Koga

More words flashed between the two players as Ghost continued to make unfamiliar gestures with her hands. Koga had to admit, it was a little strange. It was like reading the subtitles on screen, except this was real. Well 'real' in terms of the game. "Well, 'realistic' is a loose term around here," Koga said with a chuckle as he rubbed the back of his neck. "The combat system kinda...takes over once you queue up a Sword Art," Koga explained. "Its a little strange, and it takes some getting used to, but that's about as much input as you get during that part." A shrug. Unfortunately, SAO di

k o g a the elder wolf Floor 21, The Grand Necropolis, ??:??pm The clatter of steel echoed off the the grey-brown stones of the Necropolis. Tonight, the city of the dead was quite alive. Sweat dripped off of Koga's brow as he quickly glanced up at his HUD, confirming his health was still in the green and ticking up before returning his gaze to the three undead wraiths before him, smoke coming off their ghostly bodies and seeping out between the seams of their armor. "Okami, go." A quiet command, and the Wolf lunged forward, fangs bare

The loud reverberating clatter of the backboard smacking the wall seemed to hang in the air, long after the noise had faded into silence. Kasumi practically shook at the same frequency, as if she were ready to spring away to some hidden place of safety. Small, meek words carried on that same broken wavelength, no single world quite complete by the time they made it out of the girl's mouth. "You're glad?" Koga questioned, the bemused, teasing tone quickly returning to his voice as he took a sidelong glance at the girl. "Glad I'm a dork like you? Or glad I think you're cute?" Was that most

The bemused smile never left his lips as Kasumi peeked out from her hiding place and uttered some barely understood words, all while refusing to look at the man. It was a scene right out of one of those comedic slice-of-life- romances that he'd used to watch. Watering eyes and all. "Yes, yes I do think you're a dork." Koga confirmed with a nod. "But I think you're a pretty cute dork." That one wasn't meant to be teasing. Well, not entirely at least. He'd have to be a liar to say that the girl wasn't cute, and that was on a normal day, and that was without the blushing and embarrassment.

Koga looked around the room, a little overwhelmed with how many people had shown up. He had figured that not the whole of Aincrad would show up to some mysterious stranger's invitation, and in that he'd been correct, but he was still not used to so many people in his space. He was both impressed with himself, and feeling as if he had made a mistake. Another person, walked into his home as he observed all the attendees, and she seemed about as lost as he felt at the moment. Approaching her, he noticed the bags she carried, and was thankful that he now at least had something to say instead

The distinctive sound of a pillow striking something made Koga slowly open his eyes and look in the direction of the noise, which, of course was Kasumi. The girl had buried her face in her pillow, and again, Koga had to try to suppress his amusement. This time, he was a bit more successful. Was she embarrassed? It was kind of cute. An evil, mischievous part of Koga wanted to see if he could tease her ever so gently. Shifting his seat to place himself on the end of the girl's bed he leaned in close to her before gently tugging at the pillow which Kasumi was hiding herself behind. "Hey, Kas

Koga did his best to contain the amusement he was feeling listen to Kasumi ramble, or rather spitefire words into unintelligible strings, and Koga was beginning to wonder how much of that was feverish drivel. Ultimately, he couldn't contain himself and the man burst out a laugh, leaning forward, his composure gone. He turned to look at Kasumi, a smile across his lips. "Hey hey, relax. We're not getting out of here anytime soon at the rate the Frontlines moving. We got time to figure it out." Koga just watched Kasumi for a moment, eyes wandering across her flushed face, before he sat back

Koga slowly nibbled around his marshmallow as the veterans each spoke, the well-toasted skin peeling off to reveal the nearly gelatinous, gooey insides. After a point, it was much too sweet for the man, and although he made the effort to actually finish the snack, the look of pleasure had long passed by the time he was done. For some reason, Koga wasn't quite surprised that Freyd was the one to ask the question that Koga found most disconcerting. Why was he putting his neck on the line? What's kept him going? He was even more surprised to find that he was the first to respond. "Easy," he

