[IC] Living in Aincrad: a SAO RP

[Little_ninja]

Umichi

Looking to see who agreed to go breakfast and who did not, Umichi got up from his seat. "Well, let's head to the Inn of Faith, where I can get us a free meal." Smiling, he waved a bye to Yui, who left for somewhere. "I don't know if there are pancakes, but can you really say no to free food?" he laughed. Heading to the door, he opened it for the group to leave for the Inn of Faith. It wasn't far or anything, considering that most of the Inns were close to each other. Heading in, the NPC Lina greeted them. "Oh why if it isn't Umichi, our first winner." "Yo." Umichi replied, heading to a table. "Here to reap the rewards already? And you brought friends."Lina smiled, bringing menus to the table." "Well, who wouldn't want free meals?." Turning to the rest of the party, "Order whatever you want, it's on me, and free." With that, he waited for the others to tell Umichi of their order.

YukiHana

Crying aloud, hearing someone ask what was wrong, YukiHana's loud wailing softened to sobs momentarily. "I miss my Okaa-san, Otou-san, Onee-san and Onii-san!"She started to cry aloud again. Only to soften to sobs again once Pyotr Onee-san tried to comfort her. Nodding to her words, she replied with a simple and soft, "Okay..." Her cries had been reduced to sniffles, but her face was still a mess. Looking up at the two onee-san, tears were still rolling down her face, blurry, she could not see their faces. "Um... can I party with one of you? I don't want to be alone anymore." she sniffled.

[chukklehed]

Tsukiya Tsukiya thought for a moment. She had been a solo player since they had been trapped in Aincrad, not because she didn't like being with people, but because most people were intimidated by her, and she didn't want a party bad enough to go looking for someone who wasn't. However, here was a girl who wanted to be with her, and who would be in trouble alone. It didn't take long for her to reach a decision. "You can stay with me." She said softly, pulling down her menu and navigating to the 'social' tab. She selected 'Form Party' and sent the message to the girl.

[Lennon79]

Pyotr

Listening to the poor girl crying in broken Japanese was both heartbreaking and painful for Pyotr's linguistic heritage... It was a miracle that the child had survived so far, although a certain cynical part of her suspected that tears had played a big part in finding people to care for the girl. Still, she knew well enough to understand that she had a duty of care. 'Can... I join too? I've generally avoided parties because... well, I just have.' Actually the main reason behind Pyotr's status as a solo player was a complete lack of confidence on her part; up till now she had declined any hint of partying up for fear of messing up and embarrassing herself. 'So... What are your... names?' Pyotr found herself stuck for anything more meaningful to say; ironic since half of her work as a street peddler was idle gossip.

[MarshiestMallow]

Paka was just heading back, when he saw Yui heading off. She didn't appear to be okay, not hurt or anything, just...well probably feeling like he was. Down and just not needed. He followed her, and watched for a few moments as she appeared to train her skills. "Hey Yui. What's wrong?" He asked with concern, approaching her. He looked back at the sound of footsteps, and saw Timi. "Yui-chan! Yui-chan!" The young girl smiled, and flung herself at Yui. Paka smiled, the young girl just seemed to be the best medicine. He leaned back against a tree and said "so what has you training here by yourself?" Suki rose, and then making sure what she had taken out of her inventory was away, she followed Umichi. It was certainly good to be able to get free meals, right now. They were able to save money, which would help them later on. They'd mainly been fighting frenzy boars, Direwolves and Nepents, which didn't give out much col, but were in surplus here. Yes, they had done some mini boss killing, but they needed a way of having a good income. She had at some inns sold some of her health potions, but that wouldn't be a steady income until she opened up a shop, if she chose to. The inn didn't seem that busy, but Suki knew it would probably get busier as the morning wore on. As they sat, and ordered their food, she frowned slightly, seeing that Timi had slipped off somewhere. She glanced at the party, seeing that she was okay. She was on the verge of messaging her, when Paka messaged her to say Timi was with him. She relaxed, relieved. She told Umochi what she wanted, knowig that to get it free, it had to come from him. She couldn't deny that she was getting nervous, as the time inched by to the meeting. And the boss fight. [color=yellow]"I wonder how many people will be at the meeting today"[/color|

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Fujiwara shrugged and got out of his seat, following Umichi as the latter walked out the door. Ayame followed suit, nervously tapping her fingers together as they walked along. Thanking Umichi has he held the door open, the two of them took their own seats at the table where he was standing near and looked at the menu. "Hm... I guess... I'll take the omelette and a glass of ice water, if you don't mind." Fujiwara stated, placing the menu on the table as he turned to Ayame. "Er... Uh... I'd prefer some rice and fish, honestly... It's been so long since I've had any at all." she said, smiling nervously as she placed her menu on the table. Fujiwara shrugged his shoulders in apathy. The upcoming fight was still occupying his mind, so eating good food wasn't exactly at the forefront of his mind. It wouldn't be a "last supper" or anything like that... Probably.

