reserved about what was going on. She couldn't blame her, after everything that had happened in the game, and if she was alone, she would probably feel the same. Suki didn't know how to put her at ease, and she bit her lip, in thought. She just gave the girl a smile, and she tried to figure out what to say.

How old was the girl anyway? She was obviously here alone, and afraid. Suki wasn't so much afraid anymore, but rather, annoyed at being trapped. She wasn't afraid to die, and she didn't think that if you died here, you'd die in real life, but she supposed it was possible. She didn't need t dwell on that.

She smiled again at the girl, "I'm Suki" She said brightly, seeing the elderly merchant heading to his store, she waved to him, looking back to the others. "What's your name?" she asked the girl, resisting hugging her, not wanting to frighten her, but she was just so cute.

She tried to remain calm as the other person also faced her. She wasn't good at looking in other peoples eyes but her dad and mom had always sayed to her to be polite to older people. She tried her hardest staring in his eyes while still averting her own eyes multiple times from his. A red blush appeared on her face as she already stammered a little bit "I-it will b-be my pleasure." She was beginning to get nervous around the older onee and onii-chans. What was this heavy feeling. Was this what facing problems yourself felt like? She had also given a nod at Umichi and opened her mouth again to stammer out her name "B-bridge..." She placed both of her hands in front of her mouth before she could finish her real life name. How could she be so stupid blurring it out just as simple as that.

A red tomato color appeared on her face as she released her hands again "Yui, my name is Y-yui." She looked away from all of them and folded her arms over each other while giving a slight pout. Her head shot up a little as she received the party invited. She read the few words over and over and carefully clicked on the accept button. At the left side of her view she could see the three names popping up. She slightly smiled as to being happy to be in another party. These people didn't look like the others did and weren't so straight forward with her. She stepped a little closer to Suki and gave a nod while talking "If you would be so kind to lead the way." Her voice was still barely understandable but she still tried to be polite.

"It is nice to meet you, Akita-san," said Masae.

"I agree." said Ojiisan.

"Should we share one room's rent, or have two separate rooms? I mean, if you're fine with it, I can sleep in the same room," Masae asked. "The starting city inn rooms are pretty cheap."

"I think we should buy two person room for Akita and Yukizawa then Masae and I can both afford our own. After that we can go monster hunting and get our cash back plus some."

"I'll pay for the rooms," said Ojiisan as he did just that. He got three one person rooms, since he knew he wasn't going to be able to sleep that night.

---

"Ojii-san, wake up. We still need to find onii-san and onee-san!" said Hanako.

Ojiisan didn't sleep a wink that night. He sat in a chair all night, and kept an eye on Hanako. 'How could I forget about my grandchildren?' thought Ojiisan. "Yes, we do," replied Ojiisan as he stood up.

@Stale Pizza @Eklispe @Animus @Little_ninja

Tatsumi

He ruffled her hair and chuckled. "It's a pleasure Yui-chan." he smiled and sat back on his heels before standing. "So.. I guess this is it huh? Us four vs the world!" He exclaimed, laughing. There was no point in fearing this game. He opened his menu, and set a way point for the closest weapons store. "We should go, becoming slackers in this game will be the death of us." He smiled, setting off, at a steady pace. "Well come on then slowpokes!" He chuckled once more.

Umichi smiled, seeing the two girls getting along. It seemed that her name was Yui, and she would be glad to join them. Bridge ... Bridgett maybe? An English name? Whatever, doesn't matter. Umichi thought for a moment. Tatsumi started to try to lead the group to the weapons store, grabbing his collar Umichi pulled him back. "Breakfast first. Most important meal of the day. I'm pretty damn hungry and I think Suki is hungry too. Yui, would you like to eat bread for breakfast first before going to buy some weapons?"

A familiar figure started to make it's way down the stairs. Lifting his head, Umichi spoke up, "Hey Ayame! Alone? What happened to your companions?" he asked her, waving to her.

