[PP-NK-F17] Sun, Sand, and Materials

[Kooh 0]

"Tch... So much for a day at the beach." Kooh muttered under her breath. As the blonde walked carefully through the forest, trying to keep her footsteps quick and quiet, she took a moment to reflect. Just an hour ago, she had thought she was so lucky to find a deserted beach on a floor like this, away from all the overgrown Greek ruins.

Treading through the forest, Kooh had little clue where she was going, but didn't dare stop to dwell on it. The black and white hood rested on top of her hair, the spinning cursor hovering over her head now orange in color. Oblivious to the change, Kooh pressed on and weighed her options. Her first thought was to send off a message--but to whom? A couple of faces came to mind, the first of which she immediately rejected the idea. There was no way she was bringing Cygnus into this. Kooh bit her bottom lip at the second option. 'Do I really not have any other options...?' The blonde scowled lightly and leaned up against the heavy bark of a large tree before opening her menus.

Creating New Message

Quote

To: @Sey

Message:
I need your help. I'm in the forest on F17, can't find the way back to town. There's a guy around here who attacked another player and I think he's following me.

Whether the man would actually come to find her was a gamble, but Kooh gave a mental shrug as she closed her menus. The brief message that had conveniently left out what some would consider crucial details was sent, and the girl continued to move through the forest as quickly and quietly as she could.

((Sey has been invited to the thread))

Edited May 9, 2017 by Kooh

[Aereth 1]

Stalking through the forest, Aereth did his best to keep up with the fast pace of the hooded blonde. He had to take care not to come too close to her, while not loosing her in the dense forest. "Seems like she finally came to a halt..." He thought while the woman leaned against a heavy oak tree. Aereth still needed to tell her about the consequences of her now orange cursor, before she would get herself into some serious trouble. From their first encounter Aereth couldn't help but feel like the girl had no idea what this colored cursor meant. Orange players were not very welcome in the close area around almost every safe zone, and generally avoided. 

Leaping up into the closest tree, Aereth used the background noises of the birds, the wind and nearby mobs, to conceal the noises of his own movements as good as possible. When he finally reached the oak Kooh was using to rest, Aereth carefully sat down on a branch directly above her hooded head, watching over her until she had finished her business with the menu. To be completely honest, he felt kinda cool, sneaking up on her and placing himself directly above her without her noticing. "Hey 'sweetie'." he called out, making sure to add a sarcastic tone to the last word. "There are still some things I need to tell you before you can leave..." Aereth added with a sigh.

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Just as Kooh would push off from the bark of the tree against her back, a voice called out above her that caused the blonde to jump a bit and freeze in her tracks. Kooh spun around, tilting her head up until her garnet eyes met the brunette perched a fair distance off the ground. The girl's mind worked quickly to come up with something to say. ''Jeez, you scared me!'?' No way. Even if she played off running away out of fear, his eyes seemed too annoyed. Still, she didn't have any other bright ideas at a moment's notice.

"W-whoa!" She stammered out, taking a couple of hesitant steps back. His next statement registered in her brain, and the blonde took on a nervous and confused expression. "What are you talking about...?" The girl had half a mind to turn her back to him and start running again, but decided against it. She wasn't feeling up to a cat and mouse chase right now, and she got the impression that it wasn't very wise to piss Aereth off. She already knew that the man was a higher level than her, and if he wanted to he could probably take out her health bar in a couple of hits. While Kooh was strangely apathetic about her survival in most situations, she didn't much like the idea of picking a fight right now.

[Sey 0]

A sudden message would pop up while he laid down on his own bed. It interrupted him from doing nothing, what an annoyance. It turned out to be from Kooh, making it twice as special. “Well Kyu, come on girl. We are going to save a ginger.” The snow haired player would tell the snow wolf as he rolled off the side of his bed. The snow wolf popped her head up in the living room before then rushing over towards his direction. Seems like they were ready to go now. Spear in his right hand, shield in his left, he headed off from the safety of his home to the outside land. Was he going to gain an orange crystal today? Only if the situation required it.

Of course he wasn’t so stupid as to actually respond. If someone were truly following her, then that meant that when the HUD pops up, the stalker would notice that she obtained a message. And that could be taken in many ways, one of which would trigger the unknown player to go from stalker to assassin. Not the best possible route to take. So he would proceed to move towards the outside of the safe zone. He was on his way.

