[IC] Living in Aincrad: a SAO RP

[MarshiestMallow]

Paka just nodded, hedaing inside Tolbana. He led the way to the blacksmith, and got Angelo's spear fixed, and enhanced slightly, as well as getting his Katana checked over, and enhanced slightly as well, keeping an eye on his col, as it diminished.

"It's easy to get tuck in this world kid, it's hard to remember sometimes that this isn't the real world, it seems so real. I mean, we eat, we sleep, we drink, we get tired. We can still feel for one another, and we still interact. If we die, we die. So much of this world is everything we take for granted in the real world" He said eventually, "You should just stay in Tolbana for a while, go out during the day, make sure you have a teleport crystal, and wait until we break through to the second floor"

He sighed as he lead the way to a merchant, beginning to go through the items there, showing Angelo how to equip the <<Appraisal>> Skill, and helped him chose some items, continuing to talk. "I'll see what I can do for you on the second floor. Maybe by then Fujiwara would have calmed down, and if you can prove you've gone straight, it should be okay. I can't promise anything, but just stay safe, and don't do anything that will give you an orange marker."

He finished helping Angelo out, "Rent a room for tonight, and if you ever need help, just message me, and I'll see what I can do"

---

Suki had seen to anything Timi needed, and near 2000, she approached Yui, giving Yui a smile, gently nudging Timi from behind her. "Yui, this is Timi. Timi, Yui is a friend. She's not going to hurt you, I promise. Yui's friendly, and she'll be good company" She smiled, looking to Yui, "Can you please look after Timi for a while? She's adorable, quite, and no trouble at all" She helped settle Timi with Yui, and satisfied that the girl was in good hands, Suki headed to her room.

She messaged Paka, asking how everything was going, and that she was going out for a while, and that if Yui found Timi overbearing, could he help out. She got a quick reply, stating that everything was okay, he was back in town, and that yes, that was alright. Suki didn't believe that Timi would be a handful, but she didn't want Yui to be overwhelmed. Timi was cute, and a good kid.

Being in town, Suki had removed her battle gear, her armor, but kept her Rapier equipped. After messaging Paka, she headed back downstairs, and waited for Umichi. She had deliberately left out in the message to Paka that she was going out with Umichi, because she knew what Paka's reaction would be, and Suki just wanted to have a good night.

Of course, there was the chance that Paka would see them out, but then again, Suki didn't know what Umichi had planned. As Suki waited, she checked her guidebook, seeing that it had been updated as players reached higher levels of the Labyrinth. There was rumors of a black clad figure helping people, but didn't appear to fight with any weapons. Suki frowned, and didn't put much stock into those rumors. Perhaps there was a black clad figure, but how could they fight without a weapon? It didn't make sense to her. She sighed, and flipped through the book some more.

As time went by, she was getting worried that something bad had happened to Umichi, and was more then relieved when he sent her a message asking if she was free. She sent the guidebook back to her inventory, and replied with a quick "Yes, I'm still at the inn"

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Ayame shrugged her shoulders when she was told that the likelihood of there being a library being in the town was almost nonexistent and that she would have to go to the market to buy some books instead.
"Well... I think I might actually want to save my money a bit more. The guidebook said that my scythe and others like it aren't supposed to exist, so saving money for the materials to make them seems like a better investment. Hm..." she trailed off before remembering Hideki's predicament.
"Maybe... No, that wouldn't help him at all. It feels so strange to not be able to do anything! I've dealt with so many other people and issues twenty times as bad, so why...?" she asked herself before sighing. "I just can't seem to figure out why he's so depressed. If only he could just say why..."

"Well, if it's giving you so much trouble why not just ask me yourself?" Fujiwara asked, overhearing Ayame's internal debate as he walked down the stairs. "The answer is simple enough- If arguments like this happen enough, the group will fall apart. If a member doesn't take all points of an argument into consideration, it becomes difficult to communicate. Paka's blatant ignorance of about half of my argument before walking off was... Jarring, to say the least. It was less depression and more... Silent aggravation if you will." he said, ruffling the hair on Ayame's head. "The food was nice. Sugar got me back to my senses. Anyhow, I'm off to go solo grind near the dungeon. See you later." he said, walking out of the inn and waving his hand without turning around.