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Yui Yui arrived at her training point deep in the forest. The sound of the small river nearby gave a nice calm arau, the leaves above the river werent as much as just on land, so it some letted some more light shine through the leave roof. Yui unequiped the armour that she had on only leaving her in normall clothing since it made her a little more mobile and comfortable. Yui swung the big two handed sword around her and activated some skills to try and move after the skill was used in post motion. Before she could come to a conclusion a familiar voice sounded close by. She felt a bit startled while looking at Paka and struggled to talk to him "O um h-hi" she went silent for a bit and tried talking again "N-nothing really, i'm just a little tired i quess." She blushed a little from embarrassment and tried not to make too much eye contact "Wait, no. You have been disapearing a lot recently." She looked him straight in the eyes now "Why are you..." she stopped halfway her sentence as Timi came rushing at her. Yui tried to step back but lost her footing while at it and was on the verge of falling while she felt the small girl hugging her "Oof" she bumped with her but onto the ground and the kid lying on top of her "Timi! Why are you here" she said in. Suprised voice. Yui looked at Paka for a mere second and all quickly turned her eyes away from him what if he got mad at her for her saying that. Yui was in deep thought and missed the last question.

[MarshiestMallow]

Timi

Interacting with: Yui, Paka Timi smiled brightly, and said "You left, and i wondered if something was wrong" She poked Yui's cheek, one, twice three times, wriggling away and sitting up, brushing back her hair from her face. She looked about, as if just figuring out that they were out the safe zone, and scrambled up hurriedly, but seeing now danger, and figuring that she was safe enough with Yui and Paka, relaxed. The young girl looked back to Yui and smiled hugely. and poked Yui again. Her eyes wide, round and bright. Trusting. "is everything alright? you seem...not sad. Lonely? Are you lonely? Why are you lonely? Can I do anything?" the words rolled out of her mouth, almost one after the other, and she took a huge breath, and let it out.

Paka

Paka watched as Timi just seemed to...be a bundle of energy. As if she had gobbled up a large amount of chocolate. Or other such high sugar food. He wondered, briefly, what Ayame had cooked. Or what timi had managed to find. Or if the girl was just like that all the time. Paka shrugged at Yui's unfinished question and said "I...just don't feel comfortable sitting around" I feel like I'm holding everyone back he thought to himself, "I...I'm going to leave after we defeat the boss. i want to help other people" he held out a hand to help Yui up, as Timi poked her.

Suki

When the food was ordered, and brought over, Suki studied what she had ordered, trying to compare it to how it looked in the real world. There was some slight discolouration with the Miso Soup, but the rice looked normal, and as an added side, she had Tamagoyaki, figuring even if it gave no added benefit here, back in the real world-it was getting harder and harder to consider the real world as, well, the real world the longer they were here-the added Tamagoyaki was good protein. And if they ended up fighting the boss today...maybe it would help. Or not. Either way, she began to dig in. The food was good, if a little...different. Slightly sweet, the soup was never the less nice, the rice stickier then she was use to, and the egg tasted...alright. All in all, it was a good meal. She looked to the others, checking the time.

[DELETED7282737]

Yui

Yui rubbed her head a little while hearing Timi out and saw a sudden finger heading towards her face. She closed her eyes in reaction but only felt tapping on her cheek "Timi quit it, that tickles" She chuckled a little and sat upright "I'm fine Timi you don't have to worry about me, okay?" She gently smiled at the girl when she stood up and hurriedly looked around her. She looked at Timi to figure out why she is so hyper out of nowhere. Timi asked once again if she was okay why she wanted to pull her mouth open, but before she could Timi had already said the word lonely multiple times. She turned her away a little as the joy of her face lessened slightly"I'm not lonely, I have you right." She turned her head back to Timi and smiled a little at the young girl "I don't get enough sleep thats all." She tried to change the subject so quick as possible by looking at the girl bouncing around everywhere "What did you eat for breakfast Timi? Did you get candy from one of us?" She slowly tried to get herself on her feet again but she had some problems with her leg since she didn't have anything to hold onto. She heard Paka suddenly started talking, she swallowed and didn't look at Paka while he talked. After he had finished she looked back up at him seeing he holded out his hand to help her "But why, I don't get it why can't you just stay with us"