[Aereth 1]

Pleased with the surprised reaction of the blonde, Aereth dropped down to the ground, and as soon as he was about to hit the ground, curled like a ball in order to soften the impact. After that he dusted himself off and faced Kooh with a serious expression, not sure if she was still f*cking around with him. "I'm talking about that." he said pointing at the orange cursor that was floating above her head. Of course she couldn't see her own cursor right now, so Aereth explained. "The moment your fist 'gracefully and shyly' made contact with that guy's face, your cursor changed colors, my dear. This brings a few problems with it." he sighed. "First and foremost, from now on you won't be able to use the teleport gates located in the safe zones until you get your green cursor back, because you won't even be able to enter said safe zones anymore ." Now resting his body against the tree himself while slowly closing his eyes, Aereth continued. "And the other... Dangerous thing is..." he opened his eyes again and looked the blonde directly into her eyes. "From now on other players may start to attack and hunt you..." 

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

When Aereth hit the ground, Kooh took a small step back, still regarding the man with caution. He spoke up, and Kooh's garnet eyes flickered upwards for a brief moment as if to follow his pointing motion. 'What is he talking about?' Her expression remained wary as her eyes quickly moved back to lock onto the brunette. She listened to his explanations, mulling over his words in her head as he went on. Changed colors? Did that mean it was orange instead of green, like his, or was it some other color? Before seeing the brunette earlier today, she hadn't seen anything above a player's head besides a green crystal, so what was this color-coding system all of a sudden?

'What is this, like a time-out system?' Kooh thought, resisting a scowl from appearing on her face. The thought of not being able to use teleport gates didn't break her heart; she disliked the feeling of teleporting anyway. Being locked out of safe zones sounded pretty inconvenient, though. She didn't mind hanging around outside of town, but how long was this going to last? He made it sound like it wouldn't be permanent, but she then began to question why the man was explaining all of this to her.

'What, you mean like what those guys were already doing?' She held her tongue from voicing the retort to his last statement. Kooh wanted to scoff. What were all these rules about, and why had Aereth bothered to follow her and tell her all this? She obviously still didn't trust the man. With how his blade seemed to be so drawn to other players, it wasn't hard to imagine what he could have done in the past to warrant the orange crystal spinning above his own head. At this point, Kooh was again weighing her options. If Aereth wanted her dead, she wouldn't still be standing. Still, she didn't care for the situation, including the brunette's presence. She wondered for a brief moment if he would continue to follow her if she tried running away from him again. It could be worth a shot that he would grow frustrated enough to just let her be, but there was an equal chance that his loss of patience would just get her into more trouble.

@Sey

[Sey 0]

He arrived at the scene after a bit of jogging, speed stat working in his favor fortunately. A tree with two orange gems had been the first thing on his radar, followed up the players that followed them. Admittedly, he did not expect one of them to belong to his client. “Kooh…?” The snow-haired player asked as he arrived, his spear and shield firmly being gripped upon. Sey knew Aereth from that one time, but that was about it. Nothing that can be deemed a “friendship”. Heck, that was something that he barely considered Kooh to be. “What’s going on, both of you are orange…” Sey stated as he would slowly walk towards them with cautioned steps. There was a reason why the ginger had been given the gem that she did, and the sudden call with another orange player by her side… For all Sey knew, it could have been a trap. If the worst were to happen, at least he had no fear off obtaining an orange crystal of his own.

[Aereth 1]

Seeing the confusion in Kooh's face as well as noticing how she didn't even speak one word, Aereth sighed once more, before opening his inventory and fetching the mirror everyone got at the beginning of the game. Tossing it over to the female, Aereth stated. "Here have a look for yourself." after that he waited until the woman would have inspected her new cursor, before continuing. "Let's start with the basics. There are only two possible colors a cursor can have. The first one is green. This is the default cursor you get when starting the game. And the second one is orange. This color can only be obtained when attacking a green player outside of an duel. So to say, a marking of 'criminal' players." Before he could continue, he got interrupted by a familiar voice. Looking past Kooh, Aereth was able to spot nobody less than his ex-guildmate Sey. "Sey? The hell are you doing here?" he said in a casual and surprised tone. To say he was only surprised to see him here was an understatement. Aereth stood dumb-folded for a couple of moments before noticing how Sey was pointing the sharp end of his weapon at him. Immediately his survival instincts kicked in, and he slowly pushed himself away from the tree, the surprised expression in his face getting replaced with a stone cold one. "And would you please lower that weapon of your's?" he said, mentally preparing for a possible attack of the silver haired player. Even though he was doubting that he would attack him, you can never let your guard down...

