TsuMeTai stood still as stone, his face emotionless. Those looking at him would think him uncaring of the fate that had just been placed upon them all. They would be wrong. His emotions swirled around in his head, from anger to disbelief to fear and sadness. Mother... Rei and Kito, my little brothers... I'll likely never see them again.

That thought brought determination. No. I'll not allow it! I will survive this death trap, I swear it. With that in mind, he went through his gear, making sure that he had his best armor and weapon equipped. Face set in grim concentration, TsuMeTai went out into the fields to train and make his way towards the next town.

---

As she watched Kayaba disappear from the sky, Kip shivered, panicking slightly. "He's- it can't be- I don't!" She seemed to be unable to form a full sentence. Then she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. I can't afford to be anything other than my best. Pushing away the panic, she affixed her trademark smirk on her face. "Watch out, Sword Art Online. Anarchy is coming for ya." She muttered quietly.

Of course, the first course of action would be to find a good ally. Kip turned a calculating gaze over the masses, looking for people who weren't screaming, crying, or denying. Her allies would have to be strong. They would have to get through this, to survive and win. Catching sight of a potential ally, she started making her way over to them.

"You have got to be fucking kidding me," he muttered. He stood off to one side of the Plaza as people panicked around him, gibbering and chattering away after the gigantic vision of Kayaba vanished from the digital sky above.

The tip of the ridiculous sword he carried rested on the ground in front of him, arms crossed over the wide base as he considered the situation.

He had bought the game to play with his kids, their mother moved away and took the kids with her and this had been meant to be a way for them to spend time together and now he was going to lose even more time with them?

"God Dammit!" he roared and spun hard to his right, slamming a fist ineffectualy against the wall behind him.

He froze, breathing hard and fast for a moment before he reigned in his temper and started looking around. Solo players could survive in a game like SAO, but it was simpler and easier to work with a group. But could he trust anyone here to pull their own and not stab him in the back?

He needed to find someone to team with, and soon if he intended to survive.

"I see you're less than impressed with this situation." Kip commented from behind Mai'lo. "Completely understandable. If anyone was happy with this death trap, I'd be worried for their sanity." She sized up the brawny man. He didn't seem to be a beta tester. But then again, the avatar she had chosen for the beta test and the real game was rather different from her normal appearance, so she couldn't tell.

Letting a slight smile quirk her lips, Kip extended a hand. "Name's Kip, Kip Omega." Her eyes were wary, lingering momentarily on his sword before returning to his face. She had chosen her weapon for speed, not power. Chances are, she could run rings around this giant, but he could cleave her in half with a single blow. She would have to be careful.

A game of life and death, hey? That sounded kinda interesting to Matsuta, even if it could result in his death. Looking around, he tried to see if there was anyone worth his time and blade. Alas, there was no one of that description around that he could see. Looking over his character, he made some final checks before taking another glance around the wailing, crying and pleading mass of people around him. There were a couple people looking around with the same kind of look Matsuta had; the look for companions in a journey of peril. Matsuta, whats the plan of action? We approach one or more of the others and talk, Matsuta. But you know I'm shy, Matsuta. he thought, an odd monologue of voices playing out in his head. With this he began to make his way through the crowd of shattered minds and to a person nearby with a look of hope, and companionship and small glint of want. Today was not the day anybody would die. Well, at least he wouldn't care if they did.

As Sapphira's avatar flickered, all signs of a glitch were noticeable to her. She felt the new extensions to her body, her blue hair flowing in the soft wind of the city, her new fox-ears wildly flicking left and right at the plethora of excited and disturbed voices who were just taking in the fact that they were stuck in a video game, in which one small mistake could cost them their lives.
Sapphira didn't care, though. Her small, cute frame betrayed the unwavering feeling of wanting to stay in this world, no matter that this was essentially a death game. The foxy addons were, however, the thing that baffled her the most. Was it really a glitch in the system? Or was her new look wanted by Kabaya?
Honestly, it didn't matter. Finally she was able to do things she absolutely wasn't able to do in real life. Maybe show the people, who were responsible for her reclusiveness, she was able to achieve something.
Already in her head, she formed a plan. Outside the game, she had had a lot of time to study things on her own and so she had focused her efforts on economics and craftsmanship. If this game was to become some kind of permanent residence for her, she was eager to make a fortune on the adventurers who would eventually need to buy things to keep themselves alive.