[Little_ninja]

Umichi

After hearing everyone's orders, Umichi ordered their meals, including an eggs benedict for himself. "Well, I think it would be best to read up a little on the boss before the meeting. Hopefully, some beta testers put together some information about the first floor boss in this thing. He suggested. "I mean, we will need to formulate a plan before we fight the boss ... um..." Umichi struggled to find the name of the boss for a moment, looking through the guidebook before continuing. " ... Illfang the Kobold Lord. In here, it says that he spawns Kobold Ruin Sentinels, uses a large bone axe and a leather shield. It mentions his features like his height too and that he changes to a talwar when his health is low." He began to do a debriefing for the boss fight ahead. "But then again, who knows how much of the information is valid. This is from beta testing data. This is the official version, there may have been changes made to the boss. Maybe scrapped, less or more sentinels, or used for another floor. Although I doubt it was scrapped or on another floor, considering that in the labyrinth is Kobold Ruin Troopers. What do you all think?" He decided to ask the party, as the food arrived. He started to eat as he awaited a reply, still being confused about the way food tasted. Why does this taste like a pancake with strawberry jam?

YukiHana

Hearing the two onee-sans reply, YukiHana wiped the tears from her face. "Hontou? Hontou ni hontou?" (TL: Really? Really really? Or Really? Seriously for real? Or ... well, you get the idea) Starting to smile, she accepted the party invite from the onee-san. "Tsu...ki...ya ... Can I call you Tsuki-nee-san?" The little girl looked up, tilting her head with wide, puppy-dog-like eyes. Turning to Pyotyr, she then asked a similar question in the same manner. "Can I call you Pyo-nee-san?"

[MarshiestMallow]

Timi and Paka

Paka sighed and was quite for a time, allowing Timi to speak. "I haven't had breafast yet" She said brightly, "Everyone should eat, right? So I wanted to make sure you did, too" she said, her smile disappearing as she wondered if she had done the right thing. Had she just made whatever Yui was feeling worse? she just wanted to help. She looked to Paka, who sighed and said softly, looking away, "because, Yui, all I will do is just hold the group back. I can't stay knowing that, knowing I might cause one of your deaths because of it. so I will find others to help. Don't worry. I'll still fight on the front lines, so you'll all see me still. But...it's hard being in the group. I have loyalty, and Suki's family? They'd want me to make sure she wouldn't get hurt here. And all I'm doing is causing her to second guess herself. So I need to go. At least until Suki's confident enough to not second guess herself" Timi frowned, looking between Yui and Paka.

Suki

Suki had already read the information on the boss that was available in the guild book, but listened as Umichi spoke. It all seemed relevant data, but she figured there would be some changes or two to the boss. After all, why let the beta testers have so much information so easily? He'd let them have enough, just enough to make them think the information they had was still correct. Confidence. Pride goeth before a fall and all that She had a taste of her breakfast, and while it wasn't what she was use to, it was still nice. So she continued eating it, thoughtful. "I think there's going to be some changes to the boss. The developers wouldn't want the Beta testers to be able to get so far ahead of everyone else, and it's gotten be a challenge, right? So we have enough information to figure out what we are up against, but not enough information to conclusively state that the boss is still using those weapons, that fighting style" she said, taking a sip of her drink. She looked down at her plate, as if contemplating it, "The boss is going to be the same, if the Kobolds are. But not the way it fights, not what the second weapon it uses is. They want people to be confidence, to feel like they have the win, and then Wham!" She clapped her hands together as if in demonstration. "hit with something different, to throw us off. At least, that's what I'd do, if I was developing a game tested out before full release" she said, looking back up, as she returned to her food.

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

"You know, it kinda seems like you know what's gonna happen already, Umichi." Fujiwara said, leaning against his right arm as his meal was delivered. "Though I do agree with your sentiments and would advise caution when referring to how the boss will act, you can also say the same for the opposing argument. It could be exactly as the beta was; it's not like games don't do that, and implementing new resources for the boss is incredibly wasteful. Given the timing of the release compared to the closed beta, I would argue that developing another AI, along with new resources involving the boss, isn't likely. From a designer's standpoint, it makes zero sense." Sighing, Fujiwara took a spoon and took a bite of the omelette. It tasted... Spicy. Salty and spicy. Huh. A curry omelette? He hadn't had one of these in ages! Taking the initiative, Fujiwara dived into the food as Ayame looked at him and laughed. "I haven't seen you this excited in a long time. The omelette really that good?" she asked as her own dish was served. Fujiwara nodded his head once as he swallowed another bite and began to speak. "It tastes like a regular omelette with curry rice in the middle! It's a miracle!" he exclaimed. Well, she couldn't really blame him- he had always liked that kind of stuff. While Fujiwara was busy gobbling down his meal, Ayame looked at everyone else and down at her hands before sighing. "I'm not really... Sure of what to think here. I've never been in any boss fights in any game of any sort, but I'm sure we can all work together to get through it all... Right?"

