[PP-F4]Hot Springs Party - (KoB & Guests)

[Michiko 0]

Not even a day earlier, Michiko and her sister Magda had found their brother, Mack. As always, he was overly pushy and the young red haired woman had no way of refusing his demand for her to join his guild. Whether she liked it or not, from now on Michiko would adorned in the flashy white and red uniform issued to her Opal, her Commander. It was quite a tiring day for her yesterday, as she had to calm down not one, but two of her siblings before they killed each other with the amount of toxicity that was in the air. Michiko had always imagined them both as bulls, always butting heads and insanely angry at the color red. It was sense since their hair color was in fact red. Even so, her quick initiation and five thousand set of rules given to her by Mack were way too exhausting for her to keep up with. She didn't want to be a social butterfly as some party thrown by Mack- she didn't even like parties. To be honest, all Michiko wanted to was to actually train and get her "life" back together so she could be in a better place inside the guild. Her connections were pretty bad, but she was determined to be just below Opal, and way above Mack. Michiko knew from experience that if you were just a regular member of a guild you were nothing. You had no control, you were a bottom feeder, and practically canon fodder to the rest of the higher-ups. So, with her new uniform on her figure, she strode through the Fourth Floor, this time with a proper jacket. She could only think of how her sister was dealing with this cold. As far as Michiko was concerned, Mag had an insane hatred for everything cold. Michiko shrugged the thought for a moment as she came to her destination. 

A hot springs. In no way did Michiko like to parade around her body around strangers, she didn't even like swimming too much anyways. But, to get back at her brother for listing so many unfair requests of the two sisters, Michiko had something up her sleeve. Once she stepped inside she noticed at the front entrance a bowl of red liquid with a sign that stated she must drink in order to enter. Her countenance darkened, she didn't even like punch, yet she had to drink it. Her glare shifted from the bowl, to her brother who was alongside another woman. It surprised the girl that Mack was with someone; usually his brash nature warded off the women and pushed them away. Her face softened slightly as she brought her attention back to the drink, she was happy for her brother. Michi picked up a cup and filled it, knowing it would have an effect of somesort. She closed her eyes and downed the disgusting drink, disposing of the cup afterwards of course. She then proceeded to walk into the social. 

She didn't know what to expect, this was her first time meeting her new guildmates. She felt relieved when she saw Magda talking to Mack. They were at least speaking after yesterday. Michiko walked forward towards them, but stopped when Mack suddenly pulled Magda over his head. The young girl was appalled at her brother's actions- they were completely unacceptable! Fuming, the young girl stood over Mack. "No violence you say? Then what was that? Don't tell me you have an exception to that rule..." Her eyes shifted from Mack, to her skin....it was glowing? Her mind could not comprehend this, this wasn't rational to be all glittery! Then she remembered the punch and frowned. "...Mack." this was the start of the show. Michiko's eyes began to well with tears as she covered her face, making realistic sounding cries. "How could you embarrass me like this! I..I just wanted to m-make friends for my new guild! Not be something from a bad love novel!" She continued, trying her best to convince Mack that she was in fact not faking this, she needed to get back at him. 

[Piera 0]

Piera began to voice a protest as her cup was snatched up and away from her before being thrown back by the party's host, just to prove her wrong she was sure. Smirking and shaking her head, she then was distracted from her petting of Chewie as Mack picked him up and launched him away into the water, causing her to chuckle as the bear resurfaced before immediately making a bee-line to where his master had directed his prize was. Jareth purred in amusement atop Mack's shoulder, his white tail flicking.

Her head turned to Hydra as he replied that her original assumption concerning the gender of his familiar was correct before informing her of her, or rather their, names. Piera's expression lit up, "That's amazing! Quite clever too." It made her wonder if Dawn and Dusk were actually separate consciousnesses or if they were both just Twilight. Her musing was broken as a loud and angry sounding female voice was heard from the area around where the punch was, causing Piera to wince slightly once more before her eyes widened as the source of the yelling strode straight for her in glittery glory. No, not her, Mack. Even while sitting down, the brunette could tell that the woman was insanely tall...and...looked almost suspiciously like the man she was pointing a finger at. The redheaded woman began to say something before glancing around and falling silent. The alchemist's suspicions were confirmed when Mack greeted her as his sister, causing Piera's expression to fall into one of mild dismay. Nobody should have the misfortune of having family stuck in this death game with them. But Mack simply began chiding her for being covered in snow and saying that they would have to take care of it before yanking her forward by the woman's belt into the steaming water, causing his sibling to yelp before beginning to curse at him as she fell in. Not to mention for Jareth to take flight at the sudden movement and launching of water everywhere. The bespectacled young woman began to stand to try and help her right herself, but Magda began floating away and so she tentatively sat back down with a worry filled glance at her friend before someone else approached, this time a very familiar someone.

A tentative but glowing smile grew on Piera's expression as she turned her head to look up at Jomei as he crouched on the ground behind them. "Jomei! It's so good to see you again. I didn't know you were coming." Why hadn't Mack simply told her that? She probably would have argued a great deal less. "And Zandra too. H-Hi..." She felt a little shy around the other female former Velvet Room member. They hadn't had the opportunity to interact much before her 'disappearance'. But she needn't have felt so as the scene was smoothed as each of them changed into their 'swim wear' and Jomei's reaction to Zandra was rather telling.

Then there was a subtle change. A barely perceived yet still noticeable feature among the growing crowd of players as a man casually greeted those around him. An orange curser in a sea of green. Piera's heart immediately jumped to her throat, not even seeing the player's face, just the orange and what it signified. But when Mack replied back in a friendly tone, her mind managed to focus on the name and then her eyes saw who he was. Which honestly didn't help at all. Instead of scared, now she simply felt deeply embarrassed. Ssendom had been one of her best customers and still had an outstanding order for close to a dozen of Perfect damage crystals. Sinking deeper into the water until only her nose and above were showing, Piera deeply hoped that the former guild leader's figure was large enough to hide her. Green eyes then flicked up to look at Mack behind her oval glasses as he raised his voice to make an announcement. After he finished, she nodded even though he hadn't been talking to anyone in particular. She then spent a moment glancing down at the water, watching the shimmer of her arms and legs as they moved subtly under the water.

