[PP-F4] Discoveries and Breakthroughs (Ebony)

[Avilon 0]

Each floor of Aincrad was unique, climate monster's and individuals who sought shelter in them. A frosty expanse lied before the relatively paled colored female who was shuffling through the foot high snow. Snow white teeth chattering, as if they had been developed by a toy company as she now winced and looked forward having heard there was possible adventurers on the fourth floor who would be willing to donate for the cause of an orphanage she was attempting to run. The chilling air now lashing her cheeks as she was poorly equipped for the elements of this section of the death games. "How illogical, my body is likely room temperature in some hospital bed where I will be stuck from the amount of muscle mass I have lost when I leave this world." The newly obtained orbs in her head glancing back and forth after days of practice. It was an odd sensation of suddenly being able to view the world which was still strange and new to her. Collapsing to her knees she began to inspect the crystalline flakes that were dancing through the dark midnight sky her obsessive disorder now getting the best of her since it was impossible to study her usual field, neurology, so instead she stuck with ophthalmology. "It's so beautiful, I never could have imagine that this is what everyone saw when they looked at snowscapes. Although I do wonder if this is anything like the real world's appearance?"

Edited May 3, 2016 by Avilon

[Ebony 0]

Ebony was once again on he fourth floor of Aincrad. She didnt understand how she kept ending up on this floor, or how she kept meeting so many cool people on this floor. It seemed like everyone liked this floor, and Ebony couldn't wait to see what sort of adventures awaited her here today. She wandered around outside of the safezone, just looking for someone to hang out with. It wasnt long before she came across a young woman with pink hair, who was obviously not dressed for this weather. She smiled, pulling an aqua colred fur lined jacket from her inventory. Her friend Manta had tried to throw it out once, and Ebony had just taken it, not wanting it  to go to waste. Apparently it had been a gift from Manta's ex-boyfriend. This woman could get a lot more use out of it though. Today she was wearing black armor, black leggings and a black skirt. Her long ebony colored hair hung down her back, and her scarlet eyes gleamed beneath her thick lashes. All in all she looked a little bit like an angsty teenager, but this was set off by the pure white leather glove she wore on her right hand. If one looked closely they could see that it seemed to glow with a holy light. "Hey!" She called out to the pink haired woman. "Your going to need a coat!" She called out, tossing the jacket towards the woman. 

[Avilon 0]

This was an astounding feat for a company to accomplish even if it was used for such ill purposes, it seemed like an old novel she had once read. 'Lord of the Flies,'  a sickly grimace with her tongue sticking out as she remember that awful book. A cross cultural class of English where they tried to submerge Japanese students in English with the same literature of those students in a High School in the United States. "Ugh got to get that taste and memory out of my head, her hands shivering as she could feel the braille of that book still slipping underneath her finger pads. The fourth floor was gorgeous none the less and she wasn't going to let such a lousy piece of literature culture to ruin this moment as she still was mesmerized every time to be able to see out of her eyes. The darkness was something she was accustomed to and  to be perfectly honest the daylight was abusive to her poor orbs which made night walks preferable. Falling back in the snow she began to grind all four of her limbs up and down in the snow making a snow angle around her as she lied there smiling. A coat suddenly falling onto her. It was elegant and quit frankly shocking as she now noticed the other person walking around through the snow. "Oh hello, and thanks." She smiled now slipping the coat around her body as she was shivering still thanks to her rather poorly planned snow angle making.

 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Avilon

[Ebony 0]

Ebony smiled as the other player accepted the jacket and slipped it on, saying thanks and hello quite briefly. The girl was cute, and still looked to be quite cold.  She smiled more as she looked down to see the snow angel. She was definitely more innocent than most of the people that she met. Ebony was used to hanging around hardened warriors on the frontlines. It was refreshing to see someone who was relaxed enough to just play around. "I'm Ebony." She said in a friendly tone of voice. "You should  probably at least wear a coat if your going to be making snow angels."

