(PP-F13) Recovery <Angels Point> (Beat, Hakai)

[Hakai 0]

It had been a long couple of days, and Hakai was reminded of what she disliked about the frontlines. It had been a stressful endeaveor so far, recovering her demonic weapon. She had originally lent it to Hikoru, a friend and fellow frontliner who she had trusted. Never again. He would get payed back for her trouble, she guaranteed that. People didn't cross her like that and get away with it. She sighed. she wasnt in the clear yet, and it was even possible that she wouldn't get her weapon back at all. And hs ehad even gone to the trouble of acquiring a demonic egg in order to change it back to a katana.

She stood on the border of Angel's Point, staring off into the gloomy wasteland that stretched before her. She still needed to speak to the person who Hikoru had traded it to. She had arranged to meet him here to discuss the issue, feeling as though it was the sort of discussion that required a face to face conversation. Hikoru had taken her weapon, which she had loaned to him and then traded it for another weapon as though he owned it, blatantly ignoring the fact that he could have easily contacted her and the fact that she had only let him borrow it for her break from the frontlines. He had then made it clear that he wasn't going to take responsibility for his actions and that she would have to figure it all out herself. She could only hope that the person he had traded it to could understand the situation, although she somehow doubted it would be that simple. Most people didn't hold themselves to a standard of honor and morals. At least not to that extent. 

@Beat

[Beat 0]

In the days leading up to the day of his rendezvous with a player claiming to be the rightful owner of Beat's only Demonic weapon, he had been mulling over what he would do in various situations. When he had made the favorable trade with Hikoru, he had wondered if there was more to the weapon than its apparent owner was letting on, but now that his suspicions were confirmed, his mind wandered to darker possibilities. A demonic weapon was a rare item for anyone to have, and though he had not used it in battle yet, he could see how someone might decide that a PvP solution would be a good way to obtain such a weapon if they had somehow found out that he had it. 

I wonder if they've found me again...

Beat's encounter with one of the dark guilds in Aincrad had been torturous to say the least and he knew that he had merely escaped, doing little to stop their organization as a whole, but he hadn't considered the possibility that they would hunt him down. They certainly had motivation, so if this was indeed a trap they had set, Beat was walking right into their hands. He shook his head, convincing himself that he was probably just being paranoid as he reached the teleporter of the 21st floor, "Angel's Point!" 

He was whisked away and quickly found himself in the gloomy town of angel's grove. His eyes searched the vicinity before he headed towards the coordinates they had a agreed on.

Right towards the edge of the safe zone. It wouldn't be hard...stop it!

By the time Beat had cleared his head, he saw a woman standing at the edge of the safe zone, unmistakably the player he was to meet. He approached at an even pace, smiling as he gave her a friendly wave, "Are you Hakai?" 

@Hakai

Edited February 22, 2018 by Beat

[Hakai 0]

Hakai watched as the figure approached her. She had wondered what he would look like. To be honest he looked fairly average. She didn't know what she had expected. She nodded to him as he asked her if she was Hakai. "I'm she." She gave him a friendly smile and motioned further towards the inner part of the settlement. "We can go further into the safe zone if you'd like. I find that talking while walking can make it easier to hold a conversation, although somehow i doubt we'll run out of material that quickly." She stated, her voice taking on a bit off an intensity to it.

"I felt as though this is the sort of conversation that is better to have face to face." She commented before reaching out a hand to shake his. "I'm Hakai, im a frontliner, although i have been taking a break, thats really how this problem came to be." She started to explain before pausing. How on earth was she supposed to convince him that her story was even true? She didn't have any sort of proof. She supposed that she would just have to tell him the whole story and hope that the truth shone through. She didn't imagine tht it would though.

@Beat

[Beat 0]

Beat didn't show it, but at her suggestion to walking back further into the safe zone, the nerves he had left tensed as a last measure of defense immediately relaxed, "Agreed. I'm not very good at standing still anyways," He said with a chuckle. It was a great relief that this girl seemed friendly. It was a noticeable contrast to his friend Shield, who was rarely a big conversationalist. It was too bad this meeting was about business. 

He nodded at her introduction as they passed a couple of villagers going towards the town center to pray, "I'm Beat, also a front liner. You must must have been on the front lines a while before me. I'm positive I haven't seen you before." He said, refusing to let himself remember his recent "break" from the front lines, instead focusing on the matter that had brought them to the gloomy floor, "So, you have a connection to Limbo's Fang?" 

It was unusual for Beat to be so business-like, but something had him feeling a sort of awkwardness he normally didn't feel. Whatever it actually was, Beat was satisfied to attribute it to the gloomy surroundings.  

