Astralin

"Straggler? There were more of them?" Astralin asked. "Of course!" The girl claimed. "Why, there was a small swarm of them scattered around the path to the summit! I was tasked with taking them all down, as I said before, and uh, yeah, good work on dealing with that straggler, I guess." She added, one hand on her hip, the other holding her weapon, and she seemed to look Astralin up and down. "I see." Astralin responded. "Well, thanks for clearing the path! ...wait, I didn't exactly catch your name. I'm Astralin, nice to meet you!" She added with a warm smile. The girl, at first, didn't

The day had come. It was time for the semifinals and the finals to occur. Astralin had managed to get this far, and it looked like there were only two fights she had to win if she were to win this. Her opponent for the semifinals was Morningstar. She didn't know him all that well, nor did she know if he'd be the sort to pick her out if he ended up winning the tournament instead. So, Astralin brought her mind into focus, she would be going along with the plan she'd been attempting thus far. The only question was who to ask if she did end up winning this thing. As far as she knew, she was also t

Something was definitely off. Surely this woman was friend material, right? If she was well acquainted with these people, but was unnerved by Astralin's presence...there had to be a reason, right? Astralin tilted her head curiously as she looked towards her. Before Astralin could try to group up everybody with a smile and reassure everyone that they'd all have a great time, everyone started going their separate ways. Jomei and Lessa left with each other, and Jevi escaped the moment she got a chance. Nari would then ask if Astralin or NIGHT had come with anybody, or were hoping to find s

Lessa would compliment Astralin in response to the one she gave her, saying that purple really suited Astralin. "Aw, thank you! I feel so lucky to have found a dress like this one!" Astralin added as she smiled excitedly. It was a really pretty purple, decorated with stellar design, and the lower end of the dress giving the impression of a sparkling night sky, to boot! The Artisan stiffened up when Astralin looked towards her, and seemed to have trouble looking back at Astralin, averting her gaze. What was it about Astralin that caused her presence to unnerve this woman? Oddl

Astralin looked around, seeing a few people around, a good number of whom she recognized, mainly from the tournament. There was that girl from the previous system-ran Valentines' Day event, getting dragged over to a forming conversation by Nari. There was also, of course, that Artisan, wearing a suit(was it simply this player's preference? There had to be more than meets the eye...). That Artisan, she seemed to be at about every event that Astralin's gone to. What kind of coincidence was that? Well, maybe this time she actually might be able to get acquainted with this player! To start

It was good to know that Yona's hunch happened to be right, that there would be another formal event during the Valentine's Day season. The shopping trip really came in handy! Astralin looked at herself in the mirror after equipping the dress she got. It was such a lovely dress, and now there was a social event just waiting for her! She really needed this chance to meet more people, so she was getting excited as soon as she'd gotten the message. She took a moment to make sure she was ready, before heading for the settlement's local teleport gate to head to the twenty sixth floor. --------

Yona's response to Astralin's question was undeniably sus. The nervous chuckling gave away that something was up and on the brunette girl's mind. The question, however, was what. "There's enough of us for one such game right here, I don't see a reason to wonder about group size, we could easily start once we get to the room we're staying in." Astralin reassured. "However, your laughter kinda felt...forced. Is something wrong?" She asked. The other blonde in the onsen remarked that people were complicated. "Oh yeah, you're definitely right about that one, myself included." Astralin

Astralin took this chance while she could, and prepared another sword art. "Ikiarra!" She called out as she activated the sword art, finishing off the Giant Moth. Well, that was easier than expected. Now it was time to continue on- wait, who was that over there in the distance? Astralin walked a bit closer to see this person, finding a young woman, who was revealed by her green cursor to be a player. The girl looked confused to see Astralin at first, so maybe a kind greeting might ease her. "Hi," Astralin began. "I'm just heading up the mountain, nothing to worry

