[SP:F2: Complete] Grandmaster Katana: Drinks and Memories

[Opal 0]

It had been a day to say in the least...a day she had rather not stayed up for, but none the less woken up for. Amber eyes stared into the desolate nothingness of her memories, a hand on her cheek while the other nursed a burning citrus flavored cigarette. Those honey eyes shaved off off colors of her mortal being as she reminisced over the battles she had been in since her time in this world. Flicking ashes off her orange stick, Opal took a long drag from the calming product and blew out a gentle plume of orange from her mouth. Tonight she would drink alone...
 

"Woo...Opal, your eyes tell everything of a person. You seem down. Can I get you anything?"

"A hard drink and keep them coming..."

"I see. Well, who am I to turn down one of the most beautiful women in Aincrad. I got something special for you...Be right back." 

The man disappeared in the back, Opal watched for aonly a moment before he slunk away, returning her gaze into the nothingness ahead of her. 

Edited January 14, 2016 by Opal

[Opal 0]

The player who had been helping out at the bar handed her an interesting looking beverage. It was a two tone color drink with a lemon wedge drained over the side. The woman perked up a bit and looked at it with a quizzical gaze before her amber eyes reverted back to the maker of this fine selection. 

"Yeah, I know what your thinking. It looks fruity, it smells fruity, but baby...it's got some kick. Go on, give it a taste." 

Playing along with the scheme, Opal adjusted herself in the bar stool and placed her ciga down in a makeshift ashtray created by the very founder of the bar. She was the only one who smoked and they had accommodated one of their favorite customers for her uniqueness. Opal blew a stream of smoke from the side of her mouth before gauging the contents of the beverage before her. 

"Looks like a monster of a drink, that's for sure. Better not be a Bitch Drink, I'll come back there and give you a noogie." Opal had stated, a thin dark brow raised upwards as she held the cold mug in her hand.

 

 

[Opal 0]

Opal had lifted the mug to her ruby red lips and proceeded to slowly taste the contents as the chilled drink entered her mouth. A cold splash of strawberry and robust undertone of dark stout beer mixed pleasantly against her palett. She nodded in approval and lifted her mug to the creator, "Not bad. Thanks for the drink." She had said, and returned a far off gaze once more. The bartender nodded, "So, what have you been up to? You seem like the world has just stopped or something."

"I'm celebrating," she said taking another swig of the drink and returning for her favored cigarette, the woman had taken a long drag and inhaled deeply before blowing out another haze of orange around her. The man took in the delicate scent of citrus around him as it wafted over him, "Celebrating? Shouldn't you be a bit more...I dunno...happy?" he laughed cleaning a nearby mug. 

"I'm celebrating the death of my friendships. Every time I seem to have found someone I could relate to, they just seem to...drop out of my radar for whatever reason. You know I joined the Knights of the Blood thinking I could change this world for the better for not just me, but everyone. But I notice those who had followed in that path...took the easy way out. Is it so hard for a person to stay on one path without having to decide which one to take when they see a fork in the road?" 

"Hrm...I don't know very much about this stuff. You are the adventurer, Opal. I'm just a guy serving drinks."

 

[Opal 0]

"And a better one of serving drinks, than a player who calls herself an Adventurer." She said with a modest tone as she pointed at him while she nursed the cigarette between her fingers.

"I just don't understand how passions can die so quickly in people. They fill you up with their vibrant energy, only to have a terrible crash a few moments later. They lead you to this perfect world, with new visions of what things can be like. They state they want to make everything better, but in the end...they are just horrible hypocrites bouncing around for whatever the flavor of the month is. I can't blame them..." 

Opal took a swig of her drink, her tongue unfurled from her mouth and licked over her upper lip removing the fruity taste from her thick lip. She continued to gaze into the nothingness of her drink and shrugged her shoulders, "I honestly don't know what to do with myself." 

"Well, obviously, these players didn't have as high as a passion as you do. Flocking to whatever...for whatever purpose. People thrive on being together, they just wanna be accepted by someone or something. You are a strong women though, every time you come in here...you are nothing but confident. The way you carry yourself, the way you talk with others. You have the makings of a great person, if people can't see that...well, hell...They are blind fools."