But her somewhat depressed mood was distracted by Mack's insistence that everyone drink the punch and at the statement of 'No sparkly, no party!', Piera snorted in amusement, bubbles coming up. Glancing up as Jomei spoke to her, the alchemist raised her head fully above the water to answer with an awkward lopsided smile. Her heart clenched a little when he told her that both he and Lowe had been worried at their absence and she held her tongue until he asked a question that she could answer. "At his shop. He was glad that I was going out...I..I haven't been since..." The brunette shrugged, knowing that she wouldn't have to explain herself to the Irishman since he already knew.

Piera straightened in the hot springs upon the appearance of an older man that commanded great presence as he cordially greeted the hot springs at large before remarking on Opal's absence and she wondered why that was significant. She couldn't help but reply shyly, "G-Good, thank you." Before glancing up at Mack questioningly, wondering who this man was.

But of course the drama didn't end there, as yet another red haired woman stood before Mack, seemingly seething at him before beginning to tear up! Piera's eyes were wide and frantic as she began to stand without realizing it. "H-Hey, don't cry! It's okay, you're not the only one! Look." The alchemist held out her glittery arm for the girl to see. "It's just a gag, something to spice up the party..." The brunette attempted to smile reassuringly at Michiko.

{OOC: Sooo many posts to respond to! @_@; I think this is the longest reply I've ever made on SAO...}

Edited March 22, 2016 by Piera

[Takao 0]

Takao leaned against the wall of the springs as he watched people flood in. Magda entered shortly after he did, and seemed rather peeved about something. He tilted his head as he looked her over, finding something vaguely familiar about the redhead. Hunie entered not long after Magda, and the brunet greeted her with a warm smile. He recalled briefly meeting her in a tavern on the first floor, yet their interactions had been mostly limited. Jomei entered after Hunie, and was accompanied by Zandra. Takao's hand rose from the water and waved to greet them, yet he remained relatively silent. Ssendom was followed, sporting his scars oh-so-proudly. The display earned a slight chuckle from Takao; the option was available to all players, yet most didn't care to decorate themselves with the markings. The brunet mused that even he would have a war-zone of an upper torso if he were to enable it himself, and the same would undoubtedly go for most of the other more combat hardened players. Ariel followed after Ssendom and found herself in the company of Hikoru, somebody whom he hadn't met before. As the entries began to slow down, Takao returned his attention to Piera.

"Why wouldn't I remember you?" He asked, his head tilting off to one side ever so slightly. "I mean, it's been a while since we talked last, but not long enough that I'd forget who you were." Takao smiled and glanced over to Mack. He'd been sitting on the offer to join the imposing redhead's guild for some time now-- even before they had merged with the Knights of Blood and were known as the Crimson Blades. Yet something had kept him away, and he hadn't been sure what it was. The notion of being in a guild had lost its appeal, especially with the bad taste they'd left in his mouth. "Ah... I'll uh... I'll have to get back t'you on that one." He said, chuckling and rubbing the back of his neck; the combination had been a nervous gesture he'd picked up recently.

He glanced to Hunie as she sat at the edge alone and had contemplated moving over to offer some company, given Xion's lack of reaction to his sub par humour, but was beaten to the punch by Ssendom. Instead, he moved out of the springs and opted to sit on the edge. It gave him a better vantage point of the party goers as they flooded in. His jade eyes watched the familiars as they mingled, and looked up at his own. "Why don't you go play with 'em?" He said to his own sparkling monster, who was still standing on his shoulders and peeking out over his head. The small wingless dragon grumbled as it climbed down the brunet's back and landed with an inaudible thud. With his shimmering familiar wandering off in search of some form of entertainment, Takao set his attention back on Mack and Piera. His mouth opened to say something, but was promptly interrupted by Michiko and her small outburst. He let her finish before slowly averting his gaze back onto the two. "...So uh... What's the occasion for all this?"

Edited March 22, 2016 by Takao

[Mack 0]

"Lee, Lee, Lee," Mack muttered, as Chewie struck out for his flagged table, the giant red head giving every impression of trying to remember someone who was thoroughly forgettable. "Oh, yes, Lee. He wasn't around when I came to collect Piera for the party. I guess he didn't get an invite," the ginger giant said, sounding as if this fact was not even slightly troubling to him. Because it wasn't. Not even a little bit. Anyone that couldn't protect Piera in the world of Sword Art Online was hardly worth remembering. While he had been answering Jomei, his twin had resurfaced and was heading determinedly in the opposite direction of where he sat with Piera. 

"Sister mine, you need a swimsuit," Mack called, cupping one hand around his mouth and calling out to Magda as she took off. He was about to continue teasing Magda when another, and within the world of the Knights of the Blood Oath, more important voice reached his ears. "General," Mack rumbled by way of greeting the commanding officer of the Knights of the Blood Oath, holding up his free hand and offering a crisp, if seated, salute to Heathcliff. "The night is young, the company pleasant, and everyone sparkly," Mack answered, by way of responding to the commander's question about how everyone was doing that evening. Before that conversation could progress his other sister, Michiko, made her appearance playing for sympathy.

"If you want sympathy, Michi, look in the dictionary between spit and syphilis. I'm not buying it, ever since you played a sun nymph in... I don't even remember the name of that game anymore," Mack rumbled, looking up at his sister. "Now, you're an adult. Ish. You can act like one or you can join our sister dearest in taking the express train into the hot springs, clothing and all," Mack rumbled, deciding on the spot that he wasn't going to be bothered by Michiko's tears, at least not in this instance. Now, if she had showed up complaining that someone had mistreated her, in any possible way, that would have been a different story altogether. "Now, cut the crap, it's not becoming in front of our general. If you're upset, complain to Heathcliff," he continued, gesturing in the direction of the still unglittering leader of the Knights. Mack wasn't about to demand that Heathcliff take the drink, everyone else though would be required to do so.