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh wordlessly caught the item that Aereth tossed to her, repressing a glare that threatened to show at his exasperated attitude. She held the item up, recalling the last time she looked in one of these mirrors. Her jet-black hair and violet pupils had shifted back to the familiar golden-blonde and pale amber she was born with. Shortly after, the girl spent what little money she had to change her eye color, rather fond of the slight change even still. She tilted the glass back to change the perspective and show her the crystal hovering above her hood. It was indeed a deep orange--matching that of the one above the brunette. Kooh listened to his explanation with dissatisfaction until something seemed to catch the man's attention.

The blonde spun around, feeling a tinge of relief at the sight of the white-haired player. Her reprieve quickly vanished, however, when her eyes fully took him in. Spear and shield firmly held in either hand, careful steps in her direction, and a cautious gaze in his eyes. Kooh didn't even have to hear his words to realize that his suspicion wasn't exclusive to the brunette behind her. Her chest tightened as a strange feeling washed over her. Before Kooh had the time to form a response Aereth spoke up again, confronting Sey and his unsheathed weapon. The girl straightened up a bit, slipping her hands into the pockets of her shorts. "Well, thanks for showing up, I guess." She remarked with a dull tone. "Never would've guessed you two knew each other, though." She mumbled, thinking aloud.

"Fine, fine, I screwed up, alright?" Kooh spoke up, pulling her right hand from her pocket to wave it lightly through the air in front of her. She spoke with a small, almost defeated sigh and her eyes closed for a brief moment. It was clear now that Aereth didn't have any intention of attacking her, or if he did he was certainly going about it in a foolish way. The girl shifted her weight to one leg. She considered for a moment explaining everything to Sey, but the sting of his suspicion had her instead lean back against the bark of a heavy tree. "So what, I'm just not allowed to do anything for however long?" She frowned. The question was directed more toward Aereth and his previous explanation. Her tone wasn't as harsh as it would have been without her conscious filter, but there was little point in putting on an act in front of Sey. At least, not any more than she normally would.

@Sey

[Sey 0]

"Lower my weapon? I was lead here to see that someone I work with ends up going orange, and you expect me to be cool?" Sey growled, taking no liking to the request for him to drop his guard. What sane reason did he have to do such a stupid thing? If a direct explanation had been given, perhaps he might have followed through. But that just added some dry wood to the fire. Turning to the ginger leaning against the tree, he would divert his attention towards her. "Screwed up how?" There was belief in his tone, considering she did not seem like the type to kill. That, and with the small amount of time he spent with her, he really didn't want to believe that she murdered someone. But the game told him a different story, something he definitely did not want to have become a reality, but it was a possibility. "Hm, you know my strength. Wouldn't bring me here for a fight, so I can believe you." His head would shift back to the brunette. "And you? I know you were once in my guild, so there's no reason to attack you mindlessly... But this spear is the lock in any doubts I have with that."

[Aereth 1]

"That boy is still much too emotional for his own good.." he thought, remembering the times he had been doing quests and boss raids together with the silver haired player. "Listen, I'll explain everything to you. But put that weapon down. Neither Kooh, nor I have any intentions of harming anybody here." He said raising both of his hands in front of him, before moving his right hand to open his cloak and belt, that held his sword on his back. With a dull thud the blade hit the ground and Aereth kicked it back a couple of steps. He already knew how strong Sey was and that he would have almost no chance in a battle and thus tried to defuse the situation. "Blondie here, got kind of bullied by two other players, and punched one of them right into his face. Only problem with that, the player was green, explaing that orange cursor of hers. Moments after that attack I reached her and the two sh*theads and told them to get lost." Aereth sighed and locked eyes with Kooh. "She then ran away from me before I could explain to her what that cursor meant. And here we are. A former guildmate of mine is threatening me for saiving this girl's pretty a**. What a beautiful day." Now Aereths voice was oveflowing with sarcasm. He was p*ssed at how Sey treated him, and didn't even bother to try and hide that fact. "And to answer you question. That cursor stays orange, for some time now before turning green again. But don't ask me how long since I have really no idea."