Baffled by the shift in behavior, Ayame blinked a few times before turning to the rest of the party.
"That... Wasn't just me, right? What's with Hideki all of a sudden...?" she asked, a confused look on her face.

[Jangel13]

Angelo nodded understanding what he talked about and when he heard about joining then in the second floor I shook my head "like I'm going to let you guys fight without me, I don't need him to like me or fire anybody to want me but if I'm going to prove in going straight it isn't going to be with words of what I've done but with actions and I'm helping to take down the boss..... at least when I hit level 7 at least and if you need me I'll be going to spawn area to get more experience till I can fight with all of you" Angelo said sending paka a friend request so they could talk and Angelo could message him easier and Angelo bowed gratefully to him once they were done and Angelo went to find an inn for the night

[Little_ninja]

After receiving the reply, Umichi ran to the Maiden Inn, he had recovered enough from his fatigue to do that. I will probably fall asleep pretty quickly tonight he thought to himself. Upon reaching the inn, he saw Suki just outside, "Hey!" Running up to her, he was breathing a little heavy. "Sorry for the wait, I ended up further than I expected, plus I was saving some people. Did I keep you waiting too long?" Umichi looked at Suki, with a grin. "We really haven't had much time to ourselves for a while. Let's take out time tonight, shall we?" he offered his hand with a smile. With enough attention, she might realize he was blushing a little. *Sigh* I guess I am still a kid when it comes to this ... but I want to be as close to her as possible.

Before a chance for Suki to grab his hand, Fujiwara had just come out. Really!? he thought to himself, without a change in expression. Pulling his hand back, Umichi turned to Fujiwara, "Yo, where are you going? If you are off to train, be wary if you head into the Labyrinth. You can train where-ever you like, but if you go into the Labyrinth, don't go too deep. Limit it to the second floor, alright? The later ones they group up a lot more so don't go too far." He waited for a moment to get a reply from Fujiwara. "Alright, well stay safe." Unable to wait, as he didn't want more time to be wasted, he grabbed Suki's hand and ran off. I really do this too much, don't I? he realized.

Not long after running off, he stopped. "Sorry, I kind of just ran off with you ... I just wanted to spend as much time together as possible ... alone." Umichi said to Suki, still holding her hand, while looking up at the night sky, scratching his cheek with his index finger of his other hand. "Um... am I a bit ... you know ... forceful with the grabbing and running thing?" he turned to her smiling wryly, slightly worried. Might need to fix that. Never used to do that before entering this game though ... "So ... I want to take you ...." he trailed off, looking around for the building he had first jumped up to that was four stories high. After surveying, he could see it. "up there. It should be a beautiful sight." he continued. He then waited for a reply from Suki.

[DELETED7282737]

Yui

Everybody started to leave while Yui kept her head lying on the table out of boredom. Only she Ayame, Timi and Suki seemed to have stayed in the lounge area of the Inn "Ssssuuuukkkkiiii we should do something fun." she looked around and saw Suki standing next to her with cute little Timi with her. She left another "awww" out of her mouth as Suki left Timi in her care, Fujiwara also left to head towards the dungeon to grind but she didnt want to fight all the time and have some fun sometimes. "Bai Bai" she replyed to him as he left and faced Ayame Yui shrugged and continued with what she wanted to say to her "Aaaayyyyaaaammmmeee" she sayed in an anoyed voice "lets play a game" She giggled and tried to think of something to do "Timi what do you want to do, You can decide" She gave a bright smile towards the girl and wanted to hug her so much that it would hurt.

[MarshiestMallow]

Suki looked about, seeing Umichi running up, and she smiled shaking her head "no, I've haven't been waiting long. "We haven't. I guess being in a team will do that. And then there's Paka, but he's off training Angelo so..." She trailed off, seeing that Umichi was blushing, if only slightly. That caused her to smile some more, especially as she realized that she wasn't blushing for once. She looked up as Fujiwara came out, and w as gouge to greet him before she saw his expression and the fact that he just kept in going. She frowned, then sighed. Before she could ponder it further, Umichi had grabbed her hand and started to run off.

