[OP-F1-NK] Meet Up

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Ivory smiled and waited in the fields outside of the starter city. She had posted a notice on the message boards for a meet and greet of sorts. She had been wanting to get to know the other players in the game better for a long time, and hopefully this would provide an opportunity to do so. She didnt have any tables or anything set up like the last meet up she had been to, but she felt as though it wouldnt matter that much. She was confident that plenty of people would show up, and if they got bored they could always test their strengths against each other. The strong players always liked doing that sort of thing. She hummed to herself as she awaited the first arrival, walking in circles and kicking at the grass happily, in her own little world. She couldnt wait to make all sorts of friends and to chat the day away. It didnt occur to her that the day might go badly or that no one might show up.

[Lessa 1]

Everything seemed to change within the confines of Sword Art Online. Players found reasons to live, or reasons to die. Relationships and weapons were forged, dulled, and either sharpened or abandoned entirely. New quests were taken, and new adventures were had. Not a single day passed that a player was not changed, somehow, by the game.

But the first floor never changed. The same breeze whispered across the fields, the ankle-high grass bowing gracefully beneath its will. The same handful of boars trotted about, snorting grumbling warnings at low-level players. The same, breathtaking sky shifted through its normal settings, painted light blue in the day, and shades of brilliant pink, orange, orange with each dawn and dusk. 

There was both discomfort and reassurance in this rigid, unchanging place. It was true that the negative emotions still lingered, as this was the spot where the horrible truth of their situation had been revealed. All players had learned of their fate on this very floor, many of whom were no longer present. It was a sobering thought, and one that kept many higher-level players away.

But Lessa found some peace in knowing that the first floor was entirely stationary. At this point, she had come to learn its many quirks. She could slay the mobs that had once paralyzed her with fear. She could locate the materials that had once required a full day of searching. Even if she had control over nothing else in her life, she had control over this.

As such, she strode confidently toward the location of the posted get-together. The message had indicated that there would be duels, and she recognized that she needed to grow stronger if she hoped to feel this same ease on the higher floors. When she reached the designated location, however, she found it to be nearly abandoned. Only one other player waited there, humming to herself as she paced.

Not wanting to startle the girl, Lessa slowed to a halt a short distance away, and raised her hand in greeting. "Hi there. Are you Ivory Lotus?"

[Domarus 0]

Domarus was in a decent mood today.  He had finally increased his weapon skill rank once more, reaching rank four.  Once he maxed it out he would focus on getting the ferocity mods to deal the most damage.  Once damage was out of the way he'd work on battle healing and a few other skills.  Most players would see this as a chance to celebrate.  Even Keres wanted to do something with Domarus, something fun.  However Domarus saw it as an almost, close but not close enough.  He wanted to max out his damage as quickly as possible.  As they walked through the town Keres spotted something that might change things.

"Master, look."  Domarus watched where she pointed and spotted the notice.  He walked over and read it with swift, calculative eyes.  A gathering for meeting other players huh?  This would be the ultimate and perfect chance for him to get a good feel for the potential out there.  Some may be good followers, others might be players he'd need to avoid in the future.  He wasn't sure.  All that mattered was he learn about all the other players out there as soon as he could.  He nodded.

"This is a good opportunity.  Good eye Keres.  Alright then, I'll head over and check it out and you'll-"

"I don't want to go to the shop."  Domarus turned his eyes to Keres.  She rarely, if ever, talked back let alone told him otherwise.  He saw that her face was stern and hard, a serious look.  He looked carefully at her.

"I'm listening Keres."  

"I know you're wanting to get as strong as possible, as fast as possible, but even in the real world you took some time to relax, to hang out with me.  You haven't done anything to slow down yet.  Is it because Esther is under Addel's control?  You know she would hate to see you like this."  Domarus now understood that he had been neglecting his servant's needs, not only his servant but his first and possibly only true friend.  He stood in silence for a moment before sighing.

"Very well Raven.  We'll go together, and I'll try not to be a prick and relax for a change."  Keres gave a sharp nod as she wanted to see it before she believed it.  With that he made his way over to the specified area.  When he approached he spotted Ivory and an unknown player, Keres walking beside him in the maid outfit she had chosen.  When he approached he nodded to Ivory with a smile and greeted both players.

"Hello again Ivory.  Greetings there, my name is Domarus.  So is this all of the players for now?"