There wasn't that much of an issue reaching the mountain from then on, but then came the climb itself. This was something Astralin did not miss. Not even Vigilon's shop was difficult to reach, just a half-hour walk. This, however, was a much different climb. At least Vigilon was willing to help with all the hard parts back then...now Astralin had to make the climb herself. Some time later, however, she found herself at what seemed like a dead end...no, this was no dead end, something was blocking the way, and it wasn't made of stone. Astralin swatted at the false stone, and wi

Seeing that she was getting nowhere with this, Astralin closed the book and locked it again before putting both book and key in her inventory. It was past time to get going. It took a fair while to traverse the rocky floor, and most of the floor's local monsters were easy to avoid the aggro range of, but this was a game, so of course there would be a few moments... Such as the moment when there were some ruins near the road, and goblins showed up when Astralin was close to passing by. "Hold! This toll road. You pay, you pass. No pay, no pass. Toll Five Hundred." One of the goblins spok

Once this was over, Astralin might need to get a move on and become an Alchemist. Maybe she could look for someone who could help her with that other strange book, too. Speaking of which... Astralin placed the Skillbook back into her inventory and pulled out the odd book. That VII on it, it clearly seemed to suggest there were more. She wondered if she'd ever find the others, and whatever they were tied to...but if only she could get past the glaringly obvious problem... She pulled out the key she found with the book, and used it to unlock the book. Upon opening it up, just like last t

Her next destination had basically been decided for her, so it was time to set out again. It was up that tall, tall mountain for her, though she knew not the reason, aside from potential further training...even though Astralin herself had no clue why she'd need more. She might live within a warrior's world, but she herself is no warrior. Astralin pulled her Skillbook out of her inventory, and looked through both the fire and ice sections she'd been writing. She could use more variety to some of all the sections she'd been putting down for sword arts, as seemed to have one set of swo

Astralin had not been to Floor Two in a long time. Knowing this, she considered returning to see if there was anything worth looking into. Now that she had returned to the mountainous floor, however, it would seem that something had been waiting for her. She hadn't been back in Urbus for longer than five minutes when an NPC approached her. "I've been looking for you, got something I'm supposed to deliver, your hands only." Astralin was a bit confused at first, who on this floor would want to contact her? Is it a quest prompt, or something else? "Let's see here..." Astralin wai

It wasn't long before Snow suddenly gestured for Astralin and Astreya to head over to the Onsen. With most of the work finished, it kind of made sense that the rest could be taken care of easily by one person. "Guess we'll see you again soon, then!" Astralin called out to her. Then came the trip to the onsen itself. Astreya seemed to ask if that was indeed what they were gonna do. "Why not? Let's do it!" Came Astralin's response. Then Astreya asked a question that Astralin didn't expect...like, at all. Her face reddened slightly at the latter alternative. "I-I....Um....I-I-I dunno about t

Astralin had begun to hear of Krysta's tailoring skills, and that her shop was set up over in Taft. At this rate, Taft was slowly becoming a secondary trading hub of Aincrad, which was nice to know. Any shops within main settlements were always easy to reach, others often needed some time before Cardinal set up enough of a safe path for players to travel, from what Astralin could guess. It wasn't like she'd ever needed to go to Vigilon's blacksmith shop or anything... Excitedly wondering what Krysta's shop would have, Astralin made her way over to the area of Taft where the shop was state

The woman accepted the offer for help, and Astralin would gather up a sizable pile of dishes. Practicality would suggest that she take one pile in each hand, but she didn't have the actual strength to do that, despite being able to carry and pull against significantly more weight in combat(yeah, Astralin hasn't figured out why that is either). The load she carried might not have been much in comparison to the other two, but the fact that she could help at all in this regard was nice. The woman soon introduced herself as Snow. Astreya would then introduce herself in response. "I'm Astrali

A sleepover? That sounded like it could be fun! Morningstar ended the conversation in...an unexpected manner. "Wha-? Wai-? H-how-?" Astralin stuttered as her eyes widened. "YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT THIS WAS A DAAAATE????" Came the inevitable reaction. Maybe at this point, she should have realized it was a joke. How embarrassing... Well, too late for that now. @Morningstar Astreya would reveal that she intended to wander, and Astralin could come with if she was interested. "Sure, I don't mind." She responded with a smile. As the two walked around the property,