A slight chuckle in her seemingly out-of-visual-character tomboyish voice escaped her mouth audible to everybody close to the tiny foxgirl.
"Oh, this is gonna be so cool..."

Oh boy.
It's here.
Here it is.
Finally.

Maya's heart was racing as she ran through her apartment with the box, right up the stairs into her own gaming/"research" room. In the young lady's hands was a cardboard box addressed to a particular teacher at the Chiba Institute of Technology's School of Engineering, a box that the student had wasted no time in grabbing, bolting out of the classroom and heading straight home... well, at least, she wished that had been the case. Sure, she had bolted out of class, much to her professor's dismay, but afterwards, even after dropping the box at home, she had to attend a meeting with some members of her father's company as part of an internship, then a party for a friend, do the daily shopping (while, bizarrely enough for any onlookers, still dressed in her party attire, a cosplay the aforementioned friend had her wear of some magical girl character that was popular as of late, complete with mismatching color contact lenses), and then, only then, could she return to her abode, where the box awaited her. Oh yes, the box. One might say the box contained her hopes and dreams and they wouldn't be far off.

You see, Maya Maebara, a young woman of the age of twenty-two and of mixed American-Japanese descent, was something of a prodigy in the realm of virtual reality. By the age of 16, she had managed to refine the optical technology used in most gaming virtual reality systems to allow much higher performance than what was available at the time, letting even more realistic graphics, higher frame-rates and sharper resolutions on weaker hardware by combining the rendering technology inside the systems with the power of the visual cortex by sending false signals through the eyes, distributing half the work of creating a scene to the brain of the user. Furthermore, she released this technology for a tiny licensing price, allowing any creator of virtual reality equipment to use it, rich or poor. By the time she was twenty, she was already closing in on graduation in the Chiba Institute of Technology and created a thesis proposing using the human nervous system as the "graphics card" running a game or film, which, while overshadowed by the works of Kayaba Akihiko, was noted by her close peers as potentially spelling the future of VR.

Along with this, Ms. Maebara was also notoriously into video games. She had been a spoiled youth, and often spent time ditching school to either start a new game or burn through the latest one on her list, spending most of the money her parents gave her on games and gaming paraphernalia, which eventually lead to her interest in virtual reality when she became frustrated with not having many people to play with among her friends due to the high price of VR-capable hardware. Throughout her increasingly accelerating studies, this love for games simply would not die, leading us to the present events, and to the box. In that box, bought ahead of release thanks to a formal request for "research purposes" by the CIT, was a bundle of two of the latest innovations in the VR space; the NerveGear virtual reality headset and its launch title, Sword Art Online, the first ever Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Game, or VRMMORPG. Actually, it wasn't really the launch title for the headset, numerous puzzle and educational games had come first, but they were met with little praise beyond being promising, SAO, however, was the first AAA game for it. Plus, the headsets were relatively rare, with the two-hundred-thousand being sold out quite fast, even when the games weren't all that impressive. SAO meant that so many more were manufactured, giving her the perfect opportunity to grab the game.

To say Maya was excited was an understatement. Certainly, she had obtained the bundle through the School of Engineering thanks to using the excuse of it being material to write her latest thesis (in reality, she hadn't the slightest idea what to write the thing on), but it was all too apparent that she wanted it for the game. Indeed, as promised to her professors when they reluctantly set up the order in her place in order to get her a spot in the initial ten thousand copies without her needing to wait in line for hours or wait until ungodly hours in order to pre-order it before it went out of stock (though God knows she was definitely capable of it), she would simply play for a while, then log-off and take notes, then "dismantle the hardware". Quite the shame she would "forget" that last part and instead log back on for hours more of gameplay. She had cursed herself over the last months for not getting into the beta testing which would have allowed her to spend enough time researching the game that she could now play without interruptions, but she'd figure something out.

