Whistle for the Choir

[Azide 0]

Whistle for the Choir

Scene One

“Hey, uh, it’s not that I’m questioning your judgement or anything- but did we really have to cut through that underground tunnel back there?” asked Azide. He gestured over his shoulder with his thumb, but his eyes remained steady on the young woman beside him.

It was a little odd, but as far as he could remember, he’d never seen Rebekah smiling. In fact, he could hardly remember her emoting much of anything at all. Not overtly, at least. Placid eyes and untelling lips were constants in the girl’s expression.

 

“We’re going to have to stay on track one way or another,” said Rebekah. She’d spoken them with in her usual, level tone. It was the sort of delivery that the uninitiated might be prone to interpreting as cold, indifferent or even outright disdainful. She hadn’t even turned to face him as she’d answered him. Just kept right on walking.

 

Over time, he’d learned to recognize that none of this was born from any personal misgivings. Probably. Maybe.

 

“No, I get you.” He threw up both hands before himself, so that his palms appeared as though they’d pressed flat against some invisible wall. “I love schedules as much as the next dozen guys combined, don’t get me wrong. But I guess what I really meant to say was that if I get mobbed by any more Mole-Miners, I’m gonna be pretty upset.”

 

This time, Rebekah gave a slight turn of her head as she replied. “Maybe we could’ve afforded to take the mountain trail if somebody had spent a little more time reading the quest info.”

 

On one hand, she was finally making eye contact- which was nice. If nothing else, it made hand gestures feel a little less frivolous. On the other hand, her choice of tone hadn’t exactly gone over his head. She was definitely still peeved. Maybe. Probably.

 

Bold actions called for bold responses, and naturally, Azide decided to commit to the boldest option available. He looked away. Honestly, that look was kind of intimidating. “Now you listen here,” he started. He could feel his fingers fidgeting a little inside of his pockets. “Speed reading was good enough for uni, and it’s good enough for this goddang game. If you don’t believe me, there are plenty of studies out there showing how efficient it is.”

 

“We spent five hours looking for ‘a corn top’.”

 

“I swear there was a space or something there earlier,” said Azide. He crossed his arms, feeling a distinct twitching sensation coming from his eyes. “Ugh, this whole scavenger hunt thing is rigged. But let’s be reasonable here: ‘acorn top’, ‘a corn top’? Come on, that’s the sort of mistake anyone could’ve made.”

 

“Once, maybe.”

 

“Granted, it did take me a couple of times, but-”

 

“I don’t even know how you managed to get into that school.”

 

“Dad had lots of money, for your information. But I’m gonna swallow my pride here and pretend like I’m too dull to understand what you’re getting at,” shot Azide, turning his attention back to his former guildmate. For a short while, they continued their semi-brisk pace forward in silence. As usual, Rebekah seemed perfectly comfortable with the quietness of it all.

 

Around them lay a luscious greenery mottled with shades of cedar, mahogany and oak, stretching far into the distance. Earthy scents of pine and fertile soil mixed in the air with traces of a lingering yesterday rain; it brought back all sorts of memories: good, bad and everything in between. But memories were memories all the same.

 

Azide cleared his throat. A brief pause came as his eyes rolled up and away, racking his brain for the least painful combination of words. “Look, I’m just gonna put it out there. I might be just a teensy bit claustrophobic," He touched his index finger to his thumb, forming a circle for emphasis. “And those mole guys literally have pickaxes for hands. So no more subterranean tunnels. Please?”

 

This time, Rebekah initiated a pause of her own. After taking a few steps further, she stopped. She turned around and gave a nod of her head. “Only because you asked nicely. But I’m taking over reading duties.” It’d be a stretch to claim that she was smiling; make no mistake, the look on her face was about as stone cold and neutral as ever. But would it be beyond reason to say that there was something there? Maybe not. Probably not.

 

“You drive a hard bargain.” Azide furrowed his eye and touched a closed fist to his chin. If the gesture hadn’t been so cursory, it might’ve looked as if his contemplation were serious. “But I’ll humor you.” He shrugged. “I’ll save the speed reading for a more appreciative audience.”

 

She seemed receptive enough towards his sentiment- at least, in her own way. True to her reputation, she responded not with words, but with a deadpan double thumbs-up. The wordless gesture was followed by yet another: the girl motioned to the horizon with a turn of her chin before resuming her prior pace. Getting the message, he followed suit.