Well, everything had suddenly gone downhill from here. First, the card dealer had a bit of a reaction to Astralin's reaction, followed by his explanation of what came to his mind with the term. "Ohhhhh, ok, sorry..." But before Astralin could try to mend the conversation, the dealer abruptly dropped the subject and moved on, leaving Astralin sitting there, disgruntled over this little misunderstanding having shut down potential conversation. Astralin began to think about what she should do or say next, then came another player....with a lil' kittyyyyyy! Astralin's eyes widened as bot

Astreya's expression seemed to show some sympathy to Astralin in response to her speaking about her past. She also laughed a bit when Astralin revealed that she and Yona came with tunnel vision that resulted in a bit of a...surprising realization upon reaching the island...yeah, Astralin kinda deserved to hear this laugh for being so reckless. Astreya would explain that she liked meeting new people, then make a remark about commitment, before she gave her answer as to who she would have chosen if she was to have won, and it sounded like she would have chosen Alkor as to try getting to kno

Morningstar answered the question that Astralin had asked Astreya, saying that he used to be an actor, that it was a long time ago. He also noted that about fifty percent of theories involving what actors were really like were probably true. "Like how reputation tends to carry weight, or that an actor's life is never all roses?" Astralin guessed. Astreya added that everyone used to be someone, or something. Astralin, however, couldn't really relate. Her smile began to fade. "Well, I guess you could say that kind of depends... Me, I was just a girl who couldn't really find her place. Simpl

Astreya would tease at Morningstar, asking him if he was trying to get a jump at the dating game. Morningstar would tease back at her, asking if she was interested, before admitting that he just liked sunsets. "Sunsets...to me they've got a warm feel to it, there could be a whole variety of moods it could portray...It could just be the colors, though, I'm really not sure." Astralin commented. "...Or maybe I'm just biased. Sunsets are pretty, but the stars..." She continued. "There's just something wondrous about the sight, I can't quite place it or put it into words, actually..." Astreya

Morningstar chuckled at Astralin's guesses as to the meaning behind his username, and he mentioned that his fight had been interesting. Baldur would announce the winners of the round... Oh....Astreya had lost...to the one currently beside Astralin....and in the semifinals, Astralin was now...paired up against this player...this might become a problem if not handled properly. In the time that she knew Astreya, Astralin had seen the budding tank as a dependable ally. For her to fall...would be a sign that she was up against a tough opponent. Sure, Astralin had defeated two well-tr

"Oh, so you've heard of me? That's a first." Astralin remarked, not knowing that this player was somehow able to eavesdrop on her pre-battle conversation with Morgenstern. "Morning Star....Oh wait, you mean, as in the spiky mace thing, don't you..." She remarked, a drop of sweat from embarrassment forming as she remembered what the combined word was, and that it was't himself choosing his username to be a star that was still visible at dawn...though it would have been nice. Morningstar continued, asking how Astralin's fight went. "Ah, it went well, actually! Sure, my opponent kind of gave

As Astralin landed the strike, it all came back to her at once. She was dueling, not fighting for her life. There were many players around her, so they would have likely intervened if something had gone wrong... She took some deep breaths as she slowly backed up and returned to a normal position. She then heard her opponent speak. "You know you bested both Calrex and I, students of this very same school. If you don't win, I'll be a little upset." Astralin's eyes widened. "Ah! R-really?"She reacted. This place...the two who she'd faced were students of Baldur? Well, then...there was

Despite her current lead in her fight, things weren't looking too well around her. First, she looked over to her opponent...and it was here of all times, that she would notice the cursor's color. Her eyes widened at the realization of what kind of player she might be dealing with. "A killer?" She thought. She backed up suddenly, staring at the cursor for a few seconds. She then made eye contact with her opponent and- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The eyes. Astralin...wasn't the best with eye contact. In friendly situations, she could keep it for longer...much longer, in fac