@Caits @PKMNB0Y @liferusher @YipeeXD

Suki smiled at Yui. the young girl seemed nervous, and unsure. Suki wanted to put the girl at ease, but she wasn't sure how. So, she would just be cheerful for now, and hope that would work. Suki had done a lot of thinking herself last night, and had decided to simply accept things as they were. They couldn't go home, until they reached the top floor. It didn't mean that they couldn't live, and for the first time, Suki felt like she had some control in her life.

So she was going to enjoy it. Even if it wasn't real life, it was the life they had for now. She started to head to the bakery, but stopped as Umichi saw someone he must have met, and glancing back, she recognised the girl from when the unconscious guy had fallen to the floor.

Suki stopped, watching and waiting. She thought, as she waited, wondering just how big a party they would become, if this girl needed to join. Suki didn't care on that, and she suddenly thought that this might be a good chance to make friends, that could very well last a lifetime. that thought was thrilling to Suki, who had never really had friends.

She smiled at that thought, and rocked back on her heels, content to wait. She looked to Yui, and said "Have you thought about professions, about taking one up?" She asked, trying to be friendly as well as give conversation and trying to at least get to know some things about her companions.



A black robed figure, hooded, watched players mill about, the shadows hiding their face more than the hood, but a slight smile could still be seen if anyone cared to watch. How interesting They though to themselves, watching and studying. Such an adaptable people, aren't we? And yet, this is only the beginning. It will be enjoyable to see what will happen as the days, months, and possibly years go by.

They moved out, into a throng of people, hidden among the people.

Fujiwara glanced at the clock as he casually munched on a sandwich he had picked up before almost choking on the bits of data he was just chewing on. Shoot- that had taken MUCH longer than 15 minutes; what the hell was he doing, acting so casually? Did he care about the taste of a goddamn sandwich enough to miss a grinding session? What kind of idiot--!

Temporarily storing the still-unfinished sandwich in his inventory, Fujiwara took a deep breath and dashed to the gates where Minako was waiting. Damn; he'd definitely have to apologize to her...

"Sorry I'm late!" he shouted, noting Minako waiting at the gates. "I got held up by some things... I'm at fault here."
Looking around, Fujiwara noted that neither that Asuna person nor what beta whatshisface were here either.
"Did... The others ditch?"

@KoL


Ayame yawned and rubbed her eyes as she awoke the next morning, only to be met with the now-familiar layout of the game's interface.

"So it wasn't just a dream, huh...?" she sighed, lamenting her misfortune. She had hoped it was simply just a weird dream, but apparently that wasn't the case. Now here she was, having to deal with the world with her-

Ayame's thoughts stopped there as she looked over to the party member listing at the side of her field of view. There were no names at all there, aside from her own. Could the party have...?

Changing into an outfit more suited for combat, Ayame left the room and looked around. The other two had already left, it seemed...

A sigh of depression leaving her lips, Ayame began to walk down the stairwell to the first floor as a familiar voice met her ears.

"Oh, hello again, Umichi. It seems that everyone left overnight..." she said, a tinge of bitterness in her voice. Being left alone was one thing, but being ditched like she had been was another entirely.

@Caits@little_ninja@liferusher@YipeeXD

“Yo, Gunter!” Surprising that you can hear someone over the assembly line we got going on here, what with the banging, grinding, torching, and sawing. Would be damn near deafening without our muffs on… And yet I can still hear my boss over all this. Ah whatever, I’ve gotta get this Humvee fixed up so we can ship back out to our boys. A little mortar fire isn’t gonna keep this metal deathtrap away from the field.

“Gunter!” Again. I swear if I had to listen to that drunkard’s voice more often than I did, I’d go crazy. Throwing my head back, I’d let out a heavy sigh as I tried to suppress the… Mild agitation, to be polite. Standing up from my knelt position, I’d glance over the pack of grease monkies hard at work, each with their own toy tinkering away at their own little project. Kinda cute- in the, half of these guys are useless sort of way. And sure enough, here comes ol’ Silverback himself, “Gunter, package! I swear if you get another package sent to my office, I’m gonna personally shove whatever it is down your throat, got me?!”