[Opal 0]

"Careful there, sounds like you're flirting..." Opal said taking another long drag of her cigarette, expelling the smoke from her ruby red lips as she drank from the colored beverage in front of her. But the Bartender had a point, she did come a long way since the beginning. 

"You know..." Opal started her story from the beginning and the man seemed genuinely interested in hearing it from her, there was always a mystery that surrounded the woman before she became Opal of the Knights of the Blood, and she kept her past a secret to most people that had confronted her. Her story of Beginnings was not one he had expected to hear from her and he shook his head and helped prepare another drink for her. 

[Opal 0]

When Opal had first come to Aincrad, she was a smart ass, sassy woman without much care of the world. She had the body of a Goddess as far as she was concerned and her honey was the best the Gods could create in her form. This drove the men to her like sheep, but she had used them willingly, slept around and stayed safe with higher leveled players until she was ready to move on her own. The woman was seducing, and she was unabashed by the skin she was given and the ample assets that was naturally given to her by her blessed parents. This had given Opal the advantage she needed to enjoy this world with little effort, however she was without the need to explore the world as well. She would often accompany higher leveled players to go dungeon raids and to find epic and mysterious loot. She enjoyed the small thrill that she got from getting a nice fat reward, but she never gained any experience, always staying in the back rows of the formation while the others fought. 

[Opal 0]

While they had slaughtered their game, Opal would take to the front and collect the spoils of battle. A simple bat of her eye lashes, a touch here, a kiss there was all it took to get what she wanted and that is how Opal had started her career off in Aincrad. It didn't take long for those plans to come undone, one day she had met a group of players who were gonna tackle a low level dungeon. Thinking of it as an easy score, Opal had decided to join up with them. For some weeks she grew to know these people quite well, they were in fact even thinking about starting a guild together to cement their new unity. One day on a routine low level dungeon raid, the group had been material searching in a forest. Nothing too peculiar there, until a man with a hulking of a sword was searching the same area for materials as well. 

[Opal 0]

Opal had found the man to be very attractive at first glance, she had questioned him on his business in the area they were in. Simply stating he was searching for materials. That was a fair enough answer and at the time, Opal and her group had been standing in front of a cave leading to an intermediate dungeon which the man had thought about taking to search for some ore. Opal's friend, a scout of the party, had gone off in the woods to look for some good hunting mobs. Opal had got to know the man named Lindow...and it was after that things got dark for the woman. The man had left to go inside the cave, Opal giving the advice to not travel too far inside as it was very dangerous. Nodding to her and go about his business, he went inside without a second thought, carried himself as though he had nothing to fear. 

[Opal 0]

It was a dark hour for Opal, as she had explained to the Bartender who took quite the interest in her story of the past. Sitting in the bar stool and taking another drink, the woman took a long drag of her cigarette before blowing the divine cloud upwards from her ruby lips. She smiled and nodded, the man wanted to hear the rest of the story. So she continued where she had left off, despite the dark memories that concealed her past, it felt good to get it out of the open and talk about it. Thus she continued. 

Lindow had made his way to the cave and while the others were outside,  Opal decided to go look for Lindow as he was in the cave for way too long. She had feared something bad had happened to him. In her search, she had found him and something had found them as well. A monstrous beast of the shadows came rolling towards them. Opal was steeled by the ever empowering aura that Lindow had seemed to give off. They were safe...and she felt safe and secure with that man as they drove and killed the beast.

[Opal 0]

When they have successfully killed the beast, they were happy to come out of it alive. When they had exited the cave they were confronted by the other player's in Opal's group, one of the males was heaving and out of breath claiming something killed their friend, a monster of a beast Champion level mob for these parts. Opal had no idea and she almost had burst into tears, but there was no time for such things as the very same beast, similar to the one they had killed in the cave was now furious and angry with the entire lot. Opal and Lindow had fended off the massive wolf to the best of their abilities allowing the last remaining party members to flee the scene to safety. Taking charge, Lindow made valiant efforts to keep the massive dog at bay while Opal whittled at the creature with her stronger Rapier. It took a while to take down the Champion Level beast, but surely enough it had died and they were rewarded with the horrible idea someone had died because of it. Lindow had walked Opal back to town, she said very little and left but they kept in contact. 