 

“By the way,” said Azide, having caught up. “That thing about my dad having money? That was just banter- I was actually accepted because of my unimaginable intelligence.”

 

“Unimaginable is a good way to put it.”

 

“Hey, I said that I would be humoring you.”

“You had it coming,” said Rebekah. She stole an upward glance of the sky, managing to catch sight of the purples, yellows, oranges and reds of a waning day. The sprawling canopy above was thick, but sunsets were unmistakable. It’d be getting dark before long. “Let’s pick up the pace,” she added, with a bit more spring in her step.

 

"Whatever you say, boss."

 

And so they did.

 

---

 

A vignette featuring Azide and @Rebekah, set sometime before the events of the Floor 14 Boss Battle. 

 

A previously un-encountered NPC has revealed itself to Aincrad, bringing with it a new quest: a multi-floor scavenger hunt.

The catch? Only the first party to complete the hunt will be awarded. Banter and hi-jinx ensue.

 

Azide's Journal | Rebekah's Journal

Edited February 1, 2017 by Azide

[Azide 0]

Whistle for the Choir

Scene Two

“It’s getting pretty late,” said Azide. He found himself dragging his eyes away from the horizon and towards his wrist. It was distinctly bare. But of course it was; throughout this entire ordeal, he’d continued to put off commissioning a proper watch. It’d been years now since he’d last worn one. He tapped a finger to his wrist, then repeated the motion twice more. Old habits died hard, he supposed.

 

“What gives you that idea?” asked Rebekah. As usual, her attention remained trained on whatever lay ahead. And the closest thing he could relate her cadence to was that it resembled how a robot might speak if its emotion modules had yet to be fully installed.

 

“Well, for one thing, I can’t see my shoes.” As if on cue, he stumbled as his foot caught the side of a twisted, outstretched root. At least, he thought it was a root- it was kind of hard to be sure.

 

“Then look down,” she offered. A whoosh punctuated her words as her blade came alive in the air. Within a few quick strokes, Laevateinn had made short work of both brambles and branches alike, clearing the way for a forward path.

 

The elegant, slender weapon no doubt made for a much more effective weed whacker than his own little dagger. Azide bowed his head as the two of them passed through the thicket, muttering to himself as a couple of stray briars still managed to find areas of exposed skin. “Oh, shut up,” he said, rubbing his neck. “Come on, I’m serious- it’s darker than something really dark right now. I can guarantee you that we’re not finding anything anytime soon.”

 

A downward draft swept down into the glade which they had entered, sending ancient limbs into rhythmic a sway. Under the veil of night, it was hard to say for sure- but the surrounding trees bore a heavy resemblance to oaks. Whatever they were, they must’ve ached; creaks and groans were in no short supply among the burly elders.

 

Rebekah scanned the meadow for any signs of trouble, but found nothing particularly alarming. With the moonlight so sparse, all she could spot could be summed up as grass, stumps, logs and trees- all very normal sights, considering their location. “We’ll stop here for the night,” she said as she turned around. She stopped to pluck a stray leaf from her hair. “But tomorrow we’re leaving early.” The girl opened her palm, watching as the leaf returned to the breeze. It drifted slowly away, until nighttime at last claimed the final remnants of its form.

 

Flickers of light bathed the meadow in hues of gold and scarlet, the smoky flames dancing to an hour-or-so long tune. Azide twirled the freshly-lit torch in his hand as made his way to the base of a wide tree stump. He took a seat atop the cool, flat surface, appreciating the reprieve from their hours of foot travel. “So, just out of curiosity.” With his free hand, he initiated a trade request with the girl across from him. “What exactly qualifies as ‘early’ for you?”

 

A dimly-lit screen blinked into view about a foot away from Rebekah’s face. She pressed a finger to the panel, accepting the handful of torches with a nod in the other player’s direction. “Eight o’clock in the morning.”

 

First came a furrowing of brows, followed soon after by an upturn of the lips. “You’re kidding, right? Back home, my mates and I call that sleeping in,” said Azide.

 

“Okay, then make that seven o’clock,” said the girl, without missing a beat. A red glow enveloped the steel of her blade and she maneuvered its edge through a couple of low-hanging branches as though they were butter. With a series of thuds, several sections of timber fell to the ground.

 

“Make it six and we might be getting somewhere,” answered Azide, stroking his chin.

