[PP-F1] Users of Deception -Domarus and GreenBlade- -Breaking the Unbreakable-

[Domarus 0]

Domarus was looking at his complete lack of materials in his shop.  He had no way to progress further until he reaped more materials.  Until that happened he would not be getting anywhere, and it would be worse if a customer appeared expecting an order to be crafted.  It was hard to do that when he had no materials.  Domarus sighed as he walked out of his shop, wearing his black t-shirt and pants with Rhozarth flying out, landing on his shoulder, and Keres walking out with her own familiar.  Rhozarth was a fire dragon.  A very proud and aggressive dragon, especially in combat.  The familiar was always ablaze, quite literally, and it's eyes were ever watchful and analyzing.  Keres was Domarus' friend/servant.  She followed him while wearing a maid's uniform with Porvós, her flaming serpent familiar, coiled around her torso as usual.  Domarus knew when he was alone and when he wasn't.  Right this moment he was alone.  Therefore he allowed a scowl to show on his face.  Things were definitely not working out well.  The lack of materials was bad enough, but the real issue was the fact that no one had yet replied to his notice on the board for all to see.  It was quite irritating.  Did he really need to walk up to every player and work on befriending them just so that he could get them into his guild?  He hoped not.  He soon reached the road and switched immediately to a calm and tired face, as if he had just woken up or something.  It was the morning after all.  Of course the truth was that he was going through his own notes and plans for the guild, making tweaks here and there as he went along.  His luck had run out it would seem, and thus he'd need to get more active. 

@GreenBlade

Edited September 5, 2017 by Domarus

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone was walking through the Town of Beginnings, rather tired today. She hardly got any sleep last night after her training yesterday woth Joseph. The evasive boars had really exhausted her. It was morning and Kotone had already woken up, she couldn't make herself fall back asleep to continue her rest. She was planning on going out to the fields later today to get more training in, since she was still super under levelled compared to the top players of the game.

Kotone was almost completely oblivious of the other people walking by her, hardly paying attention to her surroundings, more so than usual. She was humming to nothing while she walked aimlessly through the city streets, almost bumping into a few people. Kotone kept walking, now kicking a rock that had come out of the street in front of her. She didn't even notice the two players walking in the same direction as her. She walked right into the red haired player, falling backwards and landing on her back.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

Domarus made his way into the town's gates, heading towards a random bar to get a drink.  He couldn't get drunk, both because the system wouldn't allow it, and his body was trained to be highly resistant to alcohol.  However taking a drink always helped him.  Of course the place was always filled with players and npc's at this time and thus made it difficult for him to travel.  Even though nearly every player in this god forsaken town knew him, they wouldn't notice him every time.  Thus he had to weave his way through the crowds which to be quite honest, wasn't that difficult.  However there were many times where it was impossible to avoid collision.  Today was no different.  Domarus was run into, however the girl was not nearly tall enough to cause a headbutt.  If he had to guess she was shy of five feet tall.  She had blue hair and eyes and it was clear she had starter armor, therefore couldn't be any higher level than ten at maximum.  If Domarus didn't have to act all the time he would have stepped over her, continuing his journey.  However, for reputation purposes, Domarus reacted out of surprise and concern.
     "Oh!  I'm so sorry!  Here, let me help you up,"  He said as he extended a hand to help her get to her feet.  Domarus wanted nothing more than to drink his night away, planning and scheming for the future.  This girl was looking at the future ruler of Aincrad.  Kayaba may be the god of this world, but he would be the king.

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone shook her head a little bit as she sat up. Falling down wasn't really a big deal, it happened all the time in and outside of the game, but Kotone decided to have a little fun with this player. She grabbed his hand and pulled herself up off the ground. "Huh? You're sorry? I-I'm the one who should be sorry, I wasn't paying attention. Anyway, I guess I'll be going now. Goodbye." Kotone apologized, then past Domarus and into the crowd.