And thus, here she was, standing in her room and making a complete mess throwing off the cosplay to get into the pyjamas she had prepared the day before just for this event, along with a mini fridge stocked full of food. In order to log in as soon as she could, she decided that she would wait until dinner to call her father, hell, he was probably in another one of his meetings anyway, he was a busy man, working hours away as one of the higher-ups in one of the country's many large business conglomerates. He could definitely wait an hour or two! Once she had finally changed, it was time to tear into that box. A knife was drawn, tape was violently cut and packing peanuts were strewn across the room like the viscera of a wild beast, with Maya taking away the prize of a large box, with a fancy logo on it and a colorful landscape, showing the game's setting, the massive floating castle of Aincrad. Soon enough, this box was torn into as well, with her final prize being the game with box art similar to the larger box it had been in and a comfortable looking helmet, reminiscent of older virtual reality headsets, but Maya knew that this blew everything else in history out of the water. Hell, she had practically invented it, had it not been for Kayaba claiming to do so first, and he wasn't wrong, being the first to put it in physical form.

No matter, she wasn't too sour about it. The game more than made up for it, impressions from the beta showed it to be a piece of software that would change the history of gaming, forever. It's not like she could ever make a game, she lacked the creativity, but she'd be damned if she couldn't enjoy one. Without a second's hesitation, she unwrapped the helmet, plugged it in and inserted the disk. As she waited for it to install on her PC and install updates (a ranged weapon update? On day one? Really?), she busied herself with preparing the helmet. Interestingly enough, it seemed it needed some synchronization with her body, scanning and such. Hm, bizarre. The beta logs had never mentioned any kind of systems where the real body had any effect on the game. Nonetheless, she followed the device's instructions, letting it scan her face with her eyes wide open, then patting her body when it told her to, where it told her to, right down to places she'd be embarrassed to let even her closest friends and family see. Still, she found herself fascinated by the technology even as she used it for such a simple task; the idea that it was already reading her nervous system before the game had even started was incredible indeed...

Installation complete.

"Ooh, it's ready!" She cheered, rushing into bed as soon as the NerveGear had finished processing all the data. She decided to forgo blankets, it was reasonably hot in the room thanks to efficient heating and she didn't want to wake up sweating and uncomfortable. This, which was going to be her "best gaming experience ever", had to go as smoothly as possible, in the real world and in the new virtual one that she was about to dive into. Literally, considering the name of the technique. Finally, the time had come. Comfortable in bed, with a cool drink nearby and her head snug in the helmet, it was time to say the words she had been waiting to say for months.





"And now, the preparations are complete. This concludes the tutorial for the official launch of Sword Art Online. Players, I wish you the best of luck." The hooded figure above the plaza full of thousands of players spoke with authority and to Iris, it almost felt like her rival was taunting her personally. Then it was true. All along, she always had the suspicion that Kayaba would add his one little something to his version of the Full Dive concept. Something uniquely him, while many had always thought him to be an unassuming genius, Iris, while holding the man in high regard and giving him the highest respect, always wondered if he desired something deeper than creating the greatest MMORPG ever created. And here it was. Iris cursed herself for not thinking of it herself. It was painfully obvious, and now she and around ten thousand other people were the victims of the largest attack on citizens of Japan since World War II, though, as the man had said, even in the beginning, all the people in the square were survivors. The newbies who had died while hunting low-level creatures who Iris had seen while getting her own grip on the combat system? They were the first victims, they were already gone from this world.

And if she didn't act for herself and fight, she'd be another one. Biting her lip, she could simply imagine it. Her father was still waiting for a call from his oldest daughter, her sisters waiting to hear about the game she had chattered about for months, while their mother made another wonderful dinner. Her classmates and professors would be the first to hear about the crisis and soon the whole world would know. They were all faces she wouldn't see for years, if ever again. In a way, being this deep into an incredible game was something she always wanted. Iris, Maya, who was she? Looking at the mirror that had finally given her the solution to the question of the bodily scans, it was her, with the only difference to her true self being the pastel colored lenses she had forgotten to take off before calibrating the NerveGear. In a way, maybe that brought her closer to being Iris. A new self, and she would have to be that self, she couldn't distract herself with what was impossible to see or do. Maya Maebara was asleep, in her bed and probably in a hospital soon and indefinitely, Iris was here, in the union of fear, rage, courage, excitement and sorrow made by her and all the other players of SAO.

