[OP-F16-NK] Fall beach fest

[Zandra 0]

At the beach on floor sixteen, a short walk from the main settlement, lies a house. Or rather, a beach house. This particular house belongs to a man and a woman. It also works as the woman personal labratory and store. But today, her intention was not to sell or craft any potions or crystals. No. Today was the day she had prepared for quite awhile by now. But luckily, there was alot of stuff from her summer beach party she could use. Since her intention was to be holding a fall beach fest. But probably not many players would be on the huge grassfirld that the sand turned into after twenty to thirty meters or so. Since her was placed poles in the ground with some space between them. In each of the upside down L-shaped poles, there hung a lantern. Thou at the moment, none of them was lit. But the evning wasnt many hours away. After the beach party, she had also experimented with an idea she got from another alchemist, and today, the area was filled with sprites flying around in random routes across the fields. Here and there on the field, was also placed square tables with two or three chairs on each longside of the tables. On every table there was a couple of different coloured potions. Red, green and blue. On the bottles the text was readed as Red=Apple, Green=Pear and Blue=Blueberry. When Zandra, the maker of the fest stood on the field and looked around she nodded."Yepp, this will do. The only thing missing now is guests." She said to herself and started writing a world-wide announcement.

Hello dear players!

Are you tired of training, grinding and working your ass off all day? Or maybe you want to meet some new friends and bind new bonds? Or just enjoy an evning together with other people that also wants to drop by. There is already plenty of drinks to ease your thirst or refresh your minds. But if you want to bring your own food or drinks, thats totally fine. Well, Im waiting for you and would love to see the field filled with players, enjoying a day off from training.

//Best regards, Zandra

[Kasier 0]

The day was a sunny one and to anyone that was new to the first floor, they would expect the day to be a good day, full of excitement and action. However, that was far from the case. Ever since she had reached the level fifteen, Kasier had wanted to move her shop higher up the floors so that she can enjoy and experience new things about this world. The first floor could do nothing for her at this point, except bring her waves and waves of boredom that haunted her from the moment that she gets out of bed everyday all the way until she sleeps. Sometimes, her sleep is filled with nightmares as well, an effect caused by the repetitiveness of this floor.

She needed to get out and go somewhere else; Kasier was given the chance. She really didn’t get messages that much and she was surprised to see that it came from quite a well-known player known as Zandra. Even though Kasier had heard Zandra’s name, she was unaware of Zandra’s personality and appearance. Wanting to know more, she decided that instead of walking around the first floor for the day, she would head up to the sixteenth floor and experience a new sensation when she is up there.

Kasier’s black hair flew as she soon reached the floor. Upon finding the location that the beach party was to take place in, she soon found the person that appeared to be hosting the event. “Good evening,” Kasier began to say, “You are Ms. Zandra? I’ve heard about you quite a bit but never really seen you with my own eyes. Hopefully a player as low-leveled as me wouldn’t bother you. By the way, do you have swimsuits I can borrow? I forgot to get one.

Edited September 11, 2016 by Kasier

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru wasn't much for these sort of things nowadays, as he was busy slaving away at trying to catch up with the rest of the higher players in level. But he knew that too much of one thing was bad for you, so when he noticed a small message from Zandra, a frontliner that he had met once or twice, he decided to go and see what it would be all about. He yawned and came with his familiar Sutetchi on his shoulder, in a bit more comfortable clothes than his armor. He soon entered onto the 15th floor and made his way to where the party was to be commencing. With his dagger Yamkimba on his belt and his Amulet under his shirt, he felt well protected from anything that would happen. He looked to see Zandra and another young player at the meeting area, and he came over with a bright smile

"Hey Zandra! Long time no see! How have you been?" He asked politely with a small bow. He turned to the other player and gave a small smile "And hello! My name is Hikoru, pleased to meet you!" He said with a small chuckle and bowed. His ferret familiar looked at the both of them with it's eyes looking into theirs, his nose twitching and gaining their scent. They seemed trustworthy, although the small familiar couldn't tell from here, but he would just have to wait and see how things turn out for now, and hoped that no creatures would come and attack whilst they were here. Hikoru stood as the familiar lost balanced and fell, Hikoru acting quickly and catching the small creature, and laughing slightly. He put him back on his shoulder and sighed "Be careful bud, don't want you to get hurt." He said with a small chuckle