A laugh bubbled up and escaped, and she thought it was adorable as Umichi stopped, and asked if he was being too forceful doing that, and she shook her head "I like it" she said, "it really doesn't bother me. After all, it's how you dragged me away to begin with" she said with a find smile at the memory. She still had the plastic ring from the meet your hero quest. It was a silly little thing, and yet, she felt that it had high value. For her at least. She looked about wen Umichi did, then nodded, "let's go there thenl she said with a smile

---

Timi was sitting in a chair swinging her legs, looking about the inn, and looked over at Yui when she asked what she wanted to do. Timi shrugged "um" she said, looking down. "What is there to do?" It wasn't likely they could play games, was it? Timi wondered, "I normally just find a place to sleep, and avoid the big boys" she said softly, "what do you normally do at the end of the day?" She asked politely, looking up at Yui

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Fujiwara glanced at Umichi as he spoke before nodding and heading on his way. From what he had heard as they had arrived in the town, the grind wasn't that bad if he was able to clear the waves relatively quickly. Though he would prefer having Ayame along for the grind, her face seemed to betray a sense of confusion, which... To be fair, wasn't helped when he left the inn. Sighing, Fujiwara silently equipped his katna and headed out towards the dungeon to grind.

---

Ayame turned to Timi and Yui, shaking off her confusion and smiling at the two.
"Well, I really can't say much about games to play... But there are always people willing to help. Maybe those performers could provide us with some ideas?" she mused before turning to the two performers that had taken a break nearby.
"Ah... Excuse me, but would you be able to help them- er, us with our little... Dilemma here? I've never been one for physical activities, so I'm not much help at all." she laughed nervously before looking at them both. "You have any ideas, then?"

[MarshiestMallow]

Timi looked up when Ayame suggested the performers, swinging her legs still, watching and waiting to see if there was any reply. She had enjoyed the show and the dancing, and would enjoy some more of it. She didn't know how the players had become performers, yet she found it interesting that they had taken on the job of providing people with entertainment while they were here.

She slid off her seat, and joined Ayame speaking to the performers. "Would you be able to teach me some of what you do? i've always been interested in this sort of thing...and...please?" She asked hopefully, looking up at the performers hopefully, giving them a shy smile.

[Little_ninja]

Walking by her side, Umichi smiled. He was glad that she liked the fact that he drags her along so much. Thinking back, he remembered about the plastic ring in his inventory, as they approached the four story building. To be honest, he wasn't sure what kind of building it was, since he was just quickly jumping along rooftops. "To be honest ... I don't even know what kind of building that is" he told her, smiling wryly once more. He then started to flick through his inventory, and took out an item. It was a Dire Fang Necklace. It was a simple design of black string, red and green beads and a Dire Werewolf Fang attached to it. "Here, this is for you." He smiled, taking a small step behind her, putting the necklace on her.

---

Flash Back

After the quest Creature of the Full Moon, Umichi had learned that the quest had a one week cool down/reset period. A week after completion, while on their way to Tolbana. At night, everyone seemed to have fallen asleep, he wondered if it was possible for the quest to be repeated once you have the weapon. So, using a crystal to go to Citadel, he found out that the quest had to be repeated with making the weapon again, it seemed, since he couldn't start the quest himself. However, another group seemed to have activated the quest not long after. He helped them with the quest details and everything else, including distracting the Dire Werewolf. Although there was nothing for them to give him in return for his help, Umichi just smiled and told them, "It's fine, I want to help as many people as possible." They insisted on giving him the claws, but he declined. When they returned to town, he had a chance encounter quest that didn't occur last time. A mysterious woman offered to make accessories out of the Dire Werewolf Fang. Accepting the offer, Umichi gained 10 exp and loss 100 col and got the Dire Fang Necklace. After that, he returned to the party with another teleportation crystal.

---

Back to now

"Sorry it isn't much though. It looks good on you though." Umichi told Suki, tying the necklace on her neck, under her flax colored hair. Continuing on, they kept walking to the building. "Should we buy something to eat before we go up there?" he turned to her, asking. "To be honest, Ayame's food was ... more like a dessert than dinner, so, I still feel a little hungry." He smiled a bit, awkwardly. "Well, I confirmed what I wanted to find out, when I went to the Labyrinth." Umichi added on, looking ahead, his eyes having a hint of surprise, from his findings.