Normally, Kotone would have walked away at this point, but there was something about this player that had caught her interest. The fire dragon he had was something that she hardly saw, which in her mind meant that he was one of the strong players in the game. Kotone had already disappeared into the crowd, but she could still see his head, which was all she needed to see. She kept her distance to stay unseen from his view, but followed his every move.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

When the girl took his hand he lifted her back up with ease.  He thought he caught something in her eyes, but he was unable to discern it.  At any rate she apologized and left.  With that out of the way Domarus watched her leave and returned to moving to the restaurant.  Rhozarth on the other hand wouldn't just let things go so easily.  It's piercing and fierce eyes followed her until she vanished from sight.  It kept it's gaze in her direction a few seconds afterwards and was about to look back to where they were going when it spotted the top of her hair again.  She wasn't getting any farther.  Rhozarth returned it's gaze to their current path and gave a low rumbling that only Domarus and those around could hear.  Outwardly, Domarus said nothing.  However he did kick a nearby stone as he walked, thrice in a row, signaling to Rhozarth that he got the message.  Why they were being followed was beyond him, but at any rate he knew a restaurant near the bar he was originally going to, so he figured he'd stop there instead.  He'd like to keep his habits and patterns a secret as much as possible.  Despite the fact that he didn't often do this, and he never went to the same place twice.  Save for this time.
     "So Keres.  You think we should get the same meal we had last time?  Or should we spice things up a bit?"  Keres almost reacted with surprise but caught on quickly as she usually did.  She acted dumb but she was actually very intelligent and clever.  She took a moment to 'think' about her answer before smiling and tilting her head in her reply.
     "How about we try something new?"  Domarus nodded, nearing the restaurant now and stepping inside.

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone continued to follow the two players with their dragons and started to get a little bit nervous as she noticed that the fire dragon was staring at her for a few seconds. The two didn't turn around or anything like that, so Kotone assymed that they hadn't noticed her yet.

Kotone saw the two stop and walk into a restraurant, to which she was a little confused at first. "Why would two players of that strength go into a common restaurant?" she thought to herself as she walked up to the door.

Kotone debated going in the restaurant, and decided against it so it wouldn't throw up any suspicion that she just so happened to walk into the same restaurant as them. Instead, Kotone looked through the windows and watched the two from the outside to avoid being spotted. Kotone had to stand on her tip-toes just to be able to look through the window inside.

@Domarus 

[Domarus 0]

Domarus walked over to a seat at one of the tables.  The owner of the restaurant was a player but due to the fact that no players were here at the moment, it was an npc serving the goods to the many npcs, rather than the player himself.  Therefore, other than the player who might have chosen to follow them for unknown reasons, there was no one around to hear his words.  After taking a seat he gave his order to the npc:  A double hamburger with pretzel buns with a side of tater tots.  Keres ordered a smaller version.  After the npc walked away Domarus turned back to Keres.  
     "Well we may as well talk about the progress of the guild.  And I need another voice in the matter besides my own."  Keres smiled and nodded.  She was pleased that Domarus would be discussing their plans.
     "So besides you, myself and Domarus, we require one additional player before we can actually start up the guild.  I doubt we'll get many players on our side at first, which will be frustrating since there are three segments in place, however we'll do what we can.  I doubt we'll have much trouble filling up the mercenary segment of the guild.  The market will be a little more difficult.  Front lines will be the hardest of course, however I am hoping to reach there before long.  As for the ranks and tenets for the different segments, I've already established them,"  He told Keres, pulling a piece of paper out of his inventory and showing her the three segment details.  She leaned in to observe it and Domarus refrained from looking behind them to check if anyone was watching carefully.  Rhozarth, upon his instructions, did not look behind either.

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone was starting to lose her balance, watching the two through the window. They had sat down and were eating, which made it even harder for Kotone to see what they were doing. She heard the red haired player say something about a guild before she was knocked over by the waves of people in the crowded streets. "They must be in a guild, maybe even the leaders! This is my chance to get up there with the big shots!" Kotone thought to herself as she stood back up.

She couldn't go on her tip toes to peek through again. No, Kotone needed to get all the details on this guild. A guild forming could be a perfect opprunity to get strong quick. Kotone walked into the restaurant and sat down at the table behind the other two players. She didn't order anything, but instead turned over and looked at the paper the girl was holding. The fire dragon still had her a little nervous of getting caught, so she prepared herself to turn back around if anyone looked her way.