 

“Five.”

 

“Welcome to my world,” he said, with a yawn. Azide balled his hands and raised his arms in an skyward stretch. “Now if you think you’re ready for it, how about we make it an even four?”

 

“Four it is,” said Rebekah. She’d looked him straight in the eye with her characteristic unwavering expression before crouching down. Another press of her finger sorted the wooden debris into an arrangement more appropriate for a campfire.

 

Azide formed an ‘okay’ symbol with his hand, grinning all the while. “Perfect. Just in time to be early for the sunrise.” He tossed the burning torch back and forth between his hands as if it were a hot potato. “By the way, I should probably point out that we’re ages away from any safe zones right now.” He craned his neck around just to make sure that they were still in the middle of nowhere, before looking back to the girl. “And seeing as I’d rather not be murdered in my sleep, how would you like to go about handling that?”

 

Taking a moment to ponder, Rebekah stood up. “We’ll sleep in shifts,” said the girl. With a few practiced movements, she produced in her spare hand a torch of her own.

 

“That sounds all fine and dandy, but how do I know that you won’t be the one to do it?” he asked, aiming the light in the rapier-user’s direction.

 

“You don’t.” Her face flickered in the glow of the crackling flames. Her features became just a touch more obscured as she moved the torch away from her face and over their soon-to-be campfire. “I’ll take the first shift.”

 

There was something to be said about Rebekah’s deadpan delivery. But he couldn’t help but snicker at her implied threat. “Knock yourself out. But just so you know,” He planted the end of his torch into a patch of dirt in front of him. “I’ll be sleeping with one eye open tonight.”

“You’ve got about three hours. Better make use of it.” She released the torch from her hand, setting the wooden pile ablaze.

 

---

 

A vignette featuring Azide and @Rebekah, set sometime before the events of the Floor 14 Boss Battle. 

 

A previously un-encountered NPC has revealed itself to Aincrad, bringing with it a new quest: a multi-floor scavenger hunt.

The catch? Only the first party to complete the hunt will be awarded. Banter and hi-jinx ensue.

 

Azide's Journal | Rebekah's Journal

Edited January 31, 2017 by Azide

[Azide 0]

Whistle for the Choir

Scene Three, Part I

“I’m telling you guys, these games are literally rigged. I mean, people use that word pretty loosely nowadays, but this is one of those times where I literally mean literally,” said Azide. His eyes remained glued to the table even as he raised his glass to his lips. He fought back a shudder as the cold liquid assaulted his taste buds. In hindsight, wine probably wasn’t the best thing to skimp out on.

Arms placed coolly behind his head, XWuZHeAR leaned back in his chair. The boy’s eyes were half open at best as the spinning wheel and its ivory-colored ball began to slow. A puff of air blew past his lips: a not-so-successful attempt at displacing a rogue strand of hair from his face. Finally, the ball rolled into place with a soft plink. His eyes widened as he processed the spin’s result, a wry smile taking shape at the fringes of his lips. “Oh really?” he asked. “Then I guess I didn’t literally double my money just now?”

 

“It was closer to a fifty percent profit…” said Crozeph, his eyes darting quickly between the table and the pages of a small journal splayed open in front of him. The slender pen between his fingers clicked once as he lifted it from the paper and into his pocket. “...not that anyone’s, uh, counting,” he added, closing the notebook as discreetly as he could manage.

 

Hearty laughter, no doubt drawing in a few eyes from uninvolved parties, seized the room momentarily before ending as abruptly as it’d begun. “Counting is not so important, my friends,” said Xanatos. He punctuated the point with a slam of his mug against the table, sending more than a few golden droplets into the air. “At least, not with one’s brain. No, not even with one’s fingers,” he continued, accentuating his hands with every declaration. “Gentleman, sometimes, in the heat of the moment- all that truly counts…” He whipped his head left and right before centering it once more. “...is one’s heart.”

 

Azide mouthed a silent apology to the dealer, who was giving the eye to a certain hopelessly oblivious friend of his. “Sounds like someone’s had enough drinks for the night. But hey, who’s counting?” He swirled the scarlet wine in his glass, then downed another mouthful while retaining full eye contact with the three stooges to his left. His frown only deepened once the taste had settled. “Look, unless you’re planning on calling it quits, I don’t care if you doubled, tripled or quadrupled your money. The house isn’t exactly known for being a generous benefactor.”