[Zandra 0]

First one to arrive was a young woman with beutiful long black hair. She walked up to Zandra and the alchemist met her with a smile on her lips. "Yes, Im miss Zandra." Then her eyes rose as the newly arrived said she had herd quite a bit. "Oh, you have? What have you herd about me miss..?" She asked, gave her a wink about reaveling her name. "You wanna borrow a swimsuit?" She then asked. She looked at the sun that was on its way down into the ocean. "Are you sure? Its getting kinda late for a swim, and the only I have is a bikini thats... ehm... shows quite alot skin."

"Hello there Hikoru." She said when the next player that wanted to attend to her fest arrived. "Well, except the floor boss raid meeting there was quite some time ago." She gave a quick glance around the area. "I like to have alot of ålayers attending to the fest. But maybe Im mean but, I hope you know who not gonna come. She could easily ruin the mood in seconds. After what she said at the meeting, I wont be on her side again. How do you feel about it?"

[Bhairyuu 0]

Bhairyuu had gotten the invite about the fall beach fest and so he decided that he would take the day off from his usual explorations and check out the gathering, especially since it was at the beach and also since the invite mentioned lots of free drinks being available. As he was never one to turn down free drink and food, he hurried off to the Teleport Gate after dressing for the occasion, his chosen outfit this time being his black muscle tee covering most of his torso, a knee-length black swim trunks extending from the waist down which had affixed to it his <<Silver Cutlass>> and which was modified to be held up by his utility belt containing his Inventory, his usual black fingerless gloves on both hands, and his black long tabi boots. Finally on his head was his black medium sized Chinese hat with a Egyptian headdress style light cloth extension colored with alternating neon green and black stripes. Upon reaching the Teleport Gate, he announced his destination in his clear voice

"Teleport! Floor 16!"

Within mere moments, he found himself standing in the main settlement of Floor 16. Not wanting to waste time, Bhairyuu immediately left and cautiously made his way over to the beach and the beach-house both of which were unfamiliar to him since if he were to get caught in a battle while still being such a low level player, it would be a king sized hassle to extricate himself from it. He eventually reached the beach-house and cast his keen, piercing jade green gaze about his surroundings, looking about for any familiar faces while enjoying the breeze that was blowing through his jet-black hair which was, as usual, pulled up into a high spiky pony tail. Soon, he spotted the woman whom he now knew to be Zandra, the same on that had given him some free potions a while back and so, he headed over to her since none of the other players looked all that familiar to him. Upon reaching within earshot, he called out

"Hello, Ms. Zandra! Long time no see!"

 

[Oikawa 1]

Crimson eyes scoured the area. Instinctively his gaze kept glancing over to the lass that trailed not too much farther behind him. Black and blue strands gently bouncing in his peripheral as she followed him to the event Zandra had put together. As they neared the beach house, Oikawa paused a minute to allow Kiru to catch up.

"It's just up ahead."

Taking her hand in his own, he led her to the party that seemed to still be getting started. While he recognized the two front-liners, his eyebrow raised at the sight of two lower leveled players. While normally he would try to break the ice with them to alleviate the tension that came with his crystal, he cared little for their opinion of him at the moment. He had only decided to bring Kiru so they could enjoy themselves from all the training they had been doing as of late. Locating the host, Oikawa offered Zandra a bow and hello.

"It's been a while Zandra. How are you? Jomei?" Looking back to Kiru, he nearly chuckled. Unsure if the two knew each other, he offered a small introduction between them. "Kiru, this is Zandra. Best First Aid-er in all of Aincrad. Zandra this is Kiru. Ex-Brigadier and Maverick Hunter."

Looking towards the two-toned hair girl once more, he gestured towards the drink table.

"Shall we?"

[Kasier 0]

“No thanks, then, I guess.” Kasier said, her red amber eyes switching off from Zandra’s face as she walked off. However, before she walked off to enjoy herself, she would inform the front liner of her goals. Indeed, Kasier was going to be a healer, and Zandra, who was both a damage dealer and a healer should be able to focus a lot on the actual damage dealing part once Kasier is able to level up high enough and participate in the floor bosses that has been killed off quite a bit recently. Still, considering the low amount of healers available at the moment, Kasier knew that she will have to eventually branch off into another class.