The crystal above? NIGHT's half finished sentences and vague allusions, it seemed like they were more for herself than for him. And even if they were meant to hold some meaning to her friend, he wasn't able to make heads or tails of any of it. "I won't be offended if you take off," Koga said, not that the woman needed his assent to begin with, party etiquette aside. The man watched her start to walk off back towards the house, hands in his pockets and not any closer to understanding what was going on in NIGHT's head. He sighed when she turned back to look at him. "I take it that even if I

Koga's lips curved gently upwards, suppressing the chuckle that came in response to Kasumi's small jests. A lightness of words that didn't quite fit in with the heft of the topic. "Well, add 'dead garden' to the 'makes Kasumi human' column," the man replied, a joke of his own. Even if Koga wasn't complete sure that they were anywhere near ideal within SAO, he did know that he at least preferred the him that was here. If only because he felt there was a purpose to his existence. On the outside though? It hardly seemed that anything was waiting for him. Well...there could be one thing

A smirk played across Koga's lips as the player and her partner began to bicker, the man quite satisfied with the results of his actions. "I know what a sous-chef is," he continued to tease, "that's why I was asking what's below it." If the man woke up the next morning with a sword sticking out of his stomach, he wouldn't be surprised. It was a price he was willing to pay for the utter joy he was experiencing right now. "I'd love a visit or two every one in a while," he replied to the bubbly blonde. "It'd be better company than Yukiro has been lately. Which is nonexistent." That boy was p

Koga was a little taken aback at the force with which NIGHT spoke. "Uh, yeah, I know her?" the man replied, probably more confused now than concerned. "Technically, I'm on a username basis with her...but same thing, sure. Introductions and all." Koga took NIGHT by the elbow and guided her away from the backdoor, and towards the Slime Farm, where a copse of trees mercifully shrouded them in enough darkness that it would make them difficult to make out from the house. "NIGHT. Breathe," he reminded his friend, allowing her a moment before answering. "I met her around this time last year, helped h

Koga stared daggers at NIGHT before (grumpily) snatching up the bottle of apple juice, closing it, and, rather aggressively, chucking it into the fridge to be made into not lukewarm apple juice. He was still aggressively stuffing his face with his food (well, mostly rice at this point) when the two woman responded to him in unison. It was actually a little eerie, enough so that Koga had to pause and stare at them, eyes flicking back and forth between them for a moment before returning to his food. "You guys coulda fooled me," Koga said to them both, figuring that was an appropriate respon

Koga wanted to facepalm as Blueberry tried to explain that she only ever made blueberry flavored confections. Putting aside the fact that she was blatantly wrong about blueberry being the better pie flavor, being referred to as only 'Frying Pan Boi' was getting tiring. "You know that's not my name, right..." Koga asked. It was rhetorical. Koga was 99.999% sure that Blue thought his name was actually Frying Pan Boi. Then a different, but also equally familiar voice, greeted him. This time actually using his name as opposed to a really bad (and slightly insulting) nickname. "Oh, hey Astrali

'So far, so good,' Koga thought as more guests slowly made their way into his home, each quickly finding someone to mingle with. NIGHT, graciously, had already taken the most nervous looking of the bunch under her wing. Hmm, maybe NIGHT had a big sister or motherly instinct to her after all. "Oh, hey its frying pan boy. Good to see you!" ...frying pan boy? FRYING PAN BOY!? Well, at least she actually recognized him this time... Koga wheeled around to face the usual suspect. "Blue!" he almost shouted at the woman, but not before witnessing a blue slime devour the entire

Koga began pouring out some of the apple juice into cups, one for each other them, and a fourth for those departed. However, NIGHT's singular question gave the man pause, enough so that he stopped pouring the look up at her, brow cocked and mouth drawn in a thin line of disappointment. "...We can summon weapons out of thin air and fight monsters the size of buildings on the daily, and you're questioning why I'm not putting non-perishable, virtual juice, into a virtual refrigerator, that doesn't actually refrigerate anything?" Such are the paradoxes of video games. The man finished pouring