[MarshiestMallow]

"We don't know what half the buildings are here" Suki pointed out, watching a as Umichi flicked through his inventory, and taking out the dire were fool fang necklace, and found herself blushing as Umichi put it on her. She wondered how he had managed to do that, and she looked down at it with a smile, examining it, "thank you" she said softly, "it's more then enough" she looked up at him and smiled. Every single thing he did, it just made her like him more and more, and she just hoped they'd be able to find each other in the real world, along with the others.

She walked along with him, studying the building as they walked towards it, looking over when he said about some food. "We can get something from a food merchant" she suggested, already looking around for one, they were generally everywhere, some with a variety of foods, looking back towards him when he said about finding what he wanted to confirm I the labyrinth.

She thought for a few seconds, before saying "Timi seems to think you went searching for a man that didn't really help her when she was lost, was she right?" She asked, seeing that he seemed excited about what he had found, and she was curious. She stopped At a merchants stall, briefly looking at it to see what food they had before looking towards Umichi again

[Little_ninja]

"Sounds like a good idea." Umichi replied to Suki's suggestion of a food merchant.
Her mention of Timi's thoughts, he was confused. "Man that didn't really help her when she was lost? I don't know who that might have been. She didn't tell me there was someone who didn't help her before. When I found her, she was surrounded by Ruin Kobold Troopers, I finished off most of the group and someone else happened to help save her too. If his the one she was talking about, than yeah, I guess I was. If not, than nope." He ended up explaining most of what had happened when he had met Timi.

As she went to a merchant's stall for food, he thought for a moment, Will we simply be allowed to go in? Maybe we will have to jump up ... Umichi saw her look at him, he smiled at her. "Let's grab different things and share. Get a better taste of what this world provides." He suggested, grabbing something that looked akin to a meatball baguette. The NPC merchant told him the price, a message box appeared, and he clicked accept, using 40 col. "Hey, do you think you are able to jump up the buildings? It's just that I realized, we might not be allowed in the building, so we might have to go along the roof tops." Umichi knew he could get up, but, didn't know if Suki could. If he had put more points into Strength, he could probably jump up with her on his back, but alas, it was unlikely that he had enough stat points to have done that in the first place.

[MarshiestMallow]

Suki shrugged, "She said he was a black clad figure, and there's been rumors in the guidebook about a blackclad figure who doesn't sseem to fight with a weapon, but helps people" She said, as she studied what the merchant had, debating about what to get, before chosing a chicken and salad sandwich. "There has to be someway of replicating food from the real world. So far, it seems like it's just been guess work with the taste. Still good though" She said as she paid the merchant the 35 col for the sandwich.

She turned her attention to the building, studying it, frowning slightly. She hadn't tried to jump things quite as high as the building, but she thought she could do it. It wasn't as if she could hurt herself in the safe zone. "I can try" She said, sending the sandwich to her inventory. She Started towards the building, wondering if it would be easier to jump from one wall to the other, so she thought how she could do that. She frowned, and equipped her acrobatics skill. It wasn't as high as it could have been, but it would do for climbing up walls and jumping for now.

She started with a running jump, sprinting towards the buildings, and when she was near, she leapt, catching herself on a wall, before leaping to the opposite wall of the building next to the one she was aiming to reach the top off. There was a moment there when she panicked, thinking that she was going to fall, but then she caught herself again. She continued with this until she reached the roof top. She was panting lightly, and she smiled

[Little_ninja]

"Ah, yeah. Him. Yep, I was looking for him to confirm something. Just something a little unexpected to me. Anyway, it's probably possible after you analyze the taste sensations of the system to replicate real food, although it will look different." Umichi replied to Suki. When she suddenly tried to jump, he wanted to say that he they could ask if they were allowed in first, before doing that, however, she had already started a running jump. She looked as though she was about to fall, he dashed to try catch her, but she caught herself. He exhaled, relieved. Watching her eventually reach the rooftop, it seemed to be a two story building. From there, it wasn't too hard to reach the four story building that he mentioned.