When Piera wandered off and sank herself in the water, Mack when groping about with his right hand for her. "Now, now, where do you think you're going," Mack rumbled with a smirk. His hand fished about for a moment, finding Piera's wrist, and hauling her back up to his side. "After all those promises you made me make so you'd come, you're not wandering off anywhere. You're staying right here so I can keep you safe and out of trouble, as promised," Mack continued, hugging the woman to his side and draping his arm around her shoulders again. Piera wasn't going anywhere, as far as the ginger giant was concerned she was going to stay right where she was. Unless she wandered over to where Jomei and Zandra were and Mack had caught a glimpse of Zandra in her swimsuit. Somehow, he had his doubts that Jomei wanted to be disturbed at the moment. "As for my other sister, we'll see if she's really upset. Michi, let me see your eyes. No tears, no sad."

"It's an open offer, Takao. No pressure," Mack called, switching his focus over to Takao and thinking, for the time being, that if Piera was going to wander along with Takao to watch out for her that such would probably be ok as well. He trusted the solo player to keep the alchemist from getting into too much trouble. "You'd better hurry though, before the bear eats all the familiar food," Mack said as Takao's familiar hit the ground with a thud. Chewie, for his part, had reached the table and was trying to figure out how to get up onto it. "As for the occasion, once in awhile we all need to take time to relax. It might also be a bit of recruiting and showing off for the Knights, at my expense. But, not everyone can or would join the guild. Ssendom, for example, is the leader of Azure. He's not going to be a knight."

[Zandra 0]

After changing into her bikini and entered the hot water, her face had got a matching colour with her red eyes. But it wasnt from the hot water, well at least not only. Then Jomei looked at her and said she looked amazing, which only made the blush starting to spread down towards her body.''Th-Thanks, you to.'' But then she got one of those smiles from him that always made her calm down and the blush started to fade out a little. Then she herd the fellow guild-member, or 'previous guild'-memeber, talk to her.''H-Hi.'' sha answered quickly to her greeting.''Nice to see you Piera.'' Then she slowly glided backwards so she was covered by the irishman she loved. She knew he and Piera was one off their best friends, and she wouldnt interrupt in their first meeting at a long time. Instead she turned around when a familiar player arrived. An orange player, thou he was one off her better friend. When she felt the mood changed on many of the players present, an anger grew inside her. Without thinking she pushed herself out off the water with an angry expression on her face.''You dont have to look like you have seen a monster.'' she stared at the ones that seemeed to be scared or something like that.''Under this cursor is a person, he is just as much a human beeing as everyone off you.'' She took a few deep breaths.''If he intended to kill anyone off you, do you realy think he would do it here? There is quite alot of other strong GREEN players here to make someone think twice before doing something like that.'' She stopped and stood beside her berserker friend, breathing heavily.

[Ssendom 0]

Dom was drinking his sake peacefully not exactly paying attention to all the players in the area. He was in the presence of enough people that he knew so he pretty much had forgotten about his orange cursor for a short period of time. Mack had spoken up about if anyone would attack anyone they would get more than they bargained for or something of the sort, "Is that statement directed at me? Or just a... Eh, I got my alcohol. I am pretty satisfied." He thought to himself as he continued to drink his sake without a care in the world.

He watched as more people began to flood in, including Hikoru and Ariel. Looking at them, he still didn't actually realize that the two of them were soon to be married. Two different red hair women accompanied the entirety of the get together who oddly looked like Mack himself, if the roundish man had more curves in more places. One of them was hurled into the water making Dom realize they were siblings, so Dom disregarded them. An older man he never met joined the little get together and based on how Mack responded, Dom got the feeling that the man was a superior to the big red head. But ultimately Dom shrugged it off for more alcohol to enter his system.

Continuing on staying rather quiet giving a nod of recognition to the people that saw him or he knew. He drank his drink peacefully, he touched his kimono twice bursting it into light pixels and then disappear to show his body. His chest had a mass amount of scars and so did his arms too, but he was showing off the build he had from his real world working out. Chiseled chest and muscle density, albeit he wasn't trying to showboat or anything of the sort he just dipped his body more into the water looking at Hunie, "You're looking good in that dress today." He complimented her returning his attention to the water and the sake.

Suddenly Zandra got up and displayed her frustration and her anger toward the people in the area who were showing fear or anger toward the Berserker because of the crystal that was hovering above his head. He looked at the girl who stood next to him, to which he covered his eyes in a respectful manner to both her and Jomei because her attire really caught his attention. He spoke to her, "Why thank you Zandra, you didn't need to come to my aide. But you're looking ravashing today, hence my covered eyes." He complimented her as well before taking another swig of his sake for enjoyment, "But please, relax and enjoy the party with the one you care about most. I can handle myself from here. But seriously, thank you."

After saying his appreciation, he looked over to Ariel who was getting comfortable in the water, "Hey Ariel do you want your materials now or at a later date?" He asked the blonde curiously.

[Hunie 0]

The water's warmth spread upwards through her feet. Hunie pulled her dress up a little higher, allowing her legs to be submerged shin deep now. She gently swirled them in the water, following the slow hindered movement in the water. The ripples showed brighter than they would have, thanks to the light casted by her shimmery legs through the warm comforting liquid. It was enough to keep her absent-minded occupied enough to not feel too lonely. Luckily, she didn't have to wait before a distorted reflection of a face, a Kimono and an orange crystal. The slightly offsetting aura around the man, gave his identity away.  If Hunie wasn't getting any attention before, she was getting a fair bit now, as Dom dropped down beside her. He really was a very nice guy once you got past his scary looking exterior and of course the crystals. Hunie could safely assume there were at least about a dozen people here whom he knew well enough to completely ignore her presence if he wanted to, instead he did sought her out. More people full in and a few were throwing daggers with their eyes at Dom. So much prejudice, she thought, if only they knew the real story like she did. 