Probably healer. Kasier considered, opening her mouth once more to speak, “Um, by the way, I’m planning to become a healer on the frontlin…” However, a man who had come out of the shadows soon interrupted her short passage of speech. It was strange that she couldn’t sense the man’s arrival and hence, she knew that the man was definitely of a strong ranking in this world. Although he didn’t look like it, although everyone in this party didn’t look like it, most of them were, indeed, very strong and high-leveled players who were taking a break from training.

Of course, Kasier was an exception, along with some other people. With a sigh, she left the scene and headed to the drink stand to help her with some apple flavored juice.

[Kiru 0]

This was my first time to the sixteenth floor in Aincrad, I had not even known we made it this far. This went to show just how many boss battles I had sat out of during my leave. However, this did not stop me from admiring the scenery, everything was a shimmering utopia in my eyes. Other than Delilah Village on the third floor and the Fourth Floor, this would have probably claimed a spot in my favorite floors list. If there was one word to describe the floor it would be bountiful. It was like a volcanic island of the sorts floating in the ocean. My breath was taken back by this sudden surprise until I remembered the blonde ahead of me, I had not realized that I had stopped in my tracks to enjoy the view. Quickly, I began towards him and kept his pace, a tad embarrassed for letting go so easily. After all, anyone who knew me would know that I had been acting uncharacteristically spacey ever since Zelrius died. Though his death did not make me happy, it was more of a self defense mechanism, not letting anyone other than Oikawa and Opal know how truly devastated I was. Even with the young Zel in the back of my mind, I pressed forward and would force myself to be happy because I knew if he were here he would want me to be. Slowly, the image of Zelrius' blonde hair merged with Oikawa's and I was once again brought back to my knight, Oikawa. 

I nodded even if he could not see it. 

Once again, his bare hand touched mine. I was only slightly surprised with his action, but not too much. Ever since our run-in with Opal he had been with me. He only left my side a couple of times to go do personal things or quests that I could not participate in yet. It didn't bother me when he left, in fact it probably counted as a breather for the both of us since we were both too pent up to think of anything other than the promises that we would die to keep. Doing training for awhile possibly augmented them as well, so they had taken over both of our lives. Not only that but the sheer amount of time we were with each other most likely strengthen our bond even more, and perhaps elevated more than that. Even so, I gave a slight squeeze to hide hand to let him know I was paying at least a smidge of attention to anything he might say. 

This quickly changed however when we suddenly arrived at the party scene. I once again had not realized how out of it I was, especially today. The only people I recognized were Jomei, whom I could not recall where I knew him from, and Hikoru. I was pretty sure he was married to my self proclaimed sister, Ariel. The other three I had never seen before, or at least I didn't remember it at all. Instinctively, I looked at Oikawa's cursor, something I did with Keith whenever we went somewhere with other people. I was sure Oikawa must have felt a little compelled to explain his crystal but I figured he was too polite to leave me, the person he came with to justify himself. 

We walked over to a younger girl, who I presumed was Zandra, the host. From her looks I could tell that she was a higher level, which automatically meant respect. I smiled out of courtesy to Zandra and nodded my head slightly, "It's very nice to meet you, Zandra. I have never met a healer before and I can say, I am not disappointed, I hope you're on my team if I do the next boss battle. Oh and if you don't know already, a Maverick Hunter is someone who hunts down PKers, kind of like a hitman," I stated, attempting to alleviate any confusion, "Of course, I do pick and choose which ones stay alive." I gestured my hand to Oikawa and smiled a little. Surely she would wonder how my cursor was green, and if she did I might explain- but give the shortened version. After I exchanged pleasantries, I turned to look into the crimson pools. which were already staring at me. 

"We shall." 

[Zandra 0]

A few more people started to arriving at the scene. The first of the newcomers she spotted was a man. The man got her attention and she looked at him. As she saw his face she thougth she had seen him somewhere. Thou she had not a single clue of where. That felt only more embarrasing when he greeted her like he knew who she was. She answered so he wouldnt realise it and naybe she could figure out where they. "It surely was. How are you nowadays?" She asked him with a friendly smile on her lips.