Umichi looked around, analyzing the area. He took a small one-two step jump, towards the building opposite of the one Suki was on. Taking two more steps along the wall, he back flipped across the alley and reached the building Suki was on. "You know, you seem more wild now." He smiled at her. "I mean, we could of first asked if we could go into the building before we jumped onto rooftops." Lightly chuckling, he grabbed her hand. "Anyway, if we can go there, we should be able to see a horizon where a sea of stars exists in the sky and on the ground below." Umichi told her, "Well, I'll use my momentum to bring you across the buildings, okay? So, be ready to jump while we run."

Running across a few buildings and holding her hand tightly, Umichi ended up using the momentum he could gather, to run up the four story building from a three story one that he had leaped across. The momentum he had gathered was losing out, but he reached the top, still holding Suki and pulling her up. "Phew," he exhaled, wiping the non-existent sweat of his brow.

Taking a look around, he could see what he had predicted. The night sky was shining beautifully with the artificial stars of their world, and the town of Tolbana was lit up with the street lights and street vendors. Sitting on the edge, he patted next to him, telling Suki to sit down. "It's a nice view right?" Umichi smiled.

[MarshiestMallow]

Suki stepped back from the edge as Umichi started to climb, giving him room to land, and she watched his path as she caught her breath. When he landed, and commented that she seemed to be wilder, she smiled and shrugged, "it's just we can do so much here, that we can't do in the real world, and I guess I just want to experience everything I possible can here, while we are here, as it seems we will be trapped here a while" she said, but it was more then that. In here, Suki had a chance to be open and free, away from the protective gazes of her brothers and her father. Here she had a chance to do things that would be deemed too dangerous for them. And it was freeing for Suki.

She nodded as Umichi took her hand and readied herself to move with him, and when he jumped she jumped with him, trusting him to get them where they needed. Even though she knew Umichi could do it, she was still relieved when they reached theroof top, and she smiled brightly, looking about. It was a beautiful sight, and she had to take a few moments to study it before sitting down. "It's amazing" she said with a smile, letting herself lean into Umichi.

"It seems like we've already been here a long time, but it hasn't been that long" she said softly, "so much has happened. And I don't regret one moment of it. It's nice here, if you ignore the whole death thing"

[Little_ninja]

Taking out his meatball baguette look-a-like, Umichi nodded in agreement to what Suki said. "But life is like that too, it has it's beauty, and it's nice, but there is still death. I think it's better not to think about death, but rather, think about how we live." Turning to Suki, who as leaning on him, he smiled. He started to split his baguette, "Here." he gave her half. The time was approaching 2200. "Looks like we won't get to spend too much time tonight. But these little moments are really nice." he happily spoke.

[MarshiestMallow]

"Life is beautiful no matter what" Suki said "but I still can't climb a wall back in the real world" she added with a small laugh, looking out over the view happy. When Umichi split his baguette, she did the same with the chicken sandwich. It was nice being able to do that, share with someone was he was comfortable with, and just enjoy being there together. "It's enough for now" she said softly, imaging as they got higher and higher through the floors, it would get harder to find te bosses lairs and then there would be plenty if time to just be together.

It was funny, she thought to herself, how quickly they had all adapted to this world. "Plus, until Paka is alright with this, it's probably for the best. He'd happily lecture me for hours about Internet safety or such" she said, with another laugh, as she ate.

She was reluctant to move, to leave the roof top and return to the inn, but she knew they would have to soon. She sighed contentedly, looking to Umichi and she smiled happily,

---

Paka had headed back to the inn, having some of Ayames stew before saying he was going to bed, not wanting to get into blows with Fujiwara again, he slipped into his room. He sighed, and dropped down into the bed in a combination of annoyance, weariness and just plain exhaustion.

---

Timi smiled when the performers agreed to showing her some tricks, and she eagerly listened to them, but as time went on, it was clear that the girl was weary and she ended up half leaning on Yui, yawning deeply. She wasn't too sure where to go to sleep, so leaning against Yui was the next best thing, yet it was clear that she was struggling to stay awake with each passing minute

[Little_ninja]

Chuckling lightly, Umichi knew Paka would probably have problems about this. "Internet safety, huh? .... Well, the internet is our new life. Aincrad is our world now. We live, and survive, eventually, we need to get our own property and then there are other things as well." He started to eat the baguette and the sandwich. It was hard to get used to the difference in texture and taste for somethings. It was good though. Reluctant about leaving, Umichi looked to Suki, who was sighing and smiling. He smiled in reply. Like that, they just smiled, and took in the scenery and looked at each other from time to time.