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

Kooh held herself back from glaring daggers at Sey. She instead gave the man a sideways glance as she was addressed. The girl thought she had grown immune to the feeling of another person's distrust. She did so much to deserve the dirty, judgemental looks she would get in the past that she had learned how to shrug them off. With the way her blood was beginning to boil, it was clear that casually dealing with the backlash of being a liar was a skill that got rusty after a while. Before she was forced to speak, Aereth offered to explain the situation. Her eyes watched as the brunette dropped his weapon to the ground as a sort of symbol of peace. The blonde, however, wouldn't be bothered to touch her greaves. If either of the men were concerned about her being armed, she didn't know if she could keep herself from laughing.

The girl's bottom lip twitched into a frown as Aereth described the events of scarcely half an hour ago while her arms crossed themselves in front of her torso. His eyes snapped to meet hers when he mentioned her running away, and the blonde averted her gaze as a small "Tch." escaped her. If she wasn't so irritated, Kooh would have had half a mind to offer a sarcastic jest at Aereth's comment on saving her. Instead, she allowed the two men to talk, keeping to herself as if she was waiting for the situation to somehow resolve itself.

@Sey

[Sey 0]

"Hm..." The story was quite interesting, but Kooh didn't seem to have any form of objection to it. In the court system, that would be deemed an allowance. "All right, fine. You did well to save her. But if you think I was supposed to expect otherwise, especially considering how she was once green this morning, then that's incorrect." The two of them seemed to have their own bout, and considering their tone with him, they seemed to share some of the love towards his direction. What with Aereth and his stupid passive-aggressiveness, something the Yukino family never approved, and Kooh with her glare, which could perhaps intimidate someone who was not trained to deal with that daily back in the real world. Sey rolled his eyes, what a petty couple he ran into. "How I even heard about this, that's classified. But it had me worried as all hell. So panic, then orange cursor. History or no history, this is the game we live in, and I'm making sure to fulfill my purpose." His spear came down at last, his shield somewhat lowered.

[Aereth 1]

Letting out yet another sigh, after Sey finally lowered his weapon, Aereth finally found himself somewhat at ease. The tension between the three of them still lingered in the air, but at least no more weapons were pointed at somebody. Turning back to Kooh, Aereth asked the blonde woman. "Now that we all calmed down again, we can start focusing back on the task at hand. On which floor do you live, and is your home located in a safe zone? If yes, then we'll have some problems. Back then you told me that you're only level 15 which means that it would be almost impossible for you to change floors without the risk of getting attacked or even killed. Like I said earlier, players tend to act hostile and suspicious against orange players. Best example is your 'friend' Sey over here." he said yanking his head into the silver haired boy's direction. Before Aereth left the guild, he seemed to be a pretty nice guy, and he had no problems with him at all. Suddenly he felt a wave of sorrow and regret was over him. He hand't hear from his ex-guildmates in weeks now, and he wanted to know if they were doing alright. "I know it's a little bit off topic, but how are the Celestials doing lately? I haven't had much contact with Itzal or the others in quite some time now." He asked in a low voice now locking eyes with Sey.

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

'Hm.' Kooh nearly cocked an eyebrow when the white-haired man used the word 'worried'. Perhaps she hadn't been wrong in assuming that her life meant something to the player. Still, she had made a mental note to not always count on that in the future. Aereth seemed relieved once Sey lowered his weapon, and quickly turned his attention to her with more questions. Her expression was neutral, though her arms still rested crossed in front of her as her weight pressed back against the tree. "Floor eleven." She stated simply, tilting her chin up towards Sey. "I ususally crash at a room in his shop." Although, the shop in question was quite certainly in a safe zone, resting in the middle of Taft. Her eyelids fell, and Kooh's chin dipped downward again as one ankle crossed over the other. "But yeah, guess I can't go there."

Her interest was pulled when the brunette mentioned a familiar name. She hadn't seen or spoken to Itzal in quite some time. The blonde stifled a cynical chuckle, idly wondering how the scout would react to the cursor over her head, if he would be so quick to raise his weapon against her.

[Sey 0]

It seems like they were beginning to somewhat act their age. Though another passive aggressive remark would emit from the lips of the brunette, choice words that will not be forgotten when it was his own turn to speak. And there it was so suddenly, how was his guild doing? Oh man, where to begin. "Fine." Sey replied with little care, it was not reasonable to suddenly expect him to go into detail about it after what had happened. "Hm, you did say you were used to sleeping outside the safe zone before. I'm sure you will be fine." He explained to the ginger, crossing his arms and closing his eyes. Well shoot, what would Leru do in this situation? Usually, he was able to ease tensions while also insulting others at the same time. Perhaps it was just not a trait passed down the Yukino family, otherwise he would be able to diffuse this in the same manner as his brother.

