[CENTER][H3]August 11, 2023 – Floor 27[/H3][/CENTER] Redbank Beach… Nero took a deep breath in and looked around. The air on Floor 26 was amazing. It had a lot of nighttime themes, too. The day was split into three parts, despite its somewhat ambiguous science. There was an eight hour sunrise, eight hour sunset, and an eight hour night. Ne’er a day passed with a sun directly overhead. A lot of the cities already displayed what one would think were common of the night elves often found in fantasies. These floors were his favorites – the ones that had particularly special attributes. The sand here changed colours with the time of day too – in the morning, it was a soft, golden yellow. When the sun moved to the other side of the floor, it shifted into a warm orange. At night, when the sky was dark, it was hard to tell which colour the ground turned, but the sand of Redbank still glimmered beautifully. Nero wore a pair of green and black swimming trunks with a towel draped over his shoulders. Right now, the sun was setting. Of course, there were still several hours of daylight left before darkness fell and the real party would begin. He and Suto had planned this over a week ago – they all needed it. The twenty-sixth floor was impossible to enjoy… Even though they were all alive, there was still plenty of drama. By now, many of their friends had learned to cope with Yari’s memory loss and they were getting to know her new self. Nero had to admit, he was really impressed by Suto’s support for Yari; he couldn’t imagine the kind of hell it had to be to see this girl, with the same face, who said she wasn’t the same girl he’d apparently known for years. This place was actually considered a safe zone, so it was a popular spot for those who could fight their way through the floor to the beach. While there were no stores or buildings, one could see players up and down the entire shore of the lake. Their group found a small spot for themselves and were setting up their place on the edge. Yuna offered to do it for him, completely convinced that he lacked the organization to set up an umbrella and some towels. Whatever, she just liked things her way and to be honest? She always set them up so perfectly, anyway… Yuna wore a pure white tankini with a skirted pair of bottoms. As she swept the hair from her face and placed her hands on her hips, she surveyed their location. “I’m not sure if this is quite right…” She mused before furrowing her brow and looking around. Nero’s jaw dropped. “You’re kidding! We spent like… fifteen minutes looking for this spot! And [i]you[/i] picked it out!” He exclaimed, his face falling into his palm. She sighed, “Fine, I guess it’ll do…” With a wave of her hand, she opened her menu and started to set up the things that she and Nero brought with them. Nero looked to Suto, “Hey, she said she’s not sure if she’s coming, but I invited Makoto too. You two seemed to hit it off, I thought she’d have a good time, anyway…” ----- Yari was dressed in a purple one-piece with white highlighting. When Nero and Suto had first brought this idea to her, she was a bit… apprehensive. She still felt a bit awkward around the others, like they were all trying to see the “her” that rested behind those golden eyes. But she wasn’t there, not the Yari that they knew, though she tried very hard to meet their expectations on that front. Still, there were things she couldn’t remember and now and then, many of them slipped with a ‘remember that time…’ and she couldn’t help but fidget. The only thing that got her here was that today was supposed to be about relaxing and to mark their official moving forward as a group. The thought alone brought a smile to her face. She ran up behind Yuna as Nero just about broke under the pressure of her perfectionism. “Yuna, dear, this is fine, isn’t it?” “I guess so… I’m sure there’s somewhere better…” “No, no, look… We can get the fire pit ready over there… And oh! Look at the way the water rolls in right there… Here’s how you gotta look at it…” Yari haphazardly tossed her towel out and sat on it, looking at the water, “See? You can’t get the right impression of the view from way up there. But trust me, it’s perfect down here!” She beamed, much to the relief of Nero, who was glad that Yari was able to calm down his OCD girlfriend so easily. “Suto!” Yari called out, straightening her towel, “You and Fitch set up over here too, alright? Don’t go wandering off!” ----- Fitch sighed as they finally found a spot to slow down. He didn’t really want to be here anyway. Yari and he had decided a few weeks ago to divvy up their inventory and break the marriage, at least until her memory came back. It wasn’t fair and the number of slots he had available for loot seemed painfully small. Besides, he only came because Suto pretty much forced him. That wasn’t Yari, but she tried ot be their friend anyway. Why didn’t she just go and find her own friends? Wasn’t this weird for everybody else? Why didn’t they seem to even care? Yari, his Yari, was [i]dead[/i]. He crossed his arms, looking out across the beach. SAO did not have a lot of pretty women, this was true… But they were all over this beach. He missed Yari. When the girl called for Suto at first, he had to physically restrain himself to keep from rolling his eyes. [I]Sure, because he’s such a good friend… And the boss of me, so just have him move me around, don’t just ask me to do something… Whatever…[/I]