Zandra smiled towards the blackhaired girl. "Oh, you are? Thats awesome. Im that as well and it would be nice to have one on the frontlines so I dont have to wear all responsibility on myself. But dont take me wrong. Its not like I dont want to help the fellow players, but I can be everywhere at once." Zandra placed her hand on the training healers shoulder. "Looking forward to see you there."

The arrival of another couple of guests and the leave of Kasier made Zandra turned around and looked at no one less the the faint. "Well hello there. It surely was." Zandra looked around. With a sad tone in her voice. "Well, he have been gone for quite some by now. I have no idea where he is." She went quiet for some couples of seconds. "But I shall not ruin the mood by talking about such stuffs." She said with a cheerful tone and expression. Thou the man she loved was still in her mind. "I see you brought a friend." She then turned towards the player that was a total stranger to her. A faint tone of red appeared on her cheeks when Oikawa introduced her as the best healer in Aincrad. It was true thou, but this was one of the first, if not the first, time she had herd it spoken out loud. The girl had quite some different looks. Her long hair was half white and half black. Zandra liked the look, at least on Kiru, that Oikawa introduced her. She answered the nod. "Im glad I didnt ruined my proffession." Her looked confused about the title he introduced the girl as. Maverick hunter? Thou the hunter quickly explained it for her. "I better dont kill anyone then. Dont would like to have you chasing me. Hehe."

As the couple headed for some drinks Zandras gaze across the fest area. Not that many players had yet to arrive. But opposite to last time, the majority of the players was high leveled. She just hoped this wouldnt scare of lower ones.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru was delighted to see the party to liven up, and he came over to his friend Oikawa with a warm smile and a small laugh. He was glad to see his "rival" doing well in the game, and with a young girl no doubt. A girl he hadn't seen in a long, long time. He gave a small laugh and gave her a small bow, standing slowly with a wide grin on his face

"Ms. Kiru! It's been far too long! How have you been?" He asked happily. He was happy to see  her more than anything, as she was someone that he looked up to. He gave a small sigh and chuckle, then turned to Oikawa, giving him a small laugh and held out his hand politely "Mr. Faint, the ParaGod in the flesh. How are you doing today?" He asked politely. He awaited his answer quietly, and watched as his familiar ran down his awaiting arm and sniffed at Oikawa and Kiru, curious about them. He whistled and called the familiar back up, and he followed reluctantly, not entirely trusting of Kiru or Oikawa. He just scratched his familiar's chin and comforted him, calming his small mind and bringing him back to his normal everyday self

[Jomei 0]

Through the sound of clashing blades, the ginger haired man heard a light ping, signaling that he had received a message. Guess I should check to see who that is, Jomei thought to himself as he took a step back and lunged with his blade pointed forward, piercing straight into the chest of the mob that he had been fighting against. The man, who's skin glistened with sweat from training all day and with heavy breaths, brought his free hand up to tap on the small mail icon to see just who it was. A message from Zandra, saying that she was throwing another party for the weary people of Aincrad. Most likely at their house. Jomei smirked and sheathed his blade before wiping the moisture from his forehead with the back of his hand. "Well, it'd be rude of me to not show my face." she said with a chuckle, closing out the message and turning back towards the town on the floor he was currently on.

After warping onto the sixteenth floor, Jomei easily made the trek through the jungle lands as if he knew the island like the back of his hand. He had made so many frequent trips to and from his home that it should not have proven any difficulty for him. And, soon enough, the man emerged from the trees onto the sandy beach, the place he called home just off in the distance. He noticed that there was already a number of attendees, so with a smile, the man swiped open his inventory and switched out his dark armor for his standard town clothes and cloak. With the green cloth flowing in the gentle fall breeze behind him, Jomei walked down the beach to where everyone was settled. There were a couple of people he did not recognize, but he saw that Hikoru, Kiru, Oikawa, and of course, Zandra were all present. He had not seen Oikawa since Zelrius' death.. but he had gotten enough information out of Opal to know not to put all of the blame on him. Oikawa was a good friend to him, so he needed to trust that his intentions were good. However, as much as he wanted to speak to his friends, he knew what he needed to do first. As the man continued to walk towards the house, he made sure to make eye contact with his noirette and smile. "Well, quite the get together you've got going on here."