 

XWuZHeAR rolled his eyes. “Pffft.” He leaned forward, so that his upper half now leaned over the felt-covered table, the edge of which he now rested his arms upon. “My momma sure as hell didn’t raise no quitter,” he said, cracking his knuckles. “Yo, dealer guy! You know the drill. Throw it back on black. And make it snappy, alright? I’m playing hot right now. Gotta keep that fire rolling.”

 

“She definitely didn’t teach you when to quit, I’ll give you that,” said Azide. The young man tapped his fingers against the tabletop in rhythmic repetition before eventually planting down his elbow. He leaned the side of his head against his first, the fingers of his opposite hand now ceasing their motions. Instead, they produced a single coin. “Fun fact for you: your odds here are literally worse than a flip of a coin.” The col piece shimmered as it spun in the air.

 

Immediately, Crozeph leaned further over the table and craned his neck to get a better look. “Heads,” called the boy, his voice carrying no signs of hesitation whatsoever.

 

The airborne coin quickly struck the table, and after bouncing thrice, rolled precariously along its edge before deciding to settle down. Azide covered the face of the coin with the flat of his hand. “Lucky guess,” he muttered.

 

---

A vignette featuring Azide, @Crozeph, @Xanatos and @XWuZHeAR, set sometime before the events of the Floor 14 Boss Battle.

 

For the anniversary of its opening, the Town of Beginning's very own Starlight Cafe has decided to once again celebrate alongside its loyal patrons.

For one night only, the cafe has decided to re-skin itself as a casino- with all of the expected embellishments. Banter and hi-jinx ensue.

 

Azide's Journal | Crozeph's Journal | Xanatos' Journal | XWuZHeAR's Journal

Edited February 17, 2017 by Azide

[Azide 0]

Whistle for the Choir

Scene Three, Part II

Meanwhile, as Azide was busy giving another one of his patented lectures, XWuZHeAR kept his eyes on the prize. Round and round went the wheel; its spherical counterpart sped along at an pace equally brisk, albeit in the opposite direction. As always, their momentum eventually slowed to a halt, dropping the roulette ball into its thirty-seven pockets.

 

“Well, damn. Would ya look at that?” XWuZHeAR slapped his hand against the table, turning yet another couple of heads towards their table. “Looks like ya boy just won another round.” Even as he wrung his hand out in the aftermath, the wryness of the boy’s grin continued to hold. “Hey, Azide, what were you rambling about just now?” he asked, not even turning to face the man. His eyes were instead caught up on savoring the sight of all of those precious, precious chips of his piled right there upon the table. “Sorry, it’s just hard to focus with all of this moola flying at me. You know how it is,” he added, rubbing his neck.

 

Xanatos’ head jerked back upon hearing the news. His mouth gaped open, and it looked as if he’d forgotten how to breathe. “Had it been once, then perhaps we could interpret his success as nothing more than a simple fluke. But twice? And with such confidence and clarity of resolve?” he spoke, his head clutched gingerly between his hands. The blond-haired man shook his head slowly, and as he reached for his ale, felt his fingers trembling against the heavy glass handle. Another gulp of the frothy mixture served to steady his nerves. By the time he was ready to speak again, he was nearly whispering. “I believe it’s well within reason, my brothers, for us to assume that we may be in the presence of lady destiny herself.” He dipped his head low.

 

“He’s got a point…” Fiddling around with an unwrapped straw, he eventually freed the plastic device from its equally plastic prison. “Man… what are the odds?” asked Crozeph, as he attempted to lift an ice cube from his glass, using straws in place of chopsticks.

 

“A touch below one-to-three,” said Azide, frowning as he shifted his sights between his three companions. “And I can’t believe I even have to ask, but are you guys really prepared to accept that a result with a twenty-something percent chance of happening was somehow influenced by magical mumbo-jumbo?”

 

A snap of fingers, shifting quickly into a pointing hand. That hand pointed directly at XWuZHeAR, the player to whom it belonged. “Nah, it’s definitely all me.” The boy motioned back to the roulette wheel with a flick of his chin. “Also, just for the record, I’m now officially three-for-three,” he said, raising a shot glass to the air. A smirk plastered across his lips, he glanced at Azide sidelong. “You starting to sweat over there, buddy?”

 

Off the top of his head, ‘bad’ was the first thing to come to mind if he had to describe the taste of the vile concoction.