If she wanted to survive, her focus could not be the next big game or her next big breakthrough in research and development. No, now, her focus had to be on the next big technique for her weapon. She had already devised a combat style, but if the knowledge given by the beta testers months ago was to be believed, a simple strategy of blocking with her left arm and slicing and dicing with a machete or similar weapon would simply not cut it in the long run. Iris had to innovate and move forward, combining techniques to lethally destroy her enemies and protect herself from certain death. Would she have to kill? There was no doubt that in this situation, people may kill each other, and it would have the same effects as in the real world. Effectively, this was her real world now and she'd have to make decisions as such.

As clear as it all was to her, what she had to do, she was still lost. All the reason she had in her mind was useless against the feelings she felt. She didn't want to die. She didn't want to lose others or simply watch others die. She missed her family, her friends, she longed for her days of lazily lounging around at home, a controller in hand, a headset on her head, in the dark of her room as she beat the latest and greatest game of the season. It was not yet gone for long, but everything suddenly felt so distant. What would she do? Her eyes were tearing up, even though she hardly wanted to. Not just because there were so many people around her, even if so many others had broken into tears, but because weakness now would make her lose potential allies forever.

Suck it up... Iris. she thought to herself, looking around. A few characters stood out. A tall, muscular man, a fit looking girl in a pirate get-up, a pensive fellow who looked eerily similar to a certain anime character that Iris simply could not put her finger on, and finally, interestingly, a girl, with fox ears and a tail, all in blue?! Iris' jaw dropped slightly. Gee, Kayaba, how did you let that through? I thought you better than that. she remarked silently, grinning in amusement at her own quip. She wondered briefly if he could read her thoughts. Technically, within the realms of Full Dive, it wasn't likely, but today, the guy was just full of surprises.

Mai'lo gave Kip a once over and shifted his sword to his left hand, lifting it easily to rest on his shoulder before he extended the other to accept her offered hand in a firm shake.

"Yeah, less than amused is one way to describe how I feel about this whole thing. My name is Mai'lo, pleasure to meet you." He looked over the crowd, a simple enough process at his height. Many people were still in a state somewhere between shock and panic but there were a few that were either already leaving or were in the process of creating alliances.

Across the Plaza he was just able to make it a kid with a single one handed sword strapped to his back, running into the empty streets leading out of town.

"Don't suppose you're a beta tester or you've got any friends in here we could team up with, do you?" He asked Kip. "We should probably get out of here and start leveling up if we want to survive."

As Matsuta made his way through the crowd, he was pleasantly surprised to see a girl with a blue fox tail and ears. Then he became less happy as the confident person he was making his way to began to break down and scream. Maybe you should talk to her Matsuta. But I don't want to talk to her. Ok, I see where your coming from. But if you talk she might help you. You make a good arguement Matsuta. But I'm still not doing it. Why not Matsuta. Because I am going to speak to the catgirl. he thought, freezing in place and looking very distant; getting a few looks of what the fuck from the people around him. After that, he made his way to the blue haired fox looking kid. She looked kinda confident in her own respect, but that wasn't the point. He had never spoken to a catgirl before, and now was his chance. Matsuta she isn't a catgirl; those are fox ears. Shut up, Matusta. he thought, walking towards her with a blank expression.
"Uh, excuse me. I was wondering i-" Matusta you listen to me, you fuck this up and we're playing monopoly! "If you would like to team up. My name is Matsuta, and I am a former beta tester. Well, sort of. Anyway you look like the cutest- I mean less frightened person around, so why the hell not, right?" Good job Matsuta. Thanks Matsuta. Everything happened so quickly he couldn't register it. Why the hell was he talking to this girl? The people he wanted to speak to were on the other side of the map. Oh well, he had royal screwed up this time.

Kip hesitated for a second before answering. Oh, what the hell, it doesn't matter. "Yes to the first, no to the second." She gave a kind of one-shoulder shrug. "You've got a point, Mai'lo. Shall we go? Or would you rather pick up a few more allies?" Allies. That reminded her. Opening the menu, she sent a party request to her new acquaintance.

---

Out in the wilds not too far away from the first town, TsuMeTai was busy training already. He had weakened a monster; it would only take a few more hits. Taking a fresh grip on his sword, he waited until the last second to dodge the monster's attack and slash sideways, scoring a hit on its flank. Turning, he finished the beast off with a stab.
Taking a deep breath, TsuMeTai kept an eye out for other enemies as he rested his sword against the ground. Thankfully, nothing leaped out at him as he caught his breath. Taking up his sword again, he went out in search of another beast to test his blade upon.