@Domarus

 

Edited September 5, 2017 by GreenBlade

[Domarus 0]

Domarus paused as Keres looked at it, and heard movement that was different from all the others.  NPC's had a pattern and never left it.  They acted the same and in a loop.  This sound however, was a new addition to the background.  His mouth lifted, almost into a grin but not quite.  This was precisely why he wrote all of his notes in the greek Alphabet, and not in words that most people could understand.  Even the games translating systems wouldn't decipher this page of information.  True, Keres herself didn't know how to read greek, but she knew that she had to play along and thus acted as if she could read it perfectly.  She nodded a little bit near the end, looking back up to Domarus with a smile.
     "This really does look good Master!  And I really like the three segments ideas.  It makes your guild unique, far more unique than any other guild.  If players end up joining, and I don't doubt that they will, you could surpass the Knights of the Blood Oath in no time!"  Domarus had the same thought in mind, although he would need to level himself up at an extreme rate if he wanted to catch up to them himself.  When he did he wouldn't stop either.  Not until he was the highest level in Aincrad, and then he'd need to keep up the pace.  At the same time he needed to train any who joined his ranks to ensure that all sides were covered and accounted for.  He was willing to bet though, that once the details of his guild reached out, that players would be more frequent in joining.  His predictions were that he'd draw in the weak and pathetic, before more powerful players began to join the guild.  Their food was brought to them and Domarus nodded, taking the paper and setting it aside, on the side of the table closest to the girl watching nearby.  Rhozarth knew she was there but did nothing to stop her.  Porvós poked his head out and tasted the air coming off of the food, seeming to be curious about it.
      "Indeed.  That is of course, we can gain some strong allies that is.  I'm willing to bet that we'll be gaining only weak players first.  This is fine of course as we can train them up, it's really no bother.  However unless we have strong players who can fill up our ranks in the front line segment of the guild, we won't catch up to the Knights of the Blood Oath, let alone the Celestial Ascendants."

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone was getting a bit frustrating when she started to try and read the paper. It all looked like scribbles and gibberish to her, which got Kotone a bit flustered. She didn't even know what language it was so she could try to interpret it. The girl mentioned three segments, and even called the other player master. Kotone had called her stalkee master plenty of times, which almost made Kotine a little bit sympathetic with these two players.

Kotone's sentimental thoughts were dropped immediately as soon as the two continued to talk as though the paper wasn't in complete gibberish. They had said they were planning on surpassing both the Knights of the Blood Oath and the Celestial Ascendants. So these two weren't pushovers just making a guild for fun. This was serious business, and Kotone liked that even more. At this point, she was full on leaning over her seat, watching the two talk with each other, completely forgetting her goal of not being spotted.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

Domarus could practically feel the girl on top of him and she had made movement in his range of vision.  It was oh so tempting to just get it over with and let her know that she was spotted, but he'd have some fun with her first.  He was unsure of how she'd react, but if she tried to run after he said what he planned to, then Rhozarth would beat her to the doorway and prevent her from leaving.  And due to the fact that this was a safe zone, he was unafraid to be aggressive, as was his nature.  Domarus knew that if the dragon wasn't only aggressive during combat, it would have matched his pride.
     "Aereth will be the most help so far as we know.  He's excellent at getting information, and on top of that he's someone I can actually trust in this game.  Not to mention he's powerful.  I need to catch up to him in level, but something tells me I'll be getting the chance to.  He has a lot to process after all.  I am hoping we can find players besides Aereth and Hidden as allies though.  It's becoming more and more difficult to find someone I can count on.  Especially when many of them seem to enjoy vanishing into the wind right when I need them."  Keres could see where Domarus was heading with this and did her best not to smirk.  She loved messing with others so this would prove very enjoyable to her.
     "Hey who knows?  Maybe you'll find someone who is also good at gathering intelligence, in their own way.  And maybe they'll be strong too.  If not now maybe in the future?  I just hope that if someone like that did join, they could be someone you could trust."  Domarus nodded.
     "Indeed.  However I already have a detective.  What I need now is someone...  With different and alternate tactics.  Someone who is better off gathering information in plain sight.  Someone whose nosy.  Someone who isn't afraid of being detected.  Someone with blue hair."

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone continued to listen to the two players conversing with each other. It appeared as thpugh neither of them had noticed her looking, so she leaned in a little further. They mentioned someone named Aereth, in which they sounded even stronger than either of these two players. If he was going to be in the guild as well, then this was definitely something that Kotone wanted to get involved in.

The girl then said that they might find someone good at gathering information in their own way, to which Kotone smirked to herself. They were almost perfectly describing her. She was great at her own ways of getting information. Her stalking gave her plenty of experience in that field.