He didn't seem all that affected by the discomfort that brew around him but he hadn't said anything to Hunie so far either, the duo just sat in comfortable silence. Perhaps he didn't want to drag her into the infamous spotlight by being friendly. Eventually the host of the party and Dom shared a brief exchange which led to the former making an announcement. The announcement was to the effect that no violence would be tolerated and the color of someone's marker was going to be no excuse to start a fight, he also encouraged people to drink up... Hunie had never had alcohol before, while observing the effects of the drink she had negated to play close attention to the taste. More people filled in, she even saw a glimpse of the Knights of Blood's commander Heathcliffe. Probably after Dom was sure the attention was off him, he decided to throw praise the blonde's dress. The alcohol mixed with the 'out of her league' party and the compliment did her in and a nice deep red blush painted her face. "Too bad it's gotta come off now." She said in a genuinely innocent tone, as she noticed that most people had changed into their swimwear, including the scarred brunette next to her, who had slipped into the warmth of the water. "Because... W-Well, I best not ruin it then... I-In the water..." she added realising that what she said didn't come out right. 

Spoiler

 

 

Hunie shrugged lightly and braced herself for the cold. She unequipped her dress and sure enough the cool air wrapped around her now scantily clad body. She gulped down her drink, sparkling ever more and left the glass at the edge of the spring. Hunie slipped into the water, the welcoming heat embraced her. "I hope Mack doesn't think I've gone all leg showy after all... I remember him assuming I'd want a more revealing armour when he gave me the stuff he'd made, he'd even said that I'd have to find some pervy blacksmith for that..." She said remembering the itty bitty insult the gruff man had thrown at her, for feeding Chewie in his shop she had assumed.  "Maybe he invited me realising that was offensive, or maybe because Chewie liked me... Why else would he ask someone of such a low level to come here?" She mused with another little hiccup, the alcohol had clearly gotten to her. It was weird to think that drinking this virtual drink was causing the NerveGear to directly mess with her head. "In any case, this is fun!" she said unsure if anyone was listening and tiptoeing in the water, because the girl had no idea how to swim. 

Edited March 22, 2016 by Hunie

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg took a look around. It seemed that more people had arrived since he had started relaxing. People of all kinds. Men, Women, hell, even people who weren't a part of the KoB were there. He recognised a few people, such as Ssendom the Berserker, and who WOULDN'T recognize Heathcliff? Other than that, though, he was completely in the blank about who these people were. With all that said, they didn't seem to mean him any harm so he relaxed a bit, and opted to just continue relaxing unless someone talked to him. That, and he simply couldn't be bothered talking to anyone who didn't talk to him, he was just too relaxed at the minute. He did, however, take the time to chuckle at the funny scene of the red-haired man (Mack was his name, right?) flat-out THROWING someone into the spring.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Greg Baxen

[Ariel - The Crowned Lion 0]

The blonde followed her fiancé gaze as her silver eyes landed on Jomei while he was drinking from a cup. At the after effect the blonde couldn't help but let out a laugh. "Good call!" She replied while hugging his arm below their shared cape. But as she spotted other glittering figures, she could see that her plans for tonight to spend the evening with her lover at the hot springs....alone, seemed unachievable. She let a long sigh as she realized that.

That too was short as Hikoru apparently oblivious to what she wore.... or the lack of what she should have worn, removed the only thing that kept her..clothed. As the black cape (jacket how Hikoru put it) was removed and stored, the blonde couldn't help but let out a high pinched, japanese specific "YYYYYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"as she covered with one hand,her ample bosom area and with the other one she pulled down the very short and extremely provocative... slightly transparent kimono. She clutched into a ball on the ground and quickly ran through her shop inventory with her face being bright red. She selected the first pair of items to cover her figure's important features underneath the kimono: a bra that seemed to be made out of bandages as the top.(samurai Erza Scarlet 'armor' style) and for the bottom she selected a simple white piece that accentuated her lines.

With a long sigh, she gradually began to calm down and revert to a more...vertical position. Now the transparent kimono posed no worry so she decided to keep it on. She turned her back at Hikoru who adopted a relaxed stance, daggers shooting out of her eyes as she frowned at the thoughtlessness of his action. She will make sure to pay him back for that. Stealing glances around her, it came to her attention that some people were staring at her. She slightly blushed and muttered as an excuse of sorts: "... it was ...supposed to be...... a surprise ...for Hikoru..." the plan was to spend this evening alone with him at the hot springs... she didn't expect this place to be.. this crowded.

A redhead man, tall as a mountain came to them and spoke in a demanding tone that the blonde didn't like. Luckily she didn't offered a snappy reply as from his action, she'd conclude that he's like that with everyone. "As expected from a tighta** military man." she muttered as she sighted. Then after taking a glance at the punch bowl she made a frown and again went through her inventory and pulled out a bottle containing a fluorescent powder labeled <<Firefly Essence>>. A crafting material she'd found on the darkest parts of floor 10 she was very fond of, using it as a 'glowstick' substitute. She'd pop-off the cork and asked Mack with a grin: "We just have to be sparkly right?" and dumped the content on her golden long hair that began pulsating in a neon blonde. A little bit remained and she threw the rest onto the now chilling Hikoru, making his fate pulsate as well. She then returned her gaze towards Mack: "We didn't knew this was a party... better?" she asked, not really expecting a negative reply. 