[Aereth 1]

After learning that Kooh was living inside of the main settlement of the eleventh floor, Aereth cursed. "Sh*t. " That meant, that they needed to find a place where she could stay until she would get rid of that stupid orange cursor. But the indifference in which Sey just spoke about her sleeping out of the safe zone, caught Aereth off guard. He remembered Sey as a loyal and kindhearted person back in the days when he was still with the Celestials...

Shaking his head in order to sort out his thoughts, Aereth spoke up once more, now without sarcasm or any traits of passive aggressivnes. "I have an idea." he said turning to face Sey. "You've lived on the eleventh floor for quite some time now. Please, could you seek for a NPC run inn outside of the safe zone? I myself will bring her down to the eleventh floor, and make sure nothing happens to her. And even though it might sound stupid for the two of us going down there alone, we still have to do it this way. I can almost guarantee you that we will be getting attacked on our way down there, and I don't want to risk you also getting orange." Now he turned to Kooh. "We will be covering two floors a day, so it will take us around 5 to 6 days to get down to the eleventh floor."

@Kooh

[Kooh 0]

A small smirk crawled over Kooh's lips. Her eyes opened and glanced toward Sey, unable to hold back a quip this time. "Gee, I'll miss your company." Despite the sarcasm, her tone was one she would have used with the spearman otherwise. The white-haired adventurer that offered to take her in off the streets seemed in stark contrast to the man that stood before her now. Still, she could at least try to retain some semblance of the girl he had seen her as. The blonde uncrossed her arms and brought her hands up beside her with a shrug. "You're not wrong, though," She was about to accept the fact that she'd be residing in another forest for a while when Aereth spoke up again.

The man seemed insistent on getting her back to the eleventh floor, going so far as to tell Sey that he would escort her there. The blonde held her tongue, not really feeling up to an argument given the situation. Still, she grumbled in the back of her mind, wondering both why he cared and felt it necessary that he accompany her. When he had mentioned how long getting to each floor would take, Kooh blinked in disbelief. Again, she stopped herself from complaining aloud, instead letting her thoughts begin to swirl. 'Seriously? How long is someone marked a criminal just for hitting a piece of trash?' The girl's arms folded across each other once more.

[Sey 0]

The quip she threw at him was enough to break him at that moment, a slight chuckle emitting from his lips. "You better miss me, fool." A light jest, all in good fun like the first time they met. Perhaps she was still trying, it was just a mistake at the end of the day. If anything... She was doing better than she was before. It was an attempt to help herself, it just went the wrong way. "PM if you end up having an attacker arrive. I have connections at all times, even if I am not at the same floor." He explained before he would then look to the side, now more relaxed as he placed his hand behind the back of his head. "Well, if that's all, I'll provide a bit of an escort if needed. But if not, I'll see myself out." Hey, it was a good thing to know when he was needed and not. If he came this far anyways, he might as well continue making himself as useful as possible. Or, well, perhaps not. There was already one person there to assist with taking care of things.

[Aereth 1]

"Well, then it's settled." Aereth said and opened his menu sending @Kooh a party invitation. He would have taken Sey with him, because he knew how capable of a player he was, but he just didn't want to risk him getting some bad reputation as well as an orange cursor from the players that might possibly attack them on their way down. "Thank you, Sey. We'll leave now in direction of the floor 17 labyrinth. Are you ready to go, blondie? Or do you need anything else?" Aereth said, while walking over to his sword, and slowly strapping the weapon back to the place where it belonged. After that he pulled up his facial mask as well as his hood before fetching another black cloak out of his inventory. "Here, you'll want to wear that while traveling." He said as he handed the coat over to the blonde woman. Even though he didn't know her, and even though he would most probably be faster if he traveled alone, he felt somehow responsible for her turning orange, and thus needed to make sure, she got down to her home floor safe...

Summary:
Every Player receives: 2 SP, 266 Col
@Kooh additionally receives: 1750 Col, 1 T2-Materias
@Aereth additionally receive: 1750 Col, 11 T2-Materials