[Opal 0]

Some days had gone by and while the two had begun adventuring together, it was then that Opal received a message that made her heart sink. It was from Lindow, he had been on a mission to help clear Snowfrost of a horrible murdering spree by an unknown group of orange player that took pleasure in killing children. With his efforts, he was able to track down the location of one, but he fell to their blade and was killed. Only just a budding member of the Crimson Blades, his thoughts and everlasting chivalry burst out like an aura to all those who ever met him. Opal was depressed for the next several weeks, the Blades holding a special funeral in the name of their fallen comrade at the Monument of Life. 

It was here after the speech and information given, that Opal would turn a new leaf in her life and follow in the footsteps of her friend, Lindow. It was then that she took up the blade The Ifrit, a massive two handed straight sword crafted to the hands of Lindow. However, it was much more than a heavy sword she was now carrying, she was also carrying the burden of following in his footsteps. 

[Opal 0]

Opal was not expecting to the Crimson Blades to be a very driven guild. She found herself working heavily on building her physique just so she could handle the legacy of Lindow. But every time she swung that blade, it felt like her entire body was about to give way. The accuracy of her attacks were an abysmal twenty percent, and she had heard whisperings from other people that the promiscuous woman was attempting to be a warrior. It did not help her overall self esteem with things and more than likely she did not enjoy being talked about in such a rude manner. 

Day in and day out it was pretty much the same until she was adventuring. The woman's love for loot had drawn her to a cave, as dangerous as it was, she decided to go for it anyways. She scaled and climbed treacherous paths, she fought off strange and unique monsters and she found many wonderful and mysterious agents of her alchemy. But the greatest treasure she found was the one waiting for her when she exited that cave. 

[Opal 0]

The forest she was in had become dark as storm clouds developed over head. The woman was having such a wonderful day until it started to rain, but she was pleased with her overall haul of the day. Stepping through the forest the woman was met face to face with an elderly man who wore a katana on his waist. The frail man said he had been keeping an eye on Opal and that she would be the perfect candidate to learn from his teachings. Opal didn't believe this old man, but it was only in the moment that she took her eyes off of him, he had appeared before her with almost God Like speed, she was however, looking up...from the flat of her back. The man had easily put her down, showing off the speed and strength of his person. The woman spoke with this old man and she was given a choice. That choice was to leave everything behind and to train in the mountains or to continue following in the footsteps of her friend Lindow. 

There was much thought to go on, and the constant scrutiny from others gave her a means to make a decision. She would take the offer of Master Myoga and learn the ways of Bushido and Ninjitsu. 

[Opal 0]

That week she had made some emotional goodbyes and gave The Ifrit to Mack and Boreson to do with as they pleased. It was hard letting go of not only the sword, but allowing the memory of the man she fell in love with pass. Sweeping tears and emotions aside, the woman with only a few items to call her own, traversed the treacherous mountain path that would lead to the Hidden Temple of the Mountains and begin her first steps into creating a new Opal. The snow and cold paths were difficult for her, several days had gone by before she reached the summit, but not without riddles and horrible terrain to navigate. When she reached the zenith, the woman drew in cold air for the last time, met with the warm and spring environment of a very old fashioned japanese dojo and temple. The land was bought by Master Myoga, a knowledgeable Samurai who had kept true to the nature of the Bushido as well as versatile in the field of Ninjutsu. 

The woman however, was drained of energy by the time she reached the summit, but her training had started right there and then. 

[Opal 0]

Weeks had passed for the woman, and she felt like she was achieving something she thought she could never achieve. Master Myoga was a relentless teacher, yet all the while the woman was pushed for her efforts into being made a respectable woman. She was given missions to hone her abilities as a Kunoichi, and she succeeded every step of the way meeting and going beyond the standards of Master Myoga. On a warm night however, her world was flipped upside down. 

Opal paused in her story and looked to the bartender and the several other players coming around to listen to the story. A soft red lipped smile formed as she was given another drink, "This next part of the story is very personal and I have yet to tell many people of what happened next. I ask that you all keep that in mind, but look at me no differently than you are now. I am a stronger woman now and I feel as though my dark secret can now be shared..." 