She then turned towards Hikoru and said: "If you'll just chill here, then you don't mind me ...talking to Dom do you?" again, not expecting a negative reply she didn't stick around with a wink towards her fiancè she went toward her partner of business. She ignored the recent talks about his cursor color. Too much drama for her taste... he knew more than well what he was exposing himself to and probably took measures. "It's been a weak already? You won't find me complaining if you do." she replied with a relaxed laugh then pointed towards his bottle of sake: "Mind if I join in?" she saw that he engaged a girl into conversation but she didn't seem that eager to reply.

Edited March 22, 2016 by Ariel - The Crowned Lion

[Kiru 0]

[Came as a +1 guest, thank you for the invite ;)]

"Who in the world thinks 'yeah let's design a hot springs on the coldest floor in the game.'? Yeah, like that's a good idea.You'll go from freezing to burning in two seconds and get hot flashes or something stupid like that." I thought as my icy blue eyes traced the outline of the building. Snow covered the roof, the sign, and practically everything on this godforsaken floor. Floor 4 was definitely not the place to have such a thing, a party wasn't really good to have on this floor either- especially in the middle of spring. It was alright if it was a holiday party for Christmas or New Year's but, it wasn't.  It was a mere gathering for The Knight of The Blood Oath members and some and obviously Mack had done a very poor job of organizing the location for the specific theme. But, this was most certainly not my party, nor my guild, so I couldn't necessarily complain. I could have just turned down the invitation, but I didn't. I had said yes to be courteous to Mack, and there was no going back on this now. Half of the reason I had said yes to this offer was because I was still being passive aggressive towards Zelrius for whole Spring Festival incident even though I had forgiven him for it already. The other cause of my acceptance was because of past experiences with guild relations. If your guild didn't have a good appearance and bond with the members of the other groups then it wasn't beneficial to either party- and could ultimately lead to disbanding or slaughter. It wasn't something I enjoyed so I knew I had to repay Mack for his kindness and attend his party for at least a little bit. 

With one last sigh, I walked inside only to find a catch: fruit punch. Instantly I was reminded of the potion Zelrius had given me and shuddered, I did not want to experience that embarrassing moment again. I glared at the drink, knowing that I would inevitably have to drink this in order to enter. I grasped the cup with both hands and stared at it with hesitation. My eyes shut tight, I drank the liquid and hoped for the best. To my surprise, it was just fruit punch. I shrugged and finished the glass, entering the party for KOB. 

The first person I noticed was Ssendom, his cursor obviously. I paused for a moment, confused; why was he here? Also, I couldn't help but to notice that this was the second time I had seen him without a shirt. The first time was a rather awkward moment of me falling out of a chair, then in a chain of reactions Lowenthal showed up, scaring me once more. I cleared my throat and began forward. Seeing as though he was the only player here, besides Mack, that I knew it would be best for me to converse with him. However, I stopped in mid stride in front of the hot springs, something was happening to my body. I tore off my black Azure Brigade cloak and inspected my skin frantically. It was sparkling. My cheeks burned red as I stared at myself in shock. I was pale, and along with this I looked like something out of a bad vampire movie. I gritted my teeth and slowly pulled the cloak back over my body to cover my swimsuit that consisted of a pair of black bikini shorts and a black top. Normally, I hated showing my skin, but this was a hot springs was it not? Even so, I pulled the black fabric of Azure tightly to conceal my now glowing (not in a good way), skin. 

I swallowed hard and diverted my attention back to Ssendom. "Hey, did Mack invite you as well? Also, do you know when this will wear off?" I asked, sticking my shiny arm out for the Orange player to see.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru froze as his fiancée had screamed, and he covered his ears for a moment, then looked at the sight, and just about fell over in his seat. She was wearing barely anything, and the image soon buried in his mind as he blushed madly and avoided looking. But as he did, he noticed a few pairs of eyes turned in their direction. He blushed more and stared at the ground. He couldn't stand this feeling. The feeling of being in the spotlight, of feeling eyes on him. He looked and heard Ariel said that it was a surprise for him, and he blushed even more, unsure of what to do. As he was about to say something, Ariel basically screamed at the Party creator Mack, whom he had met only for a short while, and soon spawned a potion, and poured it on herself. He nodded, then wen't back to looking at the floor, when suddenly he felt something pour on his head, and he looked up to see a potion poured on his head. He breathed for a moment, starting to feel a tinge of blush enter his cheeks, then, to top it all off, she walked over to talk to another friend of his, Ssendom.

This was sent him over. He breathed and looked around, and he could swear that people we're mocking him, laughing at him. All of them, laughing at the same time, burrowing them in his head. He breathed in and out deeply, feeling himself starting to hyperventilate. He stood up quickly, and ran into a nearby door. It wasn't the exit, but it was another room in which he could keep to himself. Probably a changing room of some sort. He curled into a ball behind a few lockers and benches, and started to cry. Images of his past life striking him and filling his heart with fear, and agony. He didn't want anyone to see him like this, and he did his best to make him look invisible, while he let his tears of pain flow freely out of his eyes, creating a small puddle onto the floor beneath him.

"Why...." He said to himself "Why did you have to.... have to do that...." He muttered, sobbing in between the words

Edited March 24, 2016 by Hikoru

[Takao 0]

Takao watched as Zandra stood and said a few words regarding the orange player that had decided to join them. Breath left his lungs in a snort, followed by a low fit of snickering. Her intention had obviously been to clear his name or something to that effect, but something gave him the impression that it hadn't come out in the way that she intended. It was comforting to know that if the Berserker went berserk again, that there was ample population available to put an end to it.

"It's reassurin' to know that if you were gonna kill some of us, you'd at least wait 'til we were alone." He said, an accentuated jovial cadence to his tone of voice helping to diffuse the situation-- or perhaps it might have done just the opposite, although the former had been his intention. Takao leaned back and rested his weight on his elbows, jade eyes wandering to find his familiar slowly making its way to the table. The small dragon stopped beside Chewie as he struggled to get onto the table and cackled mockingly at his bipedal ineptitude. Otoko leapt up from the ground and onto the table in a swift, cat-like motion, immediately gathering up whatever food it could find before sitting at the edge to glance down at the bear. The mischievous monster opened its wide maw and shoveled the food inside, happily eating whatever it was he'd found it in front of the bear.