 

@Hakai

Edited February 23, 2018 by Beat

[Hakai 0]

She nodded to him, reaching back to rub her neck, embarrassed. "Yeah... It may have been a bit longer than i'd originally intended." She smiled sheepishly. "I'm back now though, or at least, i will be very soon." She paused, getting her thoughts in order. It would probably be best to start from the beginning and to give as much detail as possible. The more facts she gave the more he could fact check if he wanted to. She glanced over at one of the stained glass windows that all the buildings in this town had except for the central one.

"Alright... Might be talking for a while here, but i feel its best to start from Limbo's beginning. If I recall correctly I wasn't at the boss battle. Limbo's Fang is a demonic drop from a floor boss. It was given as a last hit to Zandra, another frontliner. This was a long time ago, and I had happened to fall into the good graces of one of the major frontliners, back before i was strong enough to join." She paused for a breath, remembering Manta. "Her name was Manta and she was a damage dealer. My goal at the time was to start a build based on damage over time and using the quick change mod to stack them." She pasued again, feeling as though she wasn't being entirely clear with her explanation. "Anyways, i'd talked to Manta about it, and it just happened that she was really good friends with Zandra and managed to work out a deal with her to trade for it." She gave him a ruefull smile. "At the time it was seen as a worthless demonic, but i knew better. Anyways, She gave it to me in exchange for a favor in the future. And then she got murdered in a boss battle by another player."

She paused again, realizing how long she had been talking, but also acknowledging that this was the entire point of their meeting. She pushed on. "Hikoru was another frontliner who i did some quests with and I trusted. I had some adventures, fought in some boss battles and events and got tired of it. So i let Hikoru borrow it, because he was one of the people who helped me get strong enough to be on the frontlines. He had expressed interest before. Before i went on my break i let him borrow it. And i made certain to make clear that he was just borrowing it." She stopped talking finally. There was a little bit more, but she felt as though she ought to give Beat a chance to think about what she had said so far.

[Beat 0]

He nodded as she spoke, meeting her eyes periodically when he felt her gaze on him, but otherwise staring ahead, towards the ground, focusing on listening in on everything she was saying, but not just what, but how. His time away had gotten him fairly good at listening to people by necessity, though he probably wasn't fully aware of that himself and how it played into his understanding of how people talked. All he knew was that during his time in captivity, he developed a sort of gut instinct about people and it was different depending on the different way each person spoke. It was far from perfect, but his age-old habit of going with his gut had developed during that time to be a little more than simple dumb luck. 

"I see...you were very fortunate to obtain such an item." He paused as he looked at her, waiting for his instinct to tell him something, but the jury was still out on this one, "So I guess Hikoru broke your trust by trading it to me." He crossed his arms and let out a sigh as he shook his head, "Man this could get messy. I suppose we should go to Hikoru and try to make this right. He and I can trade back so he can return it to you." 

The solution seemed simple to him, though he didn't really know Hikoru and couldn't be sure he wasn't the type to simply refuse to make it right after getting what he wanted, at which point, Beat wasn't sure what to do immediately in that scenario.

 

@Hakai

Edited February 23, 2018 by Beat

[Hakai 0]

She nodded, giving him a small cynical smile. "Yeah, thats what I thought too. I thought he would take responsibility and contact you about it and trade back. But apparently not. He told me that he wasn't going to contact you about this, or trade back." She looked away from him, wondering how she could have mmisjudged someone so badly. "I thought it was a mistake at first, but he's in my friends list. He knew I wasn't dea, and it isn't that hard to contact someone in your friends list. Feel free to ask him yourself. Maybe he'll say something different to you, but that would be pretty weird, although i wouldn't be unhappy about it." 

She adjusted her stance, leaning up against one of the walls of the nearby buildings. "I dont see how this works out cleanly. There's nothing i can do to force the trade as by the games logic it just sees it as being given to him. It cant tell that there was a promise there. And i have nothing to trade to you either. I havent been on the frontlines, i dont even have an event item to give you." She explained. She wasn't going to trust anyone with things that were important to her again. It seemed as though her own gut instinct wasn't as good as she had thought. Hikoru had seemed like a good, trustworthy guy.

[Beat 0]

Beat's eyes closed as he processed the information. Everyone who knew him knew that he was a trusting person, but his experience in Aincrad had taught him to second guess that trust with strangers, even it was only to confirm that the person was indeed trustworthy. The problem was that he had never heard of a player named Hakai, let alone met her until today. He opened his eyes and looked at her with a sympathetic expression, "The problem is, Hikoru left our guild not too long ago, so even if I could have convinced my guild to investigate or pressure him to make things right, they couldn't do anything now." Letting out a sigh, Beat shifted his weight and folded his arms as he continued to look Hakai in the eyes, "The other issue is that we barely know one another. I know you have no illusions about the fact that I have no reason to trust you other than your word." 

What might have seemed interesting to anyone listening in or watching was that Beat did not seem angry, but he was certainly not comfortable having to tell someone who had supposedly been wronged that he was having issues buying her story. His brow furrowed as he tried to think of possible solutions. Half