Sapphira blinked. Once. Twice. Then she giggled. That dude was actually trying, and seriously failing, to flirt with her. She liked that, Sapphira had to admit. Anybody who had the balls to flirt right after an announced death game was fair game for her. Unluckily for Matsuta, she wasn't into dudes at all, but she didn't need to let him know that. Oh, she was going to have so much fun.
"Sapphira, at your service. Not a beta tester, but I managed to get my hands on a press copy, so I am not totally noobie.", she exclaimed grinning and went into face-scratching herself.
"If you want to help me build an economic business in this game to supply players, you can assist me!"
The tiny Sapphira grinned determined, she wanted to enjoy this until her death.

"Inaho!" Iris exclaimed, garnering bizarre stares from those around her, some less friendly than others. That's it, it was Inaho, that's who that guy looked like, the guy who had just immensely entertained her with his attempt to flirt in the face of death. Okay, maybe that's someone she wanted on her team, at least she'd die smiling if she went down. Plus, thanks to her eavesdropping, she caught a great piece of information from Kayaba's mista-- er, the fox girl. Who was, apparently and most fittingly enough, named Sapphira. An economic business, huh? Iris definitely had some ideas coming to mind. If someone wanted to build a business in the game, they needed suppliers. Suppliers would go out in the field, bring them loot and resources, then their business friend would sell it, supplier would get a cut of the profit, everyone's happy. Plus, it'd let her go adventuring without too much risk of dying, there's always good stuff to be found away from the frontlines! Hell, they could even wipe up the treasure after anyone fighting in the dungeons wipe out all the monsters. Yep, this was a good idea, Iris remarked this as she nodded to herself, smiling vigorously.

Okay, time to use all that business experience dad gave me! she thought to herself, as she imagined even more potential ventures in this economic business. After all, who ever said business had to be limited to supplies and equips? What about even creating a mercenary business on the side, hiring out people to aid guilds needing an extra guy for whatever reason? Gah, I'm a genius!, is what Iris so very much wanted to yell, but decided against it, sliding through the crowd, pushing gently every now and again, until she made it through to the pair, Sapphira looking as amused as she was by not-Inaho's advances.

"Hellooooo, hello! I couldn't help but hear you're looking to build a business in the game! Well, you know, if you're gonna do that, you're gonna need some guys to go diving for treasure, if you know what I mean. The name's Iris, and with this fella," Iris took a moment to look up at his name. Matsuta, hm, has a nice ring to it. "I think you've found your guys! How 'bout it?" she wrapped it up with a wink and wrapped her arm around Matsuta's neck, leaning on his shoulder with a wide grin. Hey, who knows, this little venture could be fun! The whole thing certainly helped her cheer up and distract herself from her formerly mixed mood!

The menu popped up and he quickly accepted the party invite, breathing an almost imperceptible sigh of relief. It was nice to have at least one ally in this world. And she was a beta tester! Sticking with her was a smart idea.

"I'm not sure," he admitted. "Part of me thinks we should stick around a bit, try to bolster or numbers. But a lot of serious players have probably already lit out of here. I read an interview with a supposed beta tester where they explained some monsters equipment and experience are first come first serve. So if we want the best chance we'll have to stay ahead of the pack, right?"

He glanced around, noting the blue fox girl and the man attempting to flirt with her nearby. Matsuta floated above his head and s moment later another girl, Iris, walked up and threw an arm around his shoulder.

"What about them?" Without waiting for a reply he turned and Wales over to the trio. "Hey, why don't we team up?" He asked, blunt as a club. "You want to build up your inventory then you'll need to adventure and you can't go it alone. If we all five sick together we could survive this."

The smirk on Sapphira's face broadened as people started to gather around her. This smirk extended into a snicker and that snicker became an evil laugh. It was pretty funny seeing the smallest girl around, who by chance had fox ears and tail to make her seem cuter, break out into such laughter.
"Oh, this is glorious!"
Her laughter pattered out into a snicker again.
"Of course you all can assist me! If we work together we might be able to have a big voice in this game. And hey, being suppliers to the guys who will certainly be at the vanguard will be profitable as all hell!"
Oh, this was better than anything she could have imagined. Already a bunch of players had gathered around her. Maybe finally her natural ability to lead groups shone through.