[Calrex 0]

"Well, it certainly seems to be a lively group here."

Calrex had received the message as well, having made his way from the Amethyst Boutique over to the sixteenth floor. It seemed that Zandra was hosting another beach party, similar to how Lowenthal had done his own some time back on the eleventh floor. Pretty much everyone here he recognized, save one person. He gave a friendly nod to everyone present.

Since they were at the beach, he had opted for a pair of swim trunks with a black and dark blue color scheme to them, although he did keep the Amethyst Charm and Tide Pendant on his person, both hanging around his neck as accessories. The only other thing he had kept from his regular set of gear was the Grand Blade II, which was attached to the back of his hip as usual.

Putting his hands into his pants pockets he looked around, giving a friendly smirk to Jomei, "Good to see you're all doing well. Feeling up for another spar later? We've gotta settle that tie we've currently got going."

[Bhairyuu 0]

Bhairyuu had smiled back at @Zandra when she greeted him and then he had replied with a smile of his own while stretching lightly

"I am doing quite well, Ms. Zandra. I am just about to begin my skill training in a few more days time, so I am quite excited for that. I just hope I dont end up dying anytime soon before I have had the chance to go as far as I can. Your potions should help greatly in my survival..."

He was about to say more, but then Zandra's attention was caught by the other guests at her party, so he politely excused himself and went over to a choice spot on the beach that he had picked out earlier and then sat down, leaning back on his elbows with his long well-toned legs sprawled out a little before him. From that position, he began one of his favorite hobbies...people watching, all the while hoping he would get to see some amusing characters so that he could have fun interacting with them. Slowly but surely several minutes passed by, and since he was feeling thirsty, he decided to head up to the drinks stand to see what sort of items they had on hand.

[Khrysaor 0]

Khrysaor was bored out of his wits. He had nothing to do, except go through the usual routines, every single day and wanted to do something more exciting and fun. At the moment, Khrysaor was out on floor 8 just outside his shop and sitting down on a ledge of one of the branches of Florenthia Village, looking onwards, when out of nowhere he got a message. He opened up his menu and went to the messages tab to look at the most recent one.

Khrysaor took a moment to skim through it and mused, "Well, this should help take my mind off things. I remember the first beach fest Zandra put together in the summer or was that the spring. Oh well who cares, at least it sounds interesting. I should go check it out and enjoy a drink or two if nothing else." Khrysaor geared down into some black swimming trunks, and started ti make his way towards the teleportation gates. Once, he was surrounded by the light of the teleportation gate, Khrysaor stated clearly, "Teleport-Floor 16" and he could be seen disappearing in a swirl of bluish-white light.

Only to reappear on Floor 16, he started to look around at his surroundings for a few minutes, and mumbled in thought, "Now where was that beach house. Oh yea now I remember it should be that way." Khrysaor headed in the know direction of the beach and saw a small group of players there already.

He recognized his good friend Ryuu that was already there, that he was going to start to converse with but before he did, he first headed towards the hostess of the party, and greeted Zandra, "Hey there Zandra, it's been a while. I don't think you remember me, since its been a while and we had only met at one or two times before, but my name was Khrysaor."

[Bhairyuu 0]

Bhairyuu had ordered his drink and was waiting for it to come while he leaned back against the counter and in a leisurely manner, he was checking out the goings on across the beach as far as his eyes could see them. It was then that he noticed his friend @Khrysaor among the newcomers to the beach fest and lifted his right hand in a lazy wave to him and then watched with a smirk as Khrys went up to Zandra and greeted her. A few seconds later, while he waited for Khrys to come to get his drink, he swept his penetrating jade green gaze filled with a mildly curious expresson across the beach, observing each individual and trying to see if he could apply the Holmesian observational method to try to glean whatever information he could about the people without actually going up to them and engaging them in conversation.

[Khrysaor 0]

After, Khrysaor was done greeting Zandra, he looked up into the blaring sun and felt his throat was parched, so he decided he wanted to get some drink. He looked back towards Zandra and said, "Well, it was nice meeting you again, now I think there is drink over there with my name on it. See ya Zandra."