[chukklehed]

Tsukiya nodded silently at both of them, sending another party invite to Pyotr. She stood up and pulled her hood back over her face, obscuring her eyes from everybody. "What now?" She asked quietly, not moving. She opened her inventory and removed a journal, flipping through the pages. "I was planning on going out into the fields once I was done here. The field spawn loop is about to start again."

[Lennon79]

'P-Pyo... Look kid, if you're gonna call me that, then your name is now officially Midget.' While not entirely against the nickname, the mental image it inspired to any healthy minded internet user was not one that she wished to cultivate. Pyotr could forgive the child her antics, though steps would be taken to get her own back. 'So Midget, what's your name?' Despite being fully aware of YukiHana's name flashing up in the party window, Pyotr made a point of asking herself; a strong first impression was an important thing, especially when dealing with kids. After a few moments the other girl stood, giving a distinctly cold impression. 'Wait, wait... Are you suggesting we take a little kid out to fight..?' Pyotr stood, one hand resting almost protectively on YukiHana's head. She spoke in a low whisper so that only Tsukiya could hear. 'We've both seen people die because they don't know how to fight. I doubt she's even ten, letting her go out there is insane. I... Well. I guess we ought to think about duty of care and how to look after her...' It was slowly dawning on Pyotr that by accepting the party invite, they had effectively adopted a small child. For better or worse, YukiHana was now dependant on them.

[Little_ninja]

Umichi

"You are quite right Fujiwara. If there was nothing changed then we would of wasted time. However, what if the second floor boss was different? And because we got lax on the precautions we make a mistake which costs us? Precaution is necessary is all I suggest. Suki, you bring up a point, but we cannot say for sure. Beta games have a variety of possible changes made to a game, and sometimes almost none." Umichi spoke from the experience he had from playing many games, in beta and full release. "Anyway, all I am saying is we should be weary of the boss fight. The details we can go into during the meeting later." He finished what he wanted to say. "Timi should of came. This egg benedict tastes like pancakes." Umichi started to shift the topic to food for a little bit.

YukiHana

Looking up at Pyotyr and tilting her head, YukiHana asked, "No good?". She then started to think for a moment, before hearing Pyotyr call her a midge. "My name is not midget!!! My name is Yukiza....." Pausing for a moment, she remembered she was not supposed to give her real name out in the game. "YukiHana. YU-KI-HA-NA!" She emphasised her name to Pyotyr. Falling back into thought, she came up with another name. "Is Pyon-Pyon-san okay?" YukiHana looked up with a smile at Pyotyr. Tsuki-nee-san then suggested to go to the field, but Pyotyr wanted to stop her. With a hand on top of her head, YukiHana was being pushed down a little. Looking up she told them that she could fight too. "I can fight! I already took down some monsters, and leveled up a few times! But there's one monster I don't want to fight ..." YukiHana started to look down, almost looking scared. "Those plants with fruit on their head, they are dangerous! No fighting plants please." YukiHana suggested.

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Yui

It was a very akward arua around the two of them with lots of thinking and long pauses between the talking. But Timi was there when it became a bit quiet, she wouldn't have known on how to keep the talking up a little if they were alone Thats really nice of you Timi but you don't need to wait for me to go eat something. I'm used to skipping breakfast or lunch. Her voice sounded a bit forced to be overly happy but she tried to do her best not to act strange against the young girl We can eat a big breakfast meal together if we get back okay she gave a kind smile to the girl and turned to Paka again who seemed to have found the right words to use, she couldnt keep her somewhat fake happy voice up and her talking went a little bit off with some squealing of losing her voice in between I can go with you if I don't hold you back to much! you can't go alone into the wild it will get you killed. Pkers have been getting worse what if they get you. What would Suki think. She was almost yelling at Paka but not in any harmfull way. She all quickly averted her eyes to a nearby tree and kept quiet.