"I think we should head back now." Umichi spoke, realizing the time. It was almost 2330. They had been up there for a good hour and a half. Reluctantly, he stood up. Offering a hand to Suki to pull her up. "Let's get down." He suggested to her.

[MarshiestMallow]

Suki mused over her food, thinking about that. A house. A place that was home here in this world. That sounded perfect. Somewhere they could go at the end of each day, rather then staying at inns all the time. And...our own home, what did he mean by that? She wondered, feeling herself blush, and she swallowed her mouthful of food, and finished her food.

As the time started to lean towards midnight, and Umichi suggested that they should head back, and she took Umichi's offered hand with a smile "okay" she said, looking down, "how? Just jump?" She asked looking back to Umichi, releasing that there had been no message from Yui, so that meant Timi hadn't caused her any grief. Hopefully. "It's a long way day, but we can't really get hurt, right?" She asked hesitantly

[Little_ninja]

Looking about, he replied, "I'll go down first, I can break the fall. I'll catch you afterwards." Umichi flashed a smile, before doing a front flip, showing off some style. As he fell, he braced, and then as he hit the ground, he rolled, several times over. The impact was absorbed and redirected quite well. Standing up, he went back to where he was. Looking up, Umichi called out, "I'll catch you, don't worry! Jump!" His arms were ready to catch Suki in an embrace. Some people were onlooking at him as he called out. He didn't mind. Some were wondering who he was talking to, others looked up but could not see Suki, and a few could actually see Suki and were wondering what she was doing up there in the first place.

If Suki jumps, Umichi will catch her. During the catch he will start to spin, to redirect the force of the fall, which will go into the spin. After a few spins, he will put her down, and smile. "Let's head back". Walking back to the inn hand in hand with Suki. There would be a few scares from the onlookers whens he jumps, but they will cheer once he catches her.

[MarshiestMallow]

Suki didn't even hesitate when Umichi said to jump. She leaped off the building, knowing Umichi would catch her, and she laughed when he put her down, blushing as she realised the cheers were for Umichi catching her. It seemed liked it was all too soon as they reached the inn, and she sighed softly. "Don't go out tonight and explore. Please" She kissed his cheek, before making her way in side, seeing Timi practically using Yui as a bed, she smiled, and scooped the girl up into her arms. "Go to bed Yui" She said with a smile, "Thank you for watching the cuteness." She headed upstairs, laying Timi down on a bed when reaching her room, before going to bed herself. She checked on paka, but it appeared he was asleep. She hoped everyone was in the inn, and hoped there had been no further trouble.

She slept, that strange dreamless grey filled sleep, and woke a little bit later then she normally did. She stirred at the sound of a PM, sighing, rubbing her eyes before opening the message.

announcement said

We have reached the twentieth floor of the labyrinth. This message is going out to everyone who has been fighting. We will be launching an attack on the boss at 1200 hours. We will be meeting out the front of the labyrinth at 1030. If you wish to join us, be there.

It was from a group they had met a few days ago, another lot that would become front liners, battling to free them all. they had been a nice group, apparently they had known each other in the real world, and often played games together. There were four of them, and Suki had taken a liking to them all. So Suki would join them, and she was sure that the others would. Her eyes drifted to Timi, but she knew they couldn't leave her behind. She would just make sure that Timi was at the back, away from any danger.

She rose, letting the girl sleep some more, heading downstairs, but hesitated, heading to Paka's room. She knocked, glancing at the time, seeing that it was just after five in the morning. She waited a moment, and the door opened to a sleepy Paka. Suki smiled, and slipped inside. "We'll be attacking the boss today" She said "A group's found the boss's room. I just wanted to say that I don't want you worrying about me. I can look after myself in this fight. I'm stronger then I am in the real world. I'm faster. And I'm different. Well, that's not true. Here, I can be myself, without having to think, will dad approve? Will my brothers let me do it. So please, don't tell me to stay behind. Because I won't."

Paka blinked bleary, and sighed. "it's never been a question of can you do it, it's been a question of what will happen? i'll try. But I can't promise anything"

Suki nodded, knowing that would be all she could expect, and heading downstairs, waiting for everyone.