But then the male player mentioned that they already had a detective, to which Kotone sighed. Then he said they needed someone with different tactics, which gave Kotone some hope and even made her smile a small bit, but it was dropped right away when he mentioned blue hair. She had been spotted. Kotone then slid out of her seat and started to make a beeline for the exit of the restaurant.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

Domarus smiled when he heard the movement and knew that Rhozarth was already there.  The flaming familiar blocked the doorway and if she tried to move past it, the familiar would place it's claws on her shoulders and keep her still.  The familiar was ordered to keep her in, not scare her half to death so Rhozarth would be making attempts to do such a thing.  However just like Domarus doesn't care about others, he himself doesn't care whether or not she's frightened by him.  Domarus chuckled and turned in his chair to view her more clearly.
     "Well hello there.  I'm fairly certain that you've been listening in on our conversation.  Why you decided to follow us in the first place is what really puzzles me however.  If you'd like, you can take a seat here.  There's a spare chair after all.  Or you can walk out those doors and as long as you don't go telling people that I hope for my guild to surpass the Knights of the Blood Oath as well as the Celestial Ascendants one day, we can pretend this never happened.  Of course I think we both know what you'll choose."  During all of this he only showed his kind and caring facade.  Not the scheming, mischievous, uncaring and cruel man he truly was.  He gestured for Rhozarth to stop and the familiar backed away from the doorway, flying back to his master, landing on one of the roof's supports as he continued to scan the area, and outside the window to ensure there were no intruders.  Keres gave off the most welcoming and kind appearance she could.  It took all her strength not to cackle at the reaction she had given.  Keres had the joy of being able to see the girl get excited, disappointed, energetic again, and finally panicking.

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone started to panic even more when she was stopped by the fire dragon on her way to the exit. "Wha? I-I..." Kotone started to stammer but no words came out. She was scared, and was trying to figure out a way to get out of this without looking bad.

Kotone decided to go with her usual uncaring look and just turned toward Domarus with a slight frown. "Oh, you caught me. Yeah, I heard you say somethin' about a guild. You seem to fit the description of the guy who was starting up his own guild. You're Domarus right? I'll have a seat with you in that case." Kotone said, walking back toward his table. She grabbed a chair from a different table and brought it over. "Don't worry about me telling anyone, I'm no snitch. I just know that you kinda need another person join your guild. I can be that person." Kotone offered.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

Although Keres got an initial reaction, hearing the girl stammering a little, the girl had ultimately decided to play it cool, which Keres was disappointed with.  If the girl reacted more she would get more fun out of it.  Unfortunately she doubted that would be the case here.  Domarus however was pleased to see that the girl could hold onto her senses and keep calm.  Still, her deception skills could use some work.  'Oh, you caught me.'?  Domarus didn't need to be familiar with deception and lying to know that she was making this up.  She came over and told him that she wasn't a snitch and that she would like to join his guild.  His eyebrows rose slightly and he took the next step. 
     "Well now.  That came out of nowhere.  You want to join my guild eh?  Well that would certainly help.  Of course I would like to get to know you a little bit first, staring with names.  And also why you want to join a guild, my guild in particular, in the first place.  You are correct that I am Domarus.  This here is Keres.  The dragon you encountered is Rhozarth.  Did you want to order anything or just chat?"  This was an interesting turn of events.  First Trixie and now this player.  It was, seemingly too convenient that players were eager to join his guild and it put him on cautious mode.  He didn't like it when people followed through with his goals so easily.  Normally there was some level of resistance along the way.  It frustrated him.

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

As Kotone sat down, she waved with a small smile on her face to Keres. This was already going better than she had expected. Domarus wasn't even coming close to opposing her on her reasons to join. Kotone continued to keep her indifferent tone in her voice as she talked with the two.

"My name? Oh, I'm GreenBlade, just call me Kotone though, or Green, whatever works for you. Nice to meet you both." Kotone introduced herself, crossing her arms. Even though things seemed to be going well, Kotone was not quite happy about her first impression on these two. She looked bad at spying from her first impression.

Domarus had asked her why she wanted to join his guild, to which Kotone shrugged. "I simply want to be in a guild. You two seem more capable than any others, so I figured why not join the winning team?" Kotone explained. Domarus was being a bit too welcoming for her liking, after being watched by a random person, he would just let someone talk like nothing happened? Kotone knew from her experience that there was no way he could be positive about this right now.