Merchant work and fighting. Man things were looking good. Another girl walked over and talked about doing some dungeon work and getting loot, then another group of 2 walked over and talked about sticking together. It sounded kinda alright.
"If that's the plan th-" he was cut short by the other girl that had walked over wrapping her arms around him. Shit, shit. Matsuta, what do we do? I don't know! Well bloody think of something. Activate protocol Swimmingbird: 724. I don't think this is the time to be watching pewdiepie, Matsuta. No; 742. Oh yeah, do that one. he thought, again with a completely blank expression. Poking the girl on the cheek, he pushed off and then began ignoring her until she said his name.
"Okay then, the 4 of us should probably get going. If we want to be the first group up and running with shit to sell we should probably be the first raiding dungeons." he commented, forgetting that Iris even existed. You know Matsuta, the fox one might actually like us. Yeah, really? Well maybe. Don't say any of this outloud, it will ruin us. You got it. he continued in his head. They wouldn't have to play monopoly today, so things were getting better and better. First day in the life and death game and he already had a job.
"Is anyone of us here a beta tester other than me? It would be good for some of us to have some experience." he finished, looking around at the 3 others around him; glancing clean over Iris like she didn't exist. Matsuta wasn't there another person here? No, why? Oh, okay; just making sure.

What was the old saying? Three's company, four's a crowd? Or was it two's a company, four's a crowd? No matter, it didn't make much difference, as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Captain Blackbeard invited themselves into their group. No, no, no, this would simply not work. A larger group meant that the cuts of any gains between them would be smaller. Not good at all. A large part of Iris did want to help them, but she knew she had to look out for herself. She could take care of two others and herself, no problem, but taking care of four others?

...okay, actually, maybe the larger guy could take care of himself. And her. And probably every one else in the group without batting an eyelash. He was cool.

That aside, the whole thing still bugged her and her smile soon crept off her face and she was left clicking her tongue in irritation, tightening her grip around Matsuta's neck, but was quickly pushed off... by the cheek...? Interesting. Quickly, she realized that she was getting a bit heated and calmed down, sighing and then regaining her smile, decided to make lemonade out of lemons and introduced herself to the newcomers. Well, five wasn't too bad, and it had its perks. "Well then, looks like we're gonna make quite the team! I've already introduced myself to these two, but I'm Iris, pleasure to meet you!" she said cheerfully, before leaning in towards Matsuta and whispering "Sorry for interrupting you!", before getting coldly ignored. Huh. Something told her the guy didn't like her much. Especially the fact that he seemed to believe she was invisible. Boy, who peed in his morning coffee?

"Okay then, the 4 of us should probably get going. If we want to be the first group up and running with shit to sell we should probably be the first raiding dungeons."

He had a point, but raiding dungeons this early on? No matter the MMORPG, dungeons were always something to try once you completed the beginner questline, or had advanced past a certain level. Getting into it right away? For a beta tester, he didn't seem too smart. Or maybe SAO was different? In any case, no matter how fast she was disliking him by the second, he was the authority on the game here. Her knowledge of the technology running the whole show meant nothing now, they were in this world and had to deal with that, anyone who knew anything about this place was obviously a much better person to listen to than she was. Grumbling, she swore to herself that she'd one-up him eventually and listened.

"Is anyone of us here a beta tester other than me? It would be good for some of us to have some experience."

Arrrrghhh, it's like her thoughts were being made reality in the worst kind of way! What the hell was this, a reverse version of the Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya?! Iris was now grumbling even more, but decided to at least let him realize she was actually there. "Ahem, I wasn't in the beta, but I was in close contact with people who were, so I have a good bit of knowledge about the game, plus I'm a bit of a deft hand at MMO's and their systems, I can be a bit of a help in that way too!" She put on her best smile and did her best to make herself sound useful.

"Greetings, all." Kip said cheerfully. "Name's Kip Omega, beta tester." She removed her hat and gave a flamboyant bow, something that was in character for both her avatar inspirations: Captain Jack Sparrow, of an old but rather good movie, and Kip OMEGA, of an equally as old and good webcomic.