“Like the plague, sir!” Pompous ass. ‘Oh look at me; I got a job supervising a bunch of home stuck vets playing with deadly toys.’ I’d like to see him pick a rifle for once. Hell, I’d give my next paycheck just to see him bend over- that’s still an ongoing bet around here. Still better go pick it up before he eats it. Pushing away from my task, I’d look over to Marcus- motioning and mouthing for him to watch my equipment. Yep, there’s that dismissive thumbs up… Something’s going to go missing. Still, if this package is what I think it is…
--------------

AFTER HOURS

You know, it wasn't as impressive as I thought it would've been. Looked like some brain swapping device out of a sci-fi movie. Oh well, had everything installed and setup; now I was just waiting for the servers to go online. Good thing I had a few sick days under my belt, Silverman was going to be furious. Still, gotta find some time to relax.
--------------
THE NEXT DAY

12:59
Well, here we go. Moment of truth. Helmet on, and-
13:00
“Link start!”
--------------

Day 2 (Morning)

Seems odd waking up like I did… It’s not even real. I mean it’s real enough to end your life, but- it’s a game. So many people panicked when that bastard made his big announcement, and who could blame them? There I was trying to think of how the hell do I get out of this mess myself. I’d been able to go it alone so far, but that’ll only do so much- especially with people turning on each other now. Tossing the sheets over to the side, I’d force myself to a standing position as I began dawning my gear. Spear, check. Backup sword, check. Armor, all good. And my necklace… Right, it’s all here. And once it was all on my person, I’d begin making my way out of the inn.

Well, if I’d been looking for a party, there was no better time than then. Though I figure most came up the same idea I had. ‘Better in a squad then alone.’ Still, I couldn’t just toss in with the first group I see, I’d have to wait it out; play it safe. It was then that I decided to merely scout around, see what information I could dig up from the people. And so I left, offering myself to this new world and the people within it. This may have been knew to me, but I know one thing… I will survive.
--------------

Currently (Same day)

After a night of restless sleep, Gunter had decided it was time to start venturing out into the unknown world that had ensnared him. His military training kept him alert as he scouted out different hiding spots and fallback points within the city, but his main focus was to start gathering intel. It wasn’t hard, as by that time, everyone was gossiping and spreading information like wild fire. Part of Gunter had hoped that this was all just some bad dream or hallucination from the many tireless hours he had put in back at the shop… But as talk of the dead and dying circulated, that hope was gone. For now he just had to survive. After scouring the city, he eventually rounded back into the Inn, giving a heavy sigh as he sat down at the nearest empty table. Setting his spear atop the table before him, he’d begin to eye over the patrons in an attempt to single out a worthy prospect… Or sucker.

Jax with up with a groan and a stectch. The night was surpsingly restful. It was so nice of that grandpa to pay for their rooms. Jax quickly got dressed and went down to the dining area for breakfast. Even if it was just a game he still felt hungry and he bet the food here would taste really good. He decided to order his own breakfast spending some of his own not so hard-earned cash on the meal and waited for both it and the rest of his party to arrive.

@Thanatos@Stale Pizza@Animus@little_ninja

Minako got up from the soft grass when Fujiwara came screaming that he was late, she looked at him withe hazy eyes and said, "So it'll be only us two, ok? Let's get going then."

This time Minako checked her map carefully, making sure that she wasn't misreading anything like she did last time. "We are going closer to that black tower, in the end. Do you think that things will get more dangerous?"

Anyway, just as Minako put her feet on the road she decided to leave all worries behind her, and let the wind guide her path. All the while she was whistling one of her favorites pop songs.

.@PKMNB0Y

Tatsumi was yanked back. He turned around in an overreacting manner. "What was that for?" He yelled playfully. "Food? eugh.... we're in a game... we don't need it..." He said questioningly. "But.. if we must." He smiled. "I think one of us should probably max out our cooking level, if we're going to be stuck in this game for a while." He laughed. "Eugh... what I wouldn't give for one of my mom's sushi rolls right now..." He kind of lost focus, thinking about the delicious treat.