With that, Opal had taken her beverage and swallowed much of the contents getting ready to tell the next part of her adventure.  

[Opal 0]

Opal explained the next segment as much as she could without breaking into tears. The night had been soft and warm, the moon was at its peak that night and shined a mystical and vibrant ivory beam down on the world. Yet as the woman was preparing for her slumber with a light night smoke break, there was a noise and an explosion from the gate housing the Temple. Both Opal and Master Myoga took off in flight to investigate. There they were met with a menacing squad of ninja and a large man named Volcano. From what she had gathered that night, Volcano was once an apprentice to Master Myoga and that he had a secret unique skill or ability that his new master wanted. With that, the temple was torn apart as both Opal and Master Myoga fought off to defend their home. But when Opal confronted Volcano with her Izunami, a blade forged in the fires of one of her good friends; Jevi, was when she made her first terrible mistake. 

[Opal 0]

As she confronted Volcano for the first time, she was swept away with ease from the pure strength and mobility of the player despite his enormous size. The man with the flaming red hair paid little attention to the female as she was uprooted and thrown halfway across the temple. That was when Master Myoga had stepped in to confront the beast of a man. Taking precautionary measures; the two dueled. At first the battle looked completely one sided with Master Myoga holding the upper hand, but when Volcano used a rather dangerous item that's when things were getting out of hand. Master Myoga was not able to defend against the monster known as Volcano and was subdued rather quickly. The next several events that occurred, Opal had never thought would come to pass. With an ultimatum given to Master Myoga, Opal was knocked out and taken as a Prisoner. 

When the female had awoken, the room was dark and cold, she was for the most part still intact, save the shredding of her clothes, but her hands, neck, feet and body were chained to a wall. She felt helpless...

 

[Opal 0]

Darkness and the cold cell was her home for what seemed like an eternity. The man known as Sensui, the leader of this vagabond group of players had been searching high and low for this unique skill he thought Master Myoga had. He would use Opal as bait, but the woman did not have any information on the skill either, which gave Sensui a made with many vices little to go on. Feeding her to his sharks, the men ravaged the young woman. Paralysis, then she would be beat to an inch of her life, her supple body taken advantage over and over again until she was a broken woman with nothing to live for. When all light had fled from her eyes, she knew hope was nowhere to be seen. The woman took her beatings, took the lashings of the men, took their dirty hands to her body, she would no longer have the will to fight or break down. She was simply broken and had no use of the world around. However, as light dwindled away from her eyes, hope started to come back. Her chains had been broken and she was rescued by some friends as well as her Master. 

[Opal 0]

When they returned to the rumble of the Temple, the woman had undergone a dramatic change. A very closed woman was born, she shivered at the thought of her body ever exposed by light. Her personality taking something on as a hermit, her attitude towards people from being a social butterfly to a more stoic and emotionless character. The woman felt dead inside after what had happened to her, but she was still alive. That was something at the very least, and she knew...despite the darkness and the brooding of her darkness, she had to accept what had happened to her, and if she never wanted something like that to happen again...She had to fight and train harder than ever. Those next several weeks were long and harsh in training until she finally mastered the use of her Katana. With the aid of Master Myoga and the help of some friendly players she had met during her training, the woman felt like she was ready to take on the world once again. 

But tragedy had taken her for one more final spin. 

[Opal 0]

After several long weeks of the failing health of her old teacher, Master Myoga had slipped into an eternal slumber. He had died in real life, but his body remained due to his full health. The woman was distraught and was now left alone in the mountains and the temple. She was without guidance, yet at the same time she felt the presence of her master with her. Opal continued the story from there, explaining when she fled from the Mountains to restart her journey, she honed her skills as Kunoichi and became something of a legend in Urbus. However, the woman had so much unrelenting hate towards people. She needed a focus point for all that rage and anger...

"But that is a story for another time!" she declared, only to be met with moans and groans as she finished her story. The woman laughed, "Thank you all for listening to me tell my story. I feel a bit better now that I was able to get it off my chest. My blade, the Masamune doesn't feel as heavy as it used to be. I've grown even stronger now than I was before. I'll continue to keep my Oath and continue fighting for the freedom we all deserve."