[Avilon 0]

Avilon began to rustle about in the large coat as it seemed like it was meant for someone who was a bit taller and bulkier frame then herself. As the ebony haired lady began to comment on the rather poorly planned angle she made. The wet snow that had brushed against her legs and coat having melted upon them and causing a chill to shot down her spine. "B-b-r-r-r," her teeth grinding against one another as she nodded in agreement. "Y-yeah I didn't really think that one through I guess," giggling as giddily as a school girl as she wore a vibrant smile almost bright enough to clear up the cold wet snow had it the same power of the sun. "Oh I should document this," she smiled as she reached out and got a strange journal that had no words written in it only punched holes as she still only knew how to read in braille. A keyboard appearing for her to type into the journal and leaving more impressions as she wrote about her discoveries that this world's structure still had the same tactile fee back and cooling touches as the real world. The only thing she could base things off of was the feel. "I actually have a question for you, do you feel that this world is an accurate representation of that of the real world?" She queried preparing to write up whatever the girl said.

 

[Ebony 0]

Ebony smiled. "Thats fine, It's not like your going to get frostbite or anything. I dont think." She said, unsure if there was a status debuff that came from standing around in the cold for too long. She paused as the woman asked if she thought this was an accurate representation of the real world. "Uh, yes? Thinks look the same, they feel the same... Its quite realistic." She replied. She didnt understand why the girl would ask that. Hadn't the girl lived in the same world as Ebony?

[Avilon 0]

As she awaited for an answer her finger quickly tapped out new braille into the journal useful as both a diary and research as few people had the knowledge to read it which made it all that more secretive. She then typed in that discovery that the world did in fact seem realistic visually although her tone seemed rather confused. Sitting there in the snow Avilon quickly pieced together the source of confusion. "Oh silly me of course sometimes it is hard to tell what people really are like in the real world since this technology fixes so many things for use. "I'm blind," She stated bluntly now standing up and smiling toward Ebony. "Or I am blind in real life I suppose, but here in SAO everything is clear as day it seems. I never actually had the guts to ask someone till just now to figure this out. "I'm actually not even a gamer I am a scientist at Nippon Gakushi-in Academy studying the neurology and ophthalmology of how this virtual reality is capable of capturing images even for those who are blind. I must admit I never imagined living a game for the next portion of my year but I have to make the most of it I suppose." 

Spoiler

TRANSLATION

'I never knew how beautiful a sunset could be till I entered this strange virtual reality, yet here I am smiling and looking out across the horizon of a snow cover mountain top.'

[Ebony 0]

"Well, your a gamer now." Ebony said with a joking smile. "We all are." She had always been a gamer, although she had been more into board and card games like chess and poker before becoming stuck here. She gently punched the girls shoulder. "So, you seem fairly new to the combat aspects of the game, just judging by the fact that your outside of the safe zone without any armor or anything. Do you want to talk about your build or anything? I'm pretty experienced myself, so i can help you plan out what sort of gear and skills you might want."

[Avilon 0]

As her shoulder was pushed by Ebony she nodded and blinked rather shocked of the amount of strength she had, more then herself that was for sure. She slowly began typing up more information about how skills and leveling were a large factor after all. "Y-yeah I suppose I am a video gamer now aren't I?" A gut wrenching feeling in her stomach as she wasn't enthusiastic about it. Her own face however revealed nothing wrong it her as she continued to smile. "I would love to talk about theses builds you are talking about," she said now standing up dressed in the new jacket and a rather short one piece dress as she peeked over toward her companion. "I just have one question if you don't mind me asking," speaking rather calmly as she had no clue about video games or the terms used in them. "What's a build?"

[Ebony 0]

Ebony looked at the girl a little surprised that after all of this time in the game that she didn't know what a build was. "Well, a build is a configuration of skills and equipment that help a player to specialize. My friend has a damage build, so all of her points go into dealing damage. Thats a DPS build. A tank gets tons of mitigation, and a healer puts their skill points into first aid. There are lots of combinations of these three, but those are the main ones." She explained. "My build is a bit more complicated, but i suppose it's closest to a hybrid between a healer and a tank. I have all of the healing skills maxed, as well as a good amount of mitigation and self healing abilities." She continued explaining.

[Avilon 0]

As she spoke, more and more braille writing appeared as she was first and foremost a student of habit who thought everything she learned ought to be written down. "Right got it now, well I guess I'm not really all that skilled at the fighting part at this exact moment." She pursed her lips and sent them up to the right of her face uncertain. "Uhh I will go with the easiest build so I think that is tank right I just literally get pretty new armor and sit there while I get beaten on?" Avilon stated now glancing over to her new friend who was thankfully quite skilled in this game. Right now I can actually just use a sword then right?" She stated now tapping through the menu which she had written so she could read it. 

