[SP - F8] First of Many

[Takao 0]

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MON 21
9:22 AST

Floor 8
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"Y'know, I'm just as uncomfortable as you are." Takao grumbled. Jade eyes cast a fleeting sidelong glance to his scaled familiar, who croaked and growled in response. The eighth floor was especially warm and humid, more so than it usually was, which made for a rather miserable trek through the woods. Despite the canopy providing much appreciated shade from the blistering sun above, it only proved to trap in the muggy air he trudged through. "We'll only be here for a little bit, then we'll go cool off on the forth floor for a while, so stop yer' complainin'."

[Takao 0]

More chirping and growling came from the cat sized familiar perched upon his left shoulder. The vaguely anthropomorphic dragon leaned on Takao's head as the brunette walked along, jade eyes staying ever vigilant of their surroundings. Ambushed were something he didn't quite like, no matter how common they might have been. "We're not looking for anything like... specific. Maybe a few monsters to grind out. I just wanna make some sort of progress today, it feels like I've gotten lazy these past few weeks. Once we're done we'll go down to the fourth floor and chill, like I said."

[Takao 0]

Takao and Otoko had begun their trek in Florenthia Village, a settlement comprised of buildings in the trees. They had since gone to the ground level of the floor and started the journey from the aforementioned settlement toward Friben Village, the next closest settlement. After speaking briefly to an information broker, Takao and the nameless face had arranged to meet in the next closest settlement of the eighth floor to exchange some information. He had extensive map data of the third floor, which included a few apparently unknown dungeons and the like. The information broker promised some information of her own to transfer, so it seemed like a decent enough trade.

[Takao 0]

Takao raised an eyebrow at his familiar's chatter. "Why're you bringing her up all of a sudden?" He asked, narrowing his eyes and furrowing his brows at the wingless dragon. It growled out a response, earning a dry chuckle from Takao's throat. "Aha... No, I haven't. Rose just kinda went under the radar a while ago. I didn't see her name on the stone a month ago, so I think she's probably not aiming for the front lines anymore. ...Probably for the best." Takao's mind wandered to the recent death of Azide. He hadn't been close with the older boy, their interactions had been unfortunately scarce, which he had began to deeply regret.

[Takao 0]

Takao's jaw twitched and he returned his gaze forward, back to watching the foresty path ahead. His familiar continued to speak in an indecipherable language of clicks and growls, of which only the brunette himself could understand. "Hm? ...As a friend I guess. We never got a chance to get close, so it'd kinda weird if I felt anything more than that." He shrugged his shoulders slightly and let the thought fester in his mind. The idea of romance wasn't particularly foreign to him despite his inexperience. Even so, he hadn't felt he lost anything with that particular person's disappearance.

[Takao 0]

"Haha, wow... I completely forgot about Youn... Hasai. I can't believe you remembered that before I did." Takao cleared his throat and chuckled at the memory. It was nostalgic in a way, a budding relationship so long ago that it had all but faded from his memory. She had been his first kiss, if one could count such an action "counting" in the virtual world. It sure felt real to him. But, much like Red, she had disappeared from the radar. Her name wasn't on the stone either, the brunette had been sure to check that multiple times.

[Takao 0]

Takao and his familiar continued their conversation as the brunette drew ever closer to the settlement named Friben. It was a long walk, and that long walk felt like a considerably more taxing task with the weather being so deplorable, but he advanced regardless. "Am I upset at her..?" Takao parroted his familiar, reiterating the question the small red dragon had just asked him. He ran a hand over his face and through his ash-brown hair, ultimately shaking his head in response. "Of course not. I mean, that relationship has definitely come and gone, but I'm not mad at her or anything."

[Takao 0]

A huffed exhale drained the air from Takao's lungs as he glanced around. "Well... Friben is only about ten minutes out, and it looks like everything from Florenthia to there's been cleaned out. Guess somebody's been grinding here recently." The brunette scratched his jawline and shrugged. He was hoping to make a spot of progress, but it didn't seem like the opportunity had presented itself to him. "We'll circle past the other settlement on the way back and see if there's anything there, after I talk to the broker in Friben."

[Takao 0]

"She wants some of the map data I have laying around on the third floor. I figure we could ask and see if she knows about any dungeon locations. It's been a while since we went a'spelunkin'." Takao said to his familiar, who had previously inquired about their business on the forest themed floor. "At the very least though, we might get a spot of cash out of it. Friben's just up ahead, maybe like ten minutes out. She said we'd meet up around ten, so we're makin' good time."

[Takao 0]

The familiar on his shoulder chirped and growled, speaking at length on a wide variety of subjects, several of which interjected with others despite having no discernible correlation. Takao hummed and nodded along, not particularly wishing to inspire the small dragon's wrath until the situation permitted... or until he grew truly bored of the conversation and decided to poke fun at the small cat-like dragon. The sounds it made, while appearing to be complete jibberish nonsense to most ears, were heard as words clear as day to Takao. Sometimes he truly resented that fact.