Takao's gaze shifted sidelong away from the table and back to Mack. "Yeah, uh... I don't think Oto's gonna be missin' out on any of that. Seems like he has it handled." He said, a light chuckle dying down into an audible exhale as he glanced back to the masses of players occupying the springs. Many he knew, so very few of them he knew well. It was the plight of a solo player; to sacrifice connections in favour of convenience. He'd always thought himself to be a social person, and to say he was wouldn't necessarily be untrue even if his methods didn't necessarily reflect it. The only way to remedy that fact was to socialize.

He picked up on Hunie mentioning her level and probable reasons for being invited, and found that to be as good a place to start as any. "Y'know, Mack's a nice guy." He said, shifting his weight from one elbow to another. "He might've just invited you 'cause he wanted you to come."

[Samriel 0]

Samriel was fairly sure that this was her least favorite floor yet. Not that she had explored many to be honest. But the California girl couldn't be blamed. She simply wasn't used to such cold weather. Though honestly it did get really cold at night in the desert. It was different when one was safe in their insulated houses than wandering around a snow covered area in search of the mystery 'hot springs'. The mysterious benefactor slash blacksmith, Mack, had PMed her along with a few others that she saw, inviting them to a get together at the location she was attempting to find. Squinting at the map, the blonde then turned down a path and began to hear the telltale sounds of a party. There was light music playing but it was drowned out by the numerous conversations that overlapped each other.

Stepping towards the area as she shivered, the blonde then paused as she caught sight of a table that was set up along with a large punch bowl and numerous cups. But what caught her interest most was the notice posted next to it, stating that everyone had to drink before going in. "Well that doesn't sound the least bit suspicious..." She commented sarcastically to herself before glancing towards the sound of the revelry. Well it certainly didn't sound like people were dropping dead or anything, so it must be harmless. Why would the guy who had given away what she was sure was half of his shop's items for free to underlevelled players go around poisoning people? So she filled a cup and drank the fruity drink feeling refreshed but still just as cold as before.

Eager to warm herself, Samriel hurried towards the hot springs, not noticing the change in her skin and hair as she was bundled up so. But when she entered the secluded area, the busty blonde paused. There were a lot of people here. Most of them she didn't recognize of course, which came as no surprise to her. Most of those she knew were around her own level and still chilling back on the first floor. But she did see a few here that she knew. Mack, for one. And there was that guy that gave her direction's to Mack's shop. And that other blonde she'd seen in the tent. And oh, hey, wasn't that the amazon woman? Maybe this wouldn't be so bad. Still, Samriel stuck to the edges as she looked around and saw that pretty much everyone but for a very select few were in swim wear. It only made sense after all. Hot springs and all, not many would likely go all Japanese anime style and dip in naked or just in a towel.

Flicking open her menu with a shaky finger, she went through her inventory and tried to figure out how she would do this. She didn't really have a 'swimsuit', but perhaps her underwear would do? It was black and not really very distinguishable between underwear and bikini. Deciding that it would have to work since it was all she had, Samriel unequipped everything but her under things. Then lavender eyes scanned the crowd until she focused on Mack, eh, he looked pretty busy. He had an arm wrapped around a girl and was talking to a lot of people. But his sister on the other hand... Was drifting lazily on her back.

Shivering and walking quickly towards the area of hot springs where the large woman was, Sam then jumped in. Not quite a cannon ball, but still causing a splash to all those around. Head emerging from the steaming water, Sam sighed with a grin. "Ohhhh that feels so good. Nice to see you again." The busty blonde greeted Magda before her smile turned into one of bemusement as she pointed out, "So is this a new swimsuit fashion statement?" Gesturing to what the redhead had on before pausing as she caught sight of her glittery hand. "Whooaa...that's cool. The punch I guess. I was always more Team Jacob though." Sam shrugged with an easy going smile.

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg grumbled as he was promptly splashed by someone jumping into the water. His grumbling wasn't anything one could consider proper English, it was just him muttering under his breath about being splashed in the face by hot water. He shot a short glare at the person who did that, before returning to trying to relax. He didn't exactly appreciate hot water being splashed on his face. He was used to the temperature by now so it didn't scald him, thankfully enough. If it did, there would've been one hell of a rant.

[Magda 0]

Now this was the life. Magda was simply content to relax and drift along in whichever direction the water took her. As the heat from the spring soaked into her muscles her eyes closed though she had to resist opening them again once she heard her sister berate their brother over what he’d just done. Her lips parted in a soft smile as she muttered, “You get him sister.” Her voice was barely audible as she didn’t intend for anyone to overhear. The sound of her crying though did cause her eyes to snap open. Magda had to paddle with her hands to turn her body around enough to see what was going on. For a few moments she pondered why her sister had started to cry. Surely Michiko wasn't upset that he’d thrown Magda in the spring right?

 

The woman Mack was with expressed sympathy for Michiko but Mack was quick to suggest that their sister only feigned her sorrow. Now Magda intended to get up and go give their brother a stern lecture for making her cry but before she could get up a sudden splash sent water directly into her face and sent her drifting farther from the shoreline where her siblings were. The water was blinked from her eyes as she tried to figure out what just happened but the sudden emergence of the blonde haired lavender eyed woman revealed what had happened. “Isn’t it just,” she quickly added in when Samriel expressed her thoughts on how the water felt along with saying how nice it was to see her again.

 

Magda blinked as she angled her face to get a better look. When her bright-eyed focused upon her a bit longer realization started to shine across them that slowly transitioned into her expression. Before she could say anything the woman asked about her attire. Her gaze fell down and Magda laughed softly. “Oh, well. I don’t really have much of a swimsuit and I was sort of thrown in. They’re wet now so no harm done.” She continued to float around as the woman took notice of the glittery glow that started to radiate from her skin. Magda held up her hand and looked at it and offered a slight shake of her head. “It is but I could do without the glitter. So long as it isn’t permanent I guess it won't kill me,” she said in response.