[Lennon79]

A violent cringe shot through Pyotr's body as YukiHana came up with a revised nickname. 'P-please, spare me... Tell you what, call me Aki. That's my real name; Akiko.' For some reason real names had become taboo in SAO culture, for the lack of a better term. Pyotr was like to call it a form of escapism; if no-one talked about their real-life selves then maybe they would magically forget about their situation or some such bollocks... Personally she preferred to use her real name, at least with people she knew. And she suspected that she would get to know this kid very well in the coming months. 'So we've decided, yes? I'm Aki and you're midget. Or Yuki. Yeah, let's go with Yuki.' Her amusement at the girl's reaction didn't last into YukiHana's offer to fight. It was an awkward situation; she obviously wasn't family so didn't have any real authority over the child, but nevertheless Pyotr felt a distinct responsibility for her safety. If it were up to her, she'd lock the kid up in the Town of Beginnings in one of the player-run orphanages. Sadly, it wasn't her choice. 'So... you really think you can fight then? Without getting scared? Tell you what, I know a good place nearby where we can test things out.' Tsukiya may have wanted to go grind for levels, but Pyotr was more concerned with item drops when hunting. Just outside of the town there was a little used copse of trees, rich in a certain kind of boar. They were more critters than mobs, well below the average strength of the area; they would make for good practice dummies to gauge YukiHana's fighting ability while also dropping useful meat and leather. Two pigs with one stone.

[MarshiestMallow]

Time and Paka

Paka gave a heavy sigh, and looked away. "While I appreciate the offer, Yui, I can't take it. Timi will just follow you, and then Suki will follow Timi, Umichi will follow Suki and then Ayama and Fujiwara will follow as well, and we will be right back to the beginning." And just way, Paka thought, did Yui seem to take his leaving harder then Suki? "I'll be fine. I find another group. I'll even email you every day to tell you I'm still alive. Please, Yui. It's just something i have to do. Maybe, in a while, I can return. But right now..." He gave another sigh, wondering why this was so hard. "You're a tough girl, Yui. You'll be fine. The group will be fine. I'll be fine. Trust me." He went over to Yui, and managed a small smile. "besides, you know if you need help, i'll be there. I was there when you panically asked for help when you were stuck in the tree, surrounded by wolves. I won't leave you guys hanging" Timi hadn't had much to do with Paka, but obviously, Yui cared for Paka, feared for his safety, and Timi wondered why. She stayed silent, figuring that was for the best right then, as she tried to figure out what was going on.

Suki

suki had a hard time trying to figure out what her food tasted like. Almost...sweet. Banana-ry. Like...chocolate ice cream and Banana pieces. Strange. Yet it gave her pleasure. It was like desert for breakfast. She smiled, enjoying it, listening to the others. Suki had only ever played one Beta test, and it was just something basic, with most of the features being fine tuned and changed in some small way. Perhaps this game would be different. Certainly, it was. It was still worrisome to think that they could die in here. That because of the way the technology was made, they could...just stop existing when they died in the game. She imagined that was a glitch that scientists and developers would work on fixing, if they continued to create other games aimed at the Link technology. She pushed those thoughts aside. It wouldn't do her any good, wouldn't do them any good. If she could just know how her family was doing, she would be more at ease. "I think we should all be careful though. We don't want to get complacent, relying on the guide book. Its good to be wary, especially around the boss" She looked down at her food as Umichi said about his tasting like pancakes "This tastes like ice cream and bananas. I'm sure if Timi is hungry later, we can get her something. I think she was worried about Yui. She was awful quite earlier"

[FujiwaraPhoenix]

Fujiwara shrugged his shoulders at the couples' commentary as he finished off his meal. The points they brought up were solid enough and their reasoning sound, but being overly cautious could definitely hold them back in the future. The future... "I guess I see your point there. If we're able to poke it down and scout it's AI we could probably work the differences out. That method's probablh more time consuming, though, but if we're valuing life more then this is prbably a necessity." he stated, pointing his spoon at Umichi. Ayame smiled and joined in on the sidetracked conversation about food, eager to slip away from the strategizing arguments that those two always seemed to be in. Tentatively taking a bit of rice, she was surprised to find that it was slightly salty. It didn't mesh well with the briny fish, but it definitely gave her some ideas for cooking. "It's a bit salty for my tastes..." Ayame trailed off as she continued to eat.

[Little_ninja]

Umichi

"Well, it's not like we can actually do much. All we can do is wait and see and deal with it as it happens." Umichi finished off his eggs benedict. "And of course we will be valuing lives. This isn't like other games where you get a retry." He decided to stop with the direction he was heading. Mentioning the possibility of death and the real world, would more likely be a burden.

YukiHana

"I can fight! Of course I can! Aki-nee-san" YukiHana replied. "Just no plants please ... too many plants..." She looked down, with drained look on her face when she mentioned the plants. It was only for a moment though. Looking back up she asked them both, "Aki-nee-san, where is it that we are going? Tsuki-nee-san, you are coming along right?"