He walked towards @Bhairyuu and the drink stand and lazily waved in greeting to his friend, while looking over the menu of drinks for the party. "Well, that sucks, its too bad they don't have the good stuff, like Gin, Vodka or Rum. I can never seem to find them around here. It looks like I will have to make due with some cold beer." said Khrysaor. Then he looked over to Bhairyuu and asked cryptically, "Oh yea, I remember one of the first times we met, you happened to be looking for something like Gin. Had any luck in your search so far? Have you found out where they could be, I would love a chance to have one of those drinks as well."

Khrysaor knew Ryuu should be able to figure out his coded message, he was referencing some of Detective Conan's BO characters, and Bhairyuu himself was looking for these types of people within the game, since that was why he entered the game in the first place, and he was also asking if Ryuu seems to find their whereabouts, he would like to have a go at them, too. Khrysaor then looked out towards the ocean and acted as if he did not say anything significant.

[Bhairyuu 0]

Bhairyuu let out a brief, deep, rumbling chuckle as he heard @Khrysaor reference some characters from his most favorite anime of all time and turned about in his seat since his drink had just now arrived, this one being something akin to a drink called "Sherry" in the real world. So he turned his head slightly towards Khrys and with a smirk, he replied while gently swirling the drink in the goblet with his index finger

"Hmm, I haven't been able to locate any of those three you mentioned, but I HAVE located "Sherry"...so it's a start at the very least...and in case you're wondering if I will let you in on the fun, the answer is yes, bud."

After that brief reply, he too turned around towards the ocean and started to watch the passersby with a nonchalant expression in his eyes and a slightly amused ghost of a grin on his thin lips as he waited to see if Khrys would understand what he meant by his cryptic reply.

[Khrysaor 0]

"Ohhh, you actually found some "Sherry"... You are right at least its a start, maybe I should just cancel the beer order and instead have some of what you are having. At least it looks much better, then the brown foamy drink." Khrysaor said with a chuckle. he headed back to the drink bar for a change in order, and then went back to sit down next to @Bhairyuu.

As he waited for his order, he looked out towards the ocean and some of the players goofing off in the distance, and said forlornly to his friend, "Looks like its not as active here as it was that one time we came here. That was my first time at a beach party and it was pretty hectic, but now look at the place. It feels like a ghost town... no I meant to say ghost infested beach. You would think there would be more people here especially with the nice weather." Then he heard the bell from the drink bar chime indicating his drink was ready. He stood up and dusted himself of sand and headed back to the bar.

[Bhairyuu 0]

Bhairyuu nodded to Khrys as he too looked out at the now more or less deserted beach and commented

"Yea, it really is a shame, but hey at least I got to see some interesting characters here...some of them seem to be frontliners too, so all in all not a bad turnout...though I do agree it could have been more..."

He then watched as Khrys went to get his drink and while waiting for his buddy to come back, he continued to observe the various figures on the beach, idly wondering where Zandra was and whether she would want to hold something like this beach fest again. As he observed the passersby, he took a few more sips of his "Sherry" and decided to get more after Khrys was done ordering his drink, musing over the various members of the secret organization he was on the hunt for and wondered what they were up to and how exactly he would go about tracking them down and punishing them for their crimes in the real world.

[Khrysaor 0]

Khrysaor went up to the stall and got his drink, before heading back and sitting by Ryuu's side in silence. He brought his drink up to his lips and smiled at the exotic taste of the wine testing it in his mouth. He could tell it seemed similar to the taste the wine "Sherry" gave in the real world. He pondered about what his next thing to do on his agenda was after the beach fest.He was thinking, 'I think it about time I take my leave, there does not seem to be too much activity happening here today. I am in need to do some quests and hunt for some more material.'

With that thought Khrysaor downed his drink in 1 shot, glad he only took little bit of the wine so he was sober and got up. He turned to Bhairyuu and said, "I think it is about time I get going, buddy. Just call me if you find yourself in a pickle and need help with that little pest problem of yours. Well, you know where to find me."

He then headed in the direction of Zandra and made a small bow, and said "See ya Zandra, it was at least a little relaxing getting out for a while. Thank you for the party, but I think it is time for me to take my leave. Bye." He left the beach waving goodbye to both Zandra and @Bhairyuu and made his way into a patch of trees, heading back in the direction and location of the teleportation gate.