The woman offered a shrug of her shoulders and a smile that was quickly mirrored as Magda’s lips parted to offer her a toothy grin. The red-haired woman knew where she recognized this one from now. She’d seen her in passing as she was directed to go to this very floor to seek out Mack at his forge. “Samiel right? I don’t think I got a chance to return your introduction,” she said as she shifted her body so that she no longer just floated around on her back lazily. Her hand reached out to offer Samiel a firm handshake. “I'm Magda. Nice to see you again too." Whether Samriel shook her extended hand or not she'd soon withdraw in and lean back to start floating around some more.  "It's kind of nice just getting to relax actually, and who could have guessed that there were such a luxury here of all places?” Magda waved a hand around to indicate that she meant this deplorable floor.

[Mack 0]

Mack looked around at the sound of someone screaming and just caught a glimpse of Ariel in her ridiculous outfit as she collapsed to the ground and curled up into a ball. The ginger headed man tried to feel sorry for the statuesque blonde, but he couldn't seem to. He had said this was going to be a party, she was the one that had chosen to wear the semi-translucent garment with nothing on underneath it. Still, the red-headed man didn't stare at her. Who would when they already had the most attractive woman in the game on their arm. Sort of. Even if she was, technically, with someone else whom Mack had less than no respect for? It wasn't long though before Ariel was making her displeasure with him quite well known and, like Hikoru, refusing to drink the punch. Still, the blonde poured something over her and Hikoru that produced the same effect. Mack shrugged his broad shoulders. "Good enough for me," he called, returning his attention to the Piera at hand as he threw a wave in the direction of Kiru and Samriel.

Meanwhile, Chewie was still trying to get up onto the table with the food for the familiars on it. Try as he might, the bear cub was too short to be able to get up there. The fuzz ball was so absorbed in the task that he didn't even register Takao's familiar until the dragon had hopped up on the table. Then, to add insult to injury, the dragon had plopped down and started to eat right there in front of the bear. This was too much. This insult would not stand. This... look at that, the dragon's leg was low enough to reach. The dragon was on the table. Hopping on his back paws, Chewie wrapped his fore paws around the dragon's legs and quick as a flash he had scrambled up onto the table. Where there was a will, there was a way. Bawling a challenge at the dragon, Chewie scrambled behind the dragon and tried his best to shove Oto off the table. Clearly, this was going to become a king of the hill match. That done, Chewie settled himself in the middle of the table and began to devour everything within reach.

 

[Ssendom 0]

There was far too much going on for Dom to attempt to keep up with, and he was beginning to feel the large amount of Sake he was drinking. As he attempted to pour some into his cup another time, there weren't a single droplet letting him realize just how much he had to drink at this point. When Ariel screamed at the top of her lungs, he didn't even turn his head slightly since his main intention was to bring out another bottle of sake from his inventory. He poured it into a cup and then was approached by the blonde whom he had directed his question at earlier, "Hey there Ariel." He greeted her, with his menu still open he selected to withdraw materials and pulled out another sack of sixty materials and placed it on her lap, "It is always good doing business with you. This Necklace has given me more mats than anything I've even come across." He chuckled.

Hunie showed a bit of sensitivity when she removed her dress, her cheeks began to burn bright red. But Dom stayed there straight faced while surrounded by three girls (Zandra, Ariel, and Hunie) Who were in bikini's or very revealing clothes. Dom seemed like everything was completely normal around him, he was happy to continue drinking. As he finished a sip he got splashed with some hot water wetting his hair a slight bit. The Berserker showed some annoyance as he didn't thoroughly enjoy when his hair was wet, as it was always seemingly styled in a certain way. He shrugged his shoulders though and continued drinking his drink. He honestly didn't care too much about the woman making a cannon ball as they were just having fun.

He looked over at Mack who was having a difficult time with women in general thinking the Red Headed Giant would like to get out of a situation he might not like, "Yo Behemoth, wanna share some Sake!?" He shouted knowing that Mack would respond to being called the Behemoth, "You're too tense atm trying to uphold the rules, join my sparkling a** over here!" He chuckled as he shouted toward the man. Dom dropped his inventory again and brought up another cup just for the big guy himself. Now that he was a little bit of a happy drunk, he was beginning to be more sharing with everyone in general.

Dom was at a point he was forgetting about the things that really brought his spirits down, there was only one person in the entirety of the Hot Springs that actually knew the story that loomed over the mind of Dom. But it was rather obvious that the thoughts weren't clouding his actions, statements, or even decisions. The Dreadnought seemed like he was going to share anything with anyone. He looked over at Amethyst, "You're normally such the social butterfly, you can begin to rub your face on anyone you like!" He exclaimed in a happy go lucky voice to his purple fire phoenix whelp. The bird chirped super happily and began to fly into each girl and guy's face rubbing it's fiery head against their face, demonstrating it's superiority over it's own flames as the heat of the bird wouldn't burn the people it began to enjoy. Dom looked at Kiru who was beginning to question quite a bit of things, she was worried to the point she opened her questions to the Berserker, "Yes Mack did invite me, Kiru. I have the cure to this so worry not the duration and enjoy the sauna with us." He patted the water next to him so she could promptly sit next to someone she for sure knew.