When asked if she wanted to order anything, Kotone shook her head, "I already ate before I came here. I can still chat with you both." Kotone answered, keeping her frown.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

She informed them that her username was GreenBlade and then told her that they could call her Kotone or Green, whichever they preferred.  At any rate, the name Kotone sparked in his memory as he recalled the player Trixie mentioning how her stalker would probably have the alias of Kotona or Kotone, etc. etc.  Which meant that this player was almost certainly Trixie's stalker.  How fortunate for the pink haired girl that Domarus had run into her first.  At this point he could easily tell the girl that if she wanted to be close to Trixie she would need to obey his rules, one of them being to give the girl some actual space unless she desired it.  Domarus nodded upon her greeting.  Of course he could tell something was bothering her but what that was would remain a mystery.  Her reason was plain and simple:  She wanted to be in a guild.  He chuckled on the last part.
     "Don't count your chickens before they've hatched.  Until we gain more members, there's no way we'll be the winning team.  In addition, no one joins a guild for the sake of joining one.  There's always a method and reason for it.  Whether the motivation being loneliness, gaining power, allies, levels, rewards.  There's always something.  I ask that you be more specific than just wanting to join."  Domarus took a bite of his food in order to give her time to process this fully.
     "In addition I'd like to know what build you were aiming for.  And if you had any particular goals you'd like to set for yourself.  Also.  What is your opinion on pools?"  He asked the last question to see what sort of response he would get.  Would she identify the connection immediately?  Would it take some time for her to get it?  Would she get it at all?  Or would she answer the question, believing it to be a literal one?  He wondered what the response would be.

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone listened to Domarus as she stared out the windiw and into the streets outside. He was right, she did have her reasons to want to join, but she didn't want to explain everything to him just yet. Not until he trusted her enough at least. "Um, without being too specific, it is mostly for power. A similar kind of power you want on the world, by the look in your eyes. I'll leave it at that, is that a good enough reason?" Kotone responded, turning her head to face Domarus.

Kotone watched him eat his burger as she went through her thoughts. He seemed to be rather laid back, but there was no way he would just let her in like this, so Kotone kept her suspicions. He had then asked what build she aimed for, and what she thought about pools. "I am already aiming for DPS, and I know what skills to go for. Pools? I don't like them much, since I can't swim. Wait... you met her didn't you? You had better tell me where you last saw her!" Kotone said, startinf to raise her voice a bit.

@Domarus

[Domarus 0]

Domarus was certain he was keeping everything disguised as the facade he had perfected before SAO.  So how was it that she was able to catch a glimpse of him through his eyes?  She may not have described the type of power he wanted, but she hit the nail regardless.  He wanted power not just on the world, but on every single solitary individual.  Power.  Influence.  Control.  He wanted all of this.  And this player was telling him that she wanted a similar power.  This was extremely suspicious to Domarus and felt like she was making an attempt to lure him out.  The good thing about this situation was that mind games were Domarus' specialty.  Domarus acted somewhat confused, doing all he could to make his outer appearance and reaction, including his eyes, to appear genuine.  
     "What do you mean by that?  The kind of power I want on the world?  I don't follow.  I'm simply trying to help players in Aincrad.  The Knights of the Blood Oath only care about themselves and their pride.  I aim to make a guild better than them in every way and use those resources to help other players.  Including sharing demonic items that the front liners themselves don't actually need."  Then her reaction.  She told him she wished to go for a dps build which was oh so common, though it balanced out with Trixie's supporter aim.  If she followed the guidelines Domarus gave her, then the two of them could become quite the team.  She didn't realize it at first, but she caught on quick.  He smiled, seeming to ignore the increase of her voice level and took another bite before answering.
     "From what I can tell, your in no position to be demanding anything from me.  Luckily I have no intention on separating you two either.  However I will say this:  Before I inform you of where she is, I will be placing down a few rules.  You must follow these rules and so long as you do so there will be no issues.  As far as your joining the guild, I'm in need of players regardless so I don't see why you can't join.  However you'll be starting at the lowest rank and title, and you'll need to earn your way to the top.  I don't mind players piggy backing their way to a strong level, but by doing so your rank and title will remain low, understood?"

@GreenBlade

[GreenBlade 0]

Kotone decided that she was now pushing her luck at this point with Domadus and decided to stop and not go any further with her questioning on power. "Whatever you say, forget I said anything about power. If you are going to help everyone, then I believe you." Kotone replied, trying not to make the situation worse herself.

Kotone was a bit caught off guard when Domarus had told her she couldn't demand anything from him. He was right too, which got Kotone a little bit frustrated. She lowered her tone and took a deep breath, going back to her indifferent tone. "Fine. As long as I get to see my Setsuna again, I'll follow any rules you give me. I am perfectly okay with being the lowest rank. I hate starting off ahead anyway. I won't be doing any of that piggybacking either, since most of my training will be by myself. I don't like relying on others much. So I apologize for raising my voice. It won't happen again." Kotone said, now smiling at Domarus.

@Domarus