Koga pingponged the plausibility of DAY existing in his home, at this moment, without NIGHT. To be fair, he didn't actually know all that much about the construct or the construct's construction. But, he also could say with certainty he hadn't ever seen DAY without NIGHT. So, he came to an inevitable conclusion. "Alright, fair, I guess this a real enough NIGHT for me." Watching as the two divided their tasks again, much in the same manner as they had the Christmas before, Koga was more than content allowing them to take over, even as NIGHT began to reminisce about their old friends. 'A ba

Koga almost scoffed as Alkor mentioned 'love', jaded as Koga was. "Dude, trust me, love isn't all its chalked up to be," Koga said sourly, before snatching up the cup of 'alcohol' from before Alkor and down it all in one go himself. Quickly he waved down a server to bring them two more. "Ugh, why can't we get drunk in here..." Koga muttered in despair before turning his attention back to Alkor. "Look, Alkor," the swordsman continued, passionately, given the context of the conversation, "even if love sucks, even if all your goals turn out to be dogshit," Koga set the cup down in a gentler manne

Claiming PL 10 Gleaming Scale and Demonic Shard

Koga couldn't help but chuckle as Alkor spoke. And the man had always thought that he had been the cynical one, not the other way around. Yes, their adversary was the equivalent to a god, at least within this realm, but they had made progress. Slow, steady, and while Cardinal was cruel, it was not unfair. It was designed to be beaten, and one day it would be. But only if they persevered. But that wasn't what really was bothering Alkor. No, the thing that haunted him was the same exact demon that had haunted Koga when they had first met. That still haunted him. "Do you remember our convers

Item Name: Confiance Profession: Blacksmith Rank: 7 Roll ID: 202887 Roll Result: 12 Item Type: One-Handed Straight Sword Tier: 1 Quality: Perfect Enhancements: Damage III Description: A simple straight sword. Unadorned, save the tight leather-wrapped handle, this sword seems unremarkable. Yet, it shines and gleams without worry, its edge still sharp, despite its simplicity. 'The best have no need for grand presentation.' Post Link: Item Name: Vulnerabilite Profession: Blacksmith Rank: 7 Roll ID: 202890 / 202894 Roll Result: 11 / 10 Item Type: Light Armor Tier

202886 8 (nat7 +1), +6 exp +1 Uncommon T1 1HSS, -1 Mat 202887 12 (nat11 +1), +11 exp +1 Perfect T1 1HSS, -1 Mat 202888 4 (nat3 +1), LD 2, +5 exp -1 Mat 202889 4 (nat3 +1), LD 7, +5 exp -1 Mat 202890 11 (nat10 +1), +8 exp +1 Rare T1 Light Armor, -1 Mat 202891 3 (nat2 +1), LD 3, +5 exp -1 Mat 202892 3 (nat2 +1), LD 14, +5 exp 202893 5 (nat4 +1), LD

The mention of their old friend actually made Koga pause for a moment as he closed the gate to his property behind him. He hadn't heard that name in...well, long enough that he couldn't rightly remember the last time he'd heard it. "I can't say I ever got the pleasure," Koga replied as the walked up to his front door. "I'm sure you and the other ladies got to on more than one occasion though, right? Lonzo was always quite the flirt," the man said with a light-hearted chuckle. Koga closed the door behind them as NIGHT continued on with her ramblings, having completely ignored Koga's questi

Koga wasn't sure at this point if he should be afraid for his life, or for Yuki's although he figured both was probably a good assumption. So as the trio walked, Okami happily being carried by the bubbly blonde, Koga felt his knees quiver with each step. Even as DAY explained why their cooking was superior, Koga scowled. "I thought you were supposed to be on my side here, DAY," he said, "I'm a decent cook, but I can't make some of that stuff on my own, I don't see any problem with buying it!" Besides was that any different than real life? You went to the store, bought components and then put t

A long silence. That was all that followed for a while as Alkor stared at nothing, and Koga at him. The man had a thought to open his mouth again and check that all was alright, but he knew better than that. Alkor tended to open up on his own, and in his own time. And the man did, after a few moment. "Nothing's ever easy," Koga said as he swiped open his inventory and summoned out a piece of musubi to eat. "You and I both know that. Least of all to stay motivated, clear cut goal or not." Koga took a bite of his snack, swallowed, before speaking again. "Something is always being thrown at