@Ivory Lotus @Lessa 

[Beatbox 0]

"A-another event huh...?" he whispered to himself as he read the messages that the board had, it was mostly filled with people trying to get help to get past floor 1 mobs and such and Beatbox hadn't been feeling well. He keeps remembering the messed up smile he had grown the other day... and it bugged him, it picked at his soul... he can't seem to forget about that messed up smile. He looked down thinking about going to this event in hopes to try to cheer up, however he feared that quite the opposite might happen... "well... you never know if you don't try..." he said to himself as he started walking out to the fields in which the location was spoke of. He arrived to the fields with his eyes barely visible, he had a dull look, he even shook at the thought at what he had displayed just the other day... he feared that his whole personality had changed on what had happened. He had looked up only for a moment to see who had been here, and it turns out... not that many we're hear, he looked back down and walked over to a spot and sat down, didn't say a word.

[Zulas 0]

Zulas had spent much of his time in the first floor. He had only been up to only a couple of floors. He wanted to eventually make it to the Frontlines, but he knew that he still had a long way to go. Also, if he did eventually was going to make it he knew that meeting some of the players on the Frontlines was an eventuality. He saw the message for an open event where a lot of players will go. It seemed to him a really good place to run into those players, and hopefully see what it was that made them Frontlines material. 

The young swordsman walked a little bit outside the city to find the place where the event was supposed to be held at. He found some players walking around and talking, but he leaned against a nearby tree and slumped down. He deduced that more would arrive eventually, so he sat quietly and watched the other players milling about. 

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Ivory smiled broadly and waved to the new woman enthusiastically. "Yes ma'am, I'm Ivory!" She said, introducing herself. Just then she heard another two pairs of footsteps and her grin broadened. More people for her to hang out with! She turned to face them excitedly and was pleasantly surprised to see Domarus and Keres. "Yep. This is everyone, but I'm sure that more people will be coming soon." She smiled at Keres. "You look very cute today Keres-chan." As she spoke she noticed another person approaching before wandering off and sitting down with a glum expression on their face. She looked to Domarus. "Ill leave you three to it. I have some cheering up to do." She said before walking over to the man. She sat down next to him and gave him a gentle punch on the shoulder. "What's wrong?" She asked, smiling kindly, prepared to do her best to cheer the poor guy up. It was what she saw her purpose in life to be anyway, to make everyone happier.

@Beatbox

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox hadn't been seeing the people that been entering, if there was any in the first place, and he had no business listening on anyone's conversations. He sighed and sat there to himself, waiting... thinking about the monster that he saw in himself... he didn't want to become that, he wants to be the star he has always wanted to be... not someone who ends peoples dreams all together... he wants to encourage, motivate, and cheer up people... however seeing that smile, that one smile... broke the flashy blonde haired player. After a bit of thinking he felt a punch on his shoulder and someone had sat next to him, he didn't look over... he didn't see who it was, but it certainly wasn't someone he has heard from before, he doesn't recognize her voice at all. He didn't move at all he didn't look over or tilt or move his head. Instead, he took a deep breath and said to her "And you are...?"

@Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

She smiled, glad that she had at least gotten a reaction. "I'm Ivory, but you can pretty much call me whatever you'd like. One of my friends calls me Kitty." She stated, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. "I came over here because your looking pretty down. To tell the truth, I really want to make you feel better, but i understand that sometimes we, as humans, just want to wallow in our misery. I just want you to know that you can tell me anything at all." She said, one of her cat ears cocking a little bit as she waited for his reply. She hoped that she wasnt being too straightforward, but she felt as though sometimes that was the best way to talk to someone. "Ill even try to give advice if you want that. I know that we dont know each other at all, but I truly do care about your happiness, whether or not you believe it."

@Beatbox

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox had listened and grew a wider grin, he was clearly upset, but it was nice to get to know someone who had cared for others happiness and generally others, he sighed and looked over only a tad bit. "Well Kitty, the name's Beatbox... however you can just call me Beat if you want..." he said as he looked back forward and looked down in some disappointment in himself. He looked down again and a couple of tears ran down his face, "...it's probably better if you forgot about me though..." he said as he breathed. "I-I am growing into something I never wanted... I don't want to hurt anyone..." he said as tears ran down his face. "I hope you're happy dad... you've turned me into a monster..." he whispered to himself as he removed his headphones from his ears to his neck and removed his necklace that tightly wrapped his neck and he placed the necklace in his inventory and placed his hands on his face, messing up his hair. He sighed and looked over a bit to see if she had still been there.

@Ivory Lotus

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Ivory listened to him, noting that it sounded more as though he were talking to himself than to her. "Thats silly. Why would I want to forget you? I want to meet everyone in this world and do what I can to make them happier. Plus, your cute!" She said with a wink. Her face then turned serious as she looked directly at him. "I dont know the whole story here, but what I do know is that everyone has bad days, or even weeks. One bad decision doesnt make you bad. Do you what makes you good or bad?" She gave him a small smile. "Its your intention and desire. If you dont want to be a bad person then you arent. It doesnt matter whether you make the occasional mistake or have an occasional moment of hatred and evil." She said, really wanting to give him a comforting hug but not wanting to invade his personal space.