Edited May 3, 2016 by Avilon

[Ebony 0]

Ebony raised an eyebrow, wondering where she had gotten the idea that tank was the easiest build. "Tank is by far the hardest build and requires the most skill points. Second only to my build which needs even more points, but thats beside the point. Well, your going to want a piece of armor with full mitigation, a shield with thorns and then some regen armor." She said, trusting the girl to write it down. "Any blacksmith you talk to will know what you mean if you ask for those." She stated. "And yes, you can use a sword."

[Avilon 0]

Avilon frowned and hung her head as she had her idea pointed out completely wrong as she was still uncertain to these terms. "S-sorry I just thought that it would be easier to just walk around and not care about damage then it is in the dealing damage." She laughed more hesitantly and rubbing the back of her head feeling particularly stupid as she nodded hearing this rather technical talk about needing mitigation and regeneration armor.  So, I need to go around the shops and find myself a blacksmith and buy me some good gear, but I need some col ... which I don't really have much of anything as every penny that I usually have is put to the orphanage that I help maintain back on floor one.

[Ebony 0]

Ebony frowned, hoping that the girl wasn't trying to scam her. She opened her inventory, selected some col, and sent a trade request to her. "Here, go buy yourself some armor. And make sure it's heavy armor too." She stated. "And dont worry about paying me back, i get way too much money from the boss fights anyway." She paused for a moment, runningher gloved hand through her long black hair. "I never got your name."

[Avilon 0]

Avilon blinked and peered over as the girl initiated a trade for col her eyes blinking ab it shocked as she never managed to charm a girl before into assisting her, or maybe it was just pity as she was rather helpless. She wasn't even certain she would be able to find a proper blacksmith on her own, "I'm sorry I really can't accept such a loan I don't even know where I would go to find the gear I need. Besides I'm pretty bad with money as I would probably just use it tot help buy food for the weaker people on floor one." She admitted now looking back to the girls gloves as she was asked for her name. Standing perfectly still she began to pace back through her entire conversation with the woman before wondering if she really hadn't introduced herself. "There was the coat, then I questioned her about how realistic part ... then I guess we got into the conversation about builds and the like and now we ... ohh" Her own through process now on display as she began to laugh feeling completely stupid. "S-so sorry I'm Avilon it's a pleasure to meet you. And yes as in the city in Arthurian legend was picked by the group for my avatar as we experimented with the nerve gear equipment."

[Ebony 0]

Ebony smiled at the girl. "It's your money now to do with what you want. Just accept it. I get a lot of money just going about my life as a frontliner. Your just starting out, you need it more than me." She explained. She adjusted her stance slightly before speaking again, slightly uncomfortable from standing in the same place for a while. "It's nice to meet you Avi. With any luck we'll be able to get you strong in no time."

[Avilon 0]

"T-thank you so much I'm indebted to you for all this, I probably can't repay you for a while as I don't think I have the skills or levels yet to be of use on the front-lines." She murmured rather embarrassed now accepting the transaction of credits. As she watched her uncomfortably shifting her stance she began to realize that they had been standing here in the snow for a while. "Here why don't I go and get us both some hot cocoa at the tavern it's the least I can do for your generous donation. I would probably be dead in two weeks time if it wasn't for this."

[Ebony 0]

Ebony walked towards the girl and gave her a gentle, short hug, before releasing her. "You dont need to repay me, it's a gift from one player to another. We're all in this together after all." She started to lead the way towards the main settlement. "Cocoa would be nice. Thenwe can really talk in depth about your build, or anything you'd like really." She said, glad to have found a friend. She seemed stable and calm, steadfast. Maybe Ebony would be able to confide in her eventually.

[Avilon 0]

She blushed suddenly as her own body was now embraced by her new companion confused about the entire situation they were now being located in. "Well thanks and all for the hug I must admit I wasn't particularly certain of what we will be doing." She peered around wondering how this all would go. "Sorry about all of this but I got a little turned around by all of this tanks to the crazy stuff that had been going on. "I've never was all that great with directions do you remember which way to go?" She then blinked and noticed as Ebony already knew which way they were going.

[Ebony 0]

Ebony looked over at Avi who seemed quite flustered from a simple hug. "Yes, I know where we're going Avi-chan." She replied, reaching a hand out to grasp the girls hand, leading her into a nearby cafe. Ebony had been there quite a bit before, so the waiter recognized her and gave her a nod and a smile. She led Avi to a nearby booth and sat down as the waiter walked over.