Yui kept quiet for a while just listening to the large blonde man his voice and sometimes gave an affirming nod at him. When Tatsumi started hyping them to walk Yui sweetly replied to him "O-okay kay." She started walking behind the large blonde but was soon stopped by his back suddenly atopping and going back towards her. She quickly could save herself by stepping back just a tiny bit and gave a soft sigh. Yui looked up to the other Onii-chan who didn't completely agree with Tatsumi. She angled her head slightly and 4eplied back to Umichi "I-i quess we can go eat first but we don't need it to live right?" She hadn't been eating properly in the real world either since she never liked the food that was made for her at home. It always had something blend through it to 'improve' the taste. She gave another nod to confirm it and saw that Umichi started talking to someone out of the blue. She got out of the girl her sight by standing behind Umuchi and tried to make it least possible for her to figure out.

They all walked over towards the bakery to get some breakfast. Yui kept being close to Suki since she trusted the older girl the most. Whe already felt like a sister even though they had just met. She never had an older sister at home and always wished for one despites everything. Yui angled her head again at Suki her question "Proffesion? Do you have one already, I don't yet."

Hearing Tatsumi and Yui talk about the irrelevance of food, Umichi shook his head. "You need to eat in SAO as well. If you don't eat, you end up feeling hungry and fatigued. Eventually, you could faint, and if you faint in the middle of battle, well, things don't look good. It is necessary to eat and sleep here." Materializing the guide book, he flipped to a page, indicating where he got his information from. Well, he actually had this information from when he gathered information during his .... few hours in beta and accessing the forums. "So, don't skip on food or sleep." He informed the party, letting them know the possible dangers of skipping out on meals meant.

Ayame seemed to have been left alone. She had no party left. Scratching his head, he replied, "Uh... well, that's quite unlucky. Um... we still have room in our party, so, if you don't mind, and the others don't mind, you can join us." Umichi offered Ayame. He turned to the rest of the party, to ask, "Hey ... so, as you heard, she kind of has no party, and I'd feel a bit bad leaving her alone like this. So, what do you guys think? Let her join or would you rather not?" he asked for the party's permission. If they allowed it, he would invite Ayame, if they did not, he would apologize to her.

@Caits @PKMNB0Y @liferusher @YipeeXD

"Alright, Gunter... Remember, keep the road in sight, but stay off the main roadways," the spearman lectured himself, doing his best to hide amongst whatever flora and fauna was available. Having stationed himself in the starting city turned out to be a bust, as seemingly most of the people there were either to weak or fearful to strike out any further... Just waiting for someone to either save the day or waste away in that city. 'Pathetic,' Gunter thought to himself silently, taking a moment to shift his spear into a more comfortable position on his back. Though despite his outward ire, he really felt sorry for them... Some of those kids would never see their families again.

"It's war all over... Damnit, and to think I got this to unwind and forget about all that." A chuckle escaped as he shook his head, "Seems the world is not without some twisted sense of irony." As he continued to walk, Gunter kept glancing at his HUD. Though he had probably checked it about a dozen times by now, he wanted to ensure he was ready for combat should the worst arise. But it seemed this trek was going to be an uneventful one, aside from the occasional mob and ducking out of sight from other players. Slowly the village of Horunka was coming into view... As well as a couple of kids just outside the entrance.

Finally emerging from the woodlands, Gunter would try his best to seem nonchalant and make his way through the entrance to the city, but would quickly round the corner and press himself to the wall. "Just two?" he whispered to himself, peaking out from around the corner once more. Sure enough, two kids seeming to be around the same age, but what were they doing out here on their own? Finally giving in to his curiosity, he'd step around once more, holding one hand above his head as he attempted to signal the kids down before they walked off, "Yo, small fries!"

@KoL@PKMNB0Y