@Beatbox

[Beatbox 0]

Beatbox sighed as she had been speaking to him after he did, he shook his head with tears in his eyes. That smile, that evil smile... it terrifies him that he looked like that for a moment... even if it was for around 2 minutes it was still rather terrifying for him to see. He listened to her words and something caught him off guard... "cute", that word caught him off guard as he looked rather depressed at the current moment, yet she still called him "cute". He didn't understand it too fluently on why she would say something like that at a time like this, was it to cheer him up? Or did she really find this "popstar" of a player... "cute"? His horrible thoughts about himself quickly changed on what she had said out of pure shock. He had kept listening to her words as she had told him that he's not necessarily a bad person, a faint smile crawled up his face, however he did not look up... he kept looking down at his hands, not even looking to the side.

@Ivory Lotus

[Letty 0]

Letty had been walking around starting city looking for some kind of friend to meet up with. She saw a small group of players in the distance and grew a slight grin on her face. "Yes... hopefully they won't kill me..." Letty thought to herself upon seeing the group.

Letty unequiped her sword and approached the group. She walked up to a blonde haired player and sniffed her quickly. Realizing her mistake however, she stepped back from the player and acted as though she hadn't sniffed her.

"You look pretty. All of you. Umm... is this some kind of meeting for a party? Or just a little chat? Either way, I'm Letty! Nice to meet you I guess. You seem unhappy? What's wrong?" Letty asked quietly, not trying to attract too much attention.

Letty sniffed the blonde player again without even knowing that she was. "Smell nice..." Letty said as before stepping back again.

[Bhairyuu 0]

Bhairyuu had acquired the custom-order sword he had been wanting for so long and so later that day, after picking up the sword, he was once again wandering the streets of the <<Town of Beginnings>> looking for anything or anyone who could possibly prove amusing to him. After what seemed like hours of fruitless searching for entertainment, Bhairyuu was just about to give up when he came across a message board with a new notification on it, this one being about some meetup one of the players was organizing, and since he found it intriguing, Bhairyuu headed over to the coordinates indicated by the poster. Soon, he came upon an open field where he spotted a group of players gathered and he figured that somewhere among that group would be the poster of the notice he saw just a few minutes ago, so he headed over to them and called out with his hand moving up in a lazy sort of wave

"Hello there! How're you all doing?!"

His baritone but melodious voice cut through the air, drifting over to them while he took his sweet time walking up to them since he did not want to startle or provoke them into thinking him some sort of intruder. As he neared them, he took off his medium sized black colored Chinese hat and put on a polite smile on those thin lips of his since he figured it was the best way to avoid any potential unpleasantness that might arise if he behaved otherwise while looking about with his jade green eyes which now had a keen, piercing expression in them, indicating that his curiosity had been piqued by the group and by the prospect of getting to know more players who could become allies in the near future.

[Letty 0]

Letty turned around to see Bhairyuu walking towards the group. She slowly walked up to him and tilted her head sideways.

"Are you here for the meeting too? You seem cool. Just don't kill me. I'm Letty." Letty introduced herself as she took a quick sniff of Bhairyuu.

Letty quickly lifted up her breastplate slightly as it was beginning to sag down. "I wish they had my size. Anyway, I'm doing just fine! How have you been doing?" Letty responded to Bhairyuu as she took a step back.

Letty giggled for a little bit and smiled at Bhairyuu, "I hope we can get into good terms with each other." she said to Bhairyuu calmly.

[Aereth 1]

Just as every day Aereth finished his first daily workout session. The only difference today however was, that he hadn't bought anything to eat just yet so he decided to get back into the city and get something. 

After some minutes he was back in the Town of Beginnings and headed for his favourite sandwich shop. He loved sandwiches. They were fast to make and could be eaten easily without fork, spoon or knife. As he finished his meal he noticed a notification from Ivory Lotus. "So a kind of get together huh..." Usually Aereth decided to avoid this kind of meetings. But this time he decided to go and see what's going on there.

As he reached the meeting point he saw many people gathered around a certain young women, most definitely the women who sent the invitation, so he decided to get over to her and introduce himself to her. "Hi, you must be Ivory Lotus, I assume. My name's Aereth. Thank you for the invitation and it' nice to meet you." He said with a smile.