[Takao 0]

"You?" Takao said in disbelief, his jaw dropped and head cocked to the side to stare at his familiar. "You had a girlfriend? But you're an AI! Are you guys really programmed to like... live out entire lives or something?" He questioned, scratching the side of his head. "--And more importantly, there's a thing alive that found you attractive enough to go out with?" The teasing earned himself a swift slap across the face via the familiar's tail, which he shrugged off. It didn't hurt anymore, and the jarring effect it once had on him had long since worn off.

[Takao 0]

"So what'd you do? Eat her or something?" Takao said, chuckling lightly at the thought. He earned himself a second slap across the face via tail, but hardly even flinched. At this point, he theorized the familiar had just been doing it to entertain itself. The monster growled matter-of-factly, earning another laugh from the brunet. "So we're in the same boat then! 'n there you were makin' fun of me when you're no different." Takao shook his head and shoved his hands back into the pants of his pockets, exhaling a sigh as he continued walking.

[Takao 0]

"Nah... I don't think I was ever really looking. I wouldn't turn 'em away if it happened, but I think I should stay focused on other stuff." Takao said. His familiar had inquired to his desire to seek out marital status, and earned an honest response in return. "Plus, some of these people are international, or even on the other side of Japan. SAO kinda sets the precedent of physical interaction, even if it is still online. I haven't heard that many of those kinds of relationships work out in the end. Better to save myself the effort, right?"

[Takao 0]

"Oh, there it is!" Takao said, pointing ahead to the settlement of Friben. A few NPCs lingered on the outskirts, but few had any desire to venture beyond the safe zone, where the guards couldn't protect them. His eyes moved downward to the lower left hand corner of his peripheral vision, which displayed the time: 9:45 AST. "We're a little early. Let's burn some time by walkin' around the town I guess, I've never even been here before." He said, having only found the village without the use of the map and solely following the directions of another player.

[Takao 0]

Takao passed through the gates of the safe zone with ease, the guards not paying him a second glance after noting his status as a green player. The village was smaller than Florenthia, and also located on the ground of the forest, which made the buildings and scenery much more accessible than its suspended neighbor. His first stop was the merchant stalls on the western side, which allowed him to preoccupy a bit of time by cycling through vendor wares despite not having much interest in what they sold.

[Takao 0]

Having located a small cart vendor who seemed to be grilling up some sort of small lizard on a stick, the brunet purchased one if only to spite his familiar. "Hey look," Takao said, holding up the grilled lizard that radiated a rather pleasant scent. "I wonder if this guy had a familiar like you too." He said, grinning wickedly. His eyes widened and jaw dropped when the red dragon opened its maw and extended its shark-like teeth, immediately tearing into the lizard and grinning back at Takao. "Oh. Right. You eat meat. Forgot about that."

[Takao 0]

After tasting the grilled lizard himself and finding that he enjoyed it, Takao paid for the vendor's full stock and carried the armful of freshly cooked reptiles along as he walked. He alternated between handing a new one up to his familiar and eating one himself as they glanced over the vendors. "Awl deh shtuff 'ere ish loike... 'ungle themed." Takao said as he chewed through the lizard, and swallowed before speaking again. "Seriously, check this out. This guy is selling a loin cloth as vanity clothing. Who would buy something like that?"

[Takao 0]

A wide grin appeared on Takao's face as he purchased the vanity loincloth. The familiar on his shoulders slammed its disproportionately sized palm into its own face, and dragged it down until it plopped back onto Takao's head. The brunet handed up another grilled lizard to the dragon, and stuck one in the corner of his own mouth. "S'matter? It was cheap, and it's hilarious." He said, chuckling lightly at the thought of wearing it himself. "...Well, I can put it up on the wall at least."

[Takao 0]

Takao glanced skyward as a few drops of rain managed to find their way through the thick canopy. "Huh." He muttered quietly, immediately working his way toward the spot he'd arranged to meet with the information broker. They'd killed enough time by now, which meant the woman Takao occasionally had contact with would be showing up shortly. "I didn't think it could even rain on this floor. Guess I was wrong." He said, handing the last of their grilled lizard pile to Otoko.

[Takao 0]

The brunet met with the information broker shortly after arriving at the aforementioned rendezvous point. Despite not knowing each other terribly well outside of their small meetings and exchanges for business, the two meshed well enough. Takao handed over the extensive map data he had collected as a result of living on and copious exploration of the third floor. In return, he was given some vague information regarding dungeons and a large chunk of map data for the eighth floor, as well as some data regarding monsters on the eleventh. He parted ways with the broker shortly afterward, and started on the journey back to Florenthia.