"About dungeon raiding, Matsuta, I don't know if we all are high enough levels for that." As a beta tester, she knew some of the best leveling grounds, and had utilized one of them; as a result, she had a slightly higher level then the average player. "You have a point, though, we should get going." The plaza was emptying around them. Seeing as them forming a party had been confirmed, Kip sent out party invites to all of them.

Really? The newer girl seriously thought that this group of 5 couldn't take down a dungeon? Matsuta she may be right; we are kinda only level 1. Oh yeah, and how would you know, Matsuta. Because I was here when we played the beta. Yeah? Well so was I! his face got a very distant look as two voices in his head began to clash.
"That's not technically true. I'm sure there some smaller cave like dungeons around that we can take on. If not... Things are gonna get boring quickly." he said to the relatively short girl who had just come to join. He completely ignored the girl who came and whispered in his ear, as well as the fact she called herself useful. You know, Matsuta; we could always head to the next town and do a bit of grinding. Fuck that Matsuta. I've had enough with grinding since we played WoW3. That's a good point; grinding is a drag. What about you, Matsuta? a crowd of voices erupted from inside his head; about 4000 odd. Uh, I... Didn't quite catch that. How about you? Me? No, not you; you. No! not you, just... argh. Move damnit. You. Yes you, what do you think. I say we should do something... Yeah, thanks a lot, Matsuta. No problem Matsuta. wait, what was he talking about. Oh right.
If anything we can just make our way to the next town. If we get there early there might be something we can stea- I mean borrow from the people that live there." God damnit, he had already fucked up twice. It hadn't even been 10 minutes since Kayaba left, and he had already call a small fox cute and was now ignoring a possible ally. Ah well.

Ignored, twice. Three times total. What was this, some sort of running gag?! Iris was convinced this guy would be a problem. Sure, his knowledge as a beta tester was useful, but he seemed intent on forgetting she existed. Fuming as she accepted the party invite from Captain Kip, she was now completely and utterly convinced that it was now her mission to, along with staying alive, make his life Hell. Hell with a capital 'h'. Okay, looks like it was time to reevaluate the group, since it seemed her first impressions were off, this guy was gonna be a hassle. Kip seemed decent, had a good head on her shoulders and was also a beta tester, so she could effectively replace him. Convenient. Mai'lo, quiet for the last few moments was definitely the kind of person, from looks alone, that Iris had a feeling she wouldn't have the slightest problems with, he seemed to have good sense and looked to be quite reliable. Sapphira would be incredibly useful, her business would bring in supplies for the group as well as give them all a way to get anything they found sold. Plus, she seemed to have potential to be a good leader.

Matsuta? Might as well be dead to her already. She'd tried, boy had she tried, to get on his good side but it just wouldn't work. Of course, second... third... fourth chances could be given, but honestly, she just didn't have it in her, first opportunity she had to leave him for dead, that would be it for him... wait, what? No, Iris, stop that. He's a human being, just like you, and anyone who dies here dies for good. Some may still treat this like a game, but I can't, no matter who it is. No one's dying if I can help it. she resolved, putting her annoyances with the guy to the side for a moment. He had a decent idea though, smaller dungeons could have a bit of loot and some monsters they could tackle as a group without many problems, especially if they got to them before others did. She didn't like his second idea as much, but it had its merits as well.

"How about we start moving and plan on the way? There's a few ways to go from the Starting City, let's pick a way, scout things out and if we ever need to, we can come back here. Think of it this way, we use this place as headquarters and the other towns as Forward Operating Bases for doing anything once the resources around here are dry. Should we find a store where we can stock up before we leave? We have to hurry though, NPC stocks will probably be empty soon." Iris proposed a few ideas of her own, making a point of directing her voice at Matsuta when possible, in an attempt to finally make him realize that the group was made up of five, not four. Otherwise, though, in good manners and charisma, she did try to capture the group in her discourse.

"Alright! It's a plan!", Sapphira exclaimed excitedly and opened the menu to add all party members to her friendslist. "Can't make much with the starting amount of money we have, though, so from a business point, we should really start farming stuff. Maybe even mine some minerals. Since that is a pretty boring task, I'd offer myself to do that.", she explained. Not minding the still heavy mood around town Sapphira smiled. "Ah... this is gonna be awesome!", she whispered and started to walk towards the vendor area to buy supplies.