@Ivory Lotus

[Bhairyuu 0]

Bhairyuu chuckled as he watched the young woman who had just then walked up to him, introduced herself and actually sniffed him, something that he would readily admit he had never had done to him before now, either in the real world or in this death game, so seeing such a light-hearted person was a welcome change from all the other more serious grinder players he had encountered so far. So he spoke up after she was done, giving her a quick once over, his eyes lingering for a brief few moments on her breastplate as he studied it after she had drawn his attention to it, his keen jade green eyes now ablaze, glinting with hardly suppressed mirth as he realized he had encountered a truly intriguing person

"Oh I wouldn't worry too much about that, Letty...I personally think you still look pretty in your outfit even with a mismatched breastplate on...but if you're that worried about it...I have this blacksmith friend who can craft you a custom-order breastplate according to your specs that you give him..."

He paused for effect and then continued with a wide smirk on his thin lips

"I am doing quite well, myself, thanks for asking, and yes I am here for this meetup since I was searching for something amusing to do. I too think we would be able to get along quite well in due course and have quite a blast together...you seem to be a rather intriguing and amusing person, in the good way of course, so I am all for it. Here's to our newborn friendship then!"

Saying thus, he extended one of his large, well worn, muscular hands towards in a handshake if she desired to take it and in the meantime, he regarded her with curious eyes, his jade green gaze riveted on hers.

@Letty [OOC: I would have said Letty looks hot even in that outfit, but I figured you'd be really uncomfortable with that kind of talk, so I held off]

Edited October 25, 2016 by Bhairyuu

[Ivory Lotus 0]

Ivory smiled as she saw Beatbox let out a small smile. She leaned over and gave him a quick hug before standing up. "I have to introduce myself to all these other people, as im the one hosting this event. Afterwards we can hang out or whatever you want." She opened her HUD and sent him a friend request before waving goodbye to him as she walked away towards a newcomer. "Nice to meet you @Aereth. It's no problem, I love meeting new people and watching friendly competition." She smiled and hugged him in greeting before moving on. She had already talked to Domarus, Keres, and  the other woman... That left the three people, two of which appeared to be flirting. She didnt want to get in their way. Instead she made her way over to the third, a man who was sitting against a tree and looked as though he was waiting for something. "Heyo, I'm Ivory. Whats up?" She asked.

@Zulas

[Hakai 0]

Hakai wandered into the meeting area, unsurprised to see that quite a few people were already there. She had recognized the name of the woman hosting it as someone who she had heard about. Now that she saw the woman she realized that she had seen her before at the whole tournament thing that Rin and herself had set up. The girl had a reputation already for her empathy. Hakai thought that that was just stupid, but at least it meant that the girl wouldnt get in her way. She glanced around, the palm of her hand on her katana. There wasnt any fighting, and the only person that she was halfway interested in at this point was over next to Domarus. She looked around again, bored. Maybe things just hadnt picked up yet. She made her way over to @Bhairyuu and @Letty. They were obviously having their own little conversation, but to tell the truth Hakai didnt really care. She hadnt met them before, and although she wasnt particularly intrigued she at least wanted to know their names. "Whats up you two? I'm afraid we've never met before." She stated with a friendly tone.

[Zulas 0]

It had been a while that passed and more people came to the area where the message advertised. Zulas didn't know many people here, he had only seen them walking around town but had never interacted with them. There was only one other player that he had joined with in the past and that was Raze. He searched for him through the group of people but he couldn't see him anywhere. Maybe he wasn't coming, he thought.

Zulas then remembered that he had him as a contact so he opened the menu and proceeded to write him a message. "Raze, uh... this is Zulas. I'm over at the fields outside of the Town of Beginnings. I.. don't know any of the people here. So.. I was thinking that maybe you would come if you weren't too busy." He didn't know if Raze would answer his message or even come, but he had done all he could. He quickly shut off the message window and looked over to a another player that was coming towards him. 

Zulas looked up at the woman who had approached him and gave half a smile. "Hi... name's Zulas." - he said to the woman. He stood up and hesitantly extended his hand towards her. Well, let's see if we can do something about my situation. 

"Are you part of the Frontlines group?"- was all that came out of his mouth at that moment.

@Ivory Lotus

@Raze

[Bhairyuu 0]

While waiting for Letty to respond, through his peripheral vision, Bhairyuu noticed another young woman heading towards him and Letty and cast a quick, wary glance at her katana and then back at her at he heard her greet him, though his hand was still up for Letty to take in a handshake if she wished to do so.

"But of course, miss...you see I am one of the newer players who, thanks to a certain mad genius game inventor, got stuck in here unable to log out...so it's only natural, you haven't heard of me...Anyways, my name is Bhairyuu, or just Ryuu if you prefer the short form. Letty and I were just tossing idle, friendly banter back and forth and I was just suggesting a blacksmith friend of mine to her..."

He smiled politely at the young woman as he spoke in that same baritone but melodious voice of his and wondered who she was since she looked like a fairly veteran player, at least compared to him anyways.

@Hakai

Edited October 25, 2016 by Bhairyuu