Edited March 23, 2016 by Ssendom

[Kiru 0]

From far away Ssendom seemed like, well, Ssendom. However, as I heard him speak to me I couldn't help but to question what was going on with him. He seemed a lot calmer, sociable even. I knew that he was a kind person because he made Lowenthal and I breakfast, but something about exactly how open he was being made me suspicious. "Could it be a side affect to the punch?"  I thought with a horrified expression. Two words then entered my brain: calming honey. The sickly thick liquid was oddly satisfying but sent any drinker into a state of numbness. Could Mack have gotten his hands on some? Though, probably not seeing as though the young Mari hadn't appeared to be anywhere lately. The Calming Honey potion could've have been an option, but it was highly unlikely for someone to get such an addictive substance;  I was lucky that after one use I wasn't pleading for more. I could only imagine the results of someone like Ssendom taking a potion like that. His secrets, his fears, his personal life could go out the door if something like that laced the fruit punch bowl at the door. 

I gritted my teeth at the thought of drinking anything from that women again and slowly erased the whole conspiracy from my head. My eyes locked onto Ssendom's the moment he said he could fix the issue. I then looked to where Ssendom offered to let me sit: in the water. It wasn't necessarily a fear but I was reminded of the events that had passed earlier in the week. Meeting another Maverick Hunter only to realize that he was in fact just another PKer looking to further bury anyone in relation to Keith. Having Zelrius watch my health suffer; and interject; into the life threatening situation. Almost dying was the worst feeling from that day. It wasn't caused by just being stabbed or anything, it was the fact that I was practically drowning and could do nothing about it. In the end it was a terrible mess that I wanted to tell literally anyone and everyone, but could tell no one because it would put distance in any relationship. Of course there were exceptions to this, namely Lowenthal, Oikawa, Tristan, and Ssendom. Though it probably wouldn't be a great idea to mention it to either of them I was certain that at least one of them would find out eventually. 

With one last look at the water I put my cloak safe in my inventory and stepped into the warm water. Instantly my entire body felt extremely relaxed and overall it was the best feeling. I sat down next to Ssendom and leaned my head backwards, looking towards the sky. "Ssendom, I'd really appreciate it if you could give me the antidote now. To fully enjoy myself I need to not be all sparkly. As much as everyone wants to by a torch, I do not have that desire. Also if you could, don't mention this to anyone in Azure. What goes on in KoB, stays in KoB." 

[Samriel 0]

As Magda concurred with her opinion on the hot springs, a grin spread across Samriel's face as she relaxed back into the water, not quite floating on her back as the redhead had been. At the slowly changing expression on the red head's face as she stared at Sam, the blonde was beginning to realize that she hadn't recognized her at first sight, which was understandable. For her it was hard to forget the woman that surely real amazons were envious of but wasn't hard to figure that the opposite wasn't true. The woman had likely seen scores of players that day. She was simply one of the many. Still for some reason, that disheartened her even though she knew it shouldn't. Instead she focused on the redhead's explanation for her attire. Raising an eyebrow with an interested smile to accompany it, Sam echoed, "Thrown in? Hm, well at least you got out of the cold. And actually." The blonde glanced around before leaning towards Magda and whispering conspiratorially, "I don't have a swimsuit either. This is my underwear." Then the blonde grinned widely at her spilled secret.  When the taller women made a comment about glitter not killing her as long as the effect wasn't permanent, the blonde let out a breathy chuckle. "Aw, but think of the tactical advantages. Your enemies would be too bedazzled by your stunning appearance that you'd be able to easily cut them down while simultaneously outshining them!" Samriel then cackled at her numerous bad puns. When Magda spoke her name, the blonde's face lit up, immediately brightening at the realization that she had remembered her after all. "Yeah!" Smiling widely, she took the woman's outstretched arm and shook hands firmly, meeting her eyes. "Nice to formally meet you Magda." Relaxing back in the water again, unconsciously mimicking her conversational partner, Sam replied, "Well I guess it was intentional. A sort of reverse oasis. You can't really appreciate the hot unless you're cold and vice versa." She was going to speak more on the subject, but before she could, a purple bird that seemed to be made of fire flew right up to her face and began...nuzzling her?? "Uh-W-? Hello there..." Samriel greeted unsurely at the very friendly greeting from the familiar. "Jeez what is it with these guys." First Mack's bear dog and now this thing. It was pretty and cute though... The blonde reached out a finger to gently scratch its head. "So what's this party for anyway? Just cuz?" She asked of Magda curiously.

[Michiko 0]

(OOC: Short and super confusing post sorry!)

The young woman had not intended for anyone else to get caught up in her prank, but someone had. And it was a shame, but Michiko would need to play along to fully magnify the joke. She sniffled again and brought her attention to Piera, the woman at Mack's side. "My brother is just so...so...mean!" She said, her face becoming noticeably reddened with anger. "I know it's temporary but seriously he's the worst!" The red haired girl continued to complain to the young lady in the glasses. Michiko then heard her dear brother call her bluff. Before she responded to her sibling she leaned in towards the brunette and whispered: "Sorry, didn't mean to trick you. You're a very kind person." She then turned to the giant she called her brother and frowned in attempt to make the saddest face she could. 

"I'm hurt to think you would think I could just fake it like that. But, as always, you're hard to fool and it never gets old." Michiko stated protruding her lower lip in a pout. Even though she was in college she still preferred to act younger, especially in situations to screw with people. Mostly it was her brother that she like to play pranks on, and in video games like Mack had said, she liked playing the funny or mischievous characters. This was probably because she liked anyone else playing the game to think that she was either too dumb to inflict damage, or think that Michiko would be friendly. She liked making friends but would rather have the other party introduce themselves to here- she wasn't impulsive and outwards as Magda and Mack. In games she could be whatever character she wanted to be, but in SAO she was herself, red hair and all. "You're no fun. Ever since I mislead you in that one game, I can't remember the name, you have been extra cautious and cold towards me." The young woman stated, crossing her arms over her cleanly pressed uniform. 

She stuck her nose in the air and frowned at Mack. "I would rather stay on the ground, thank you very much. Besides, you wouldn't want this gift from Opal to get ruined. Then I'll really complain to Heathcliff." She relaxed her face a bit the sighed outwardly in exhaustion to her brother.