 

“You’re looking at about a five percent chance of pulling off a four-for-four. The pile sitting right there on that table happens to be all the money you’ve got to your name,” said Azide. In spite of his best efforts, he felt relatively sure that his mouth was still twitching. His face had become all too familiar with the scrunches that came with every sip of the foul wine. But he’d already paid for the bottle, and he couldn’t just toss it. With the end finally in sight, he emptied the remainder into his glass. “You’d better pray that your tears are gonna be enough to wash down those bread rations you’ll be eating for the next couple of months.”

 

“Hmm... it’s landed on black three times in a row... I’d have to be pretty stupid to go for it again…” muttered XWuZHeAR. He knocked his knuckles gently against his temple. “Damn it, I’m just gonna pull the trigger.” His eyes closed as downed his shot in a single gulp. “Put it all on red.”

 

“Staticians across the world are rolling in their graves right now,” said Azide. He braced himself as he prepared to finish off his own drink. On the bright side, it’d been one of the cheapest lessons he’d paid for in his life.

 

Having surrendered in his struggles against the ice cube, Crozeph instead began to rock lightly back and forth in his seat as he looked around the room. “Huh, I just had a thought…” The boy straightened himself up. “Azide’s got a point. Or, uh, he would- but we’re in a virtual world, yeah?” His fingers wove their way into his hair, and he held them there for a moment longer. “So maybe X keeps winning because there’s a glitch in the system… or something like that.”

 

“If that truly is the case, then it would only be fair,” said Xanatos, nodding. “Kayaba cheated us from the moment we first set foot into this forsaken place. Would cheating him back not be a small victory for the good people of Aincrad? Would it not be a taste of justice for those who so desperately crave it?”

 

Azide dabbed at his lip with a loose handkerchief, and as he pushed aside his wineless glass, found himself nearly smiling. “Maybe it’s the cheap alcohol talking, but I swear that for a moment, neither of those things sounded quite as ridiculous as they should’ve.” But sure enough, the fledgling smile faded as the young man shook his head. “On second thought, I’m mostly just talking about Crozeph. No offense,” he continued. “Of course, it still sounds incredibly far-fetched. But I suppose there’s always that miniscule chance that you may be onto something.”

 

“Might be patched out at any time,” said Crozeph, biting the end of his thumb. “If it ends up being a glitch, I mean.” The boy shrugged. “Could be months. Maybe a couple hours. Hard to say.”

 

“Crozeph is right,” said Xanatos. He stood up tall, but not quite so straight- the young man swayed from side to side with every couple of syllables. “This may very well be the sort of opportunity that only presents itself once in a lifetime. How could we live with ourselves knowing that we were too meak, too timid to make this leap of faith?” Xanatos thumped his chest, continuing to belt out his words with a tenacity matching that of a Broadway regular. “That our apprehension kept us from dipping so much as a single toe into the ocean of possibilities? Could we ever look each other in the eyes again?” He leaned forward, clutching his chest and looking a bit short of breath. “Look into your heart of heart, my friends. At junctures such as this, men must be bold,” said Xanatos, looking now to Azide.

Arms crossed, Azide tapped his fingers against the sleeve of his jacket. “My brain is screaming ‘no’, but I think I’d be lying if I said that my heart was in exactly the same place.” He looked up from the table and sighed. “Frankly, I don’t think it can be overstated how much of a longshot that theory is. I mean, how many oversights have any of us discovered these past few years?” He shook his head for what felt like the millionth time that night. “And don’t even get me started on how insane it is to base all of this off of a grand total of three trials. But you know what?” A wave of his hand pulled up the shimmering interface of Sword Art Online. “Screw it. I think I’m willing to take my chances. Just this once.” He tapped at one of the options available to him, then placed both hands on the table as he looked to the dealer. “Five grand on black.”

 

---

 

A vignette featuring Azide, @Crozeph, @Xanatos and @XWuZHeAR, set sometime before the events of the Floor 14 Boss Battle.

 

For the anniversary of its opening, the Town of Beginning's very own Starlight Cafe has decided to once again celebrate alongside its loyal patrons.

For one night only, the cafe has decided to re-skin itself as a casino- with all of the expected embellishments. Banter and hi-jinx ensue.

 

Azide's Journal | Crozeph's Journal | Xanatos' Journal | XWuZHeAR's Journal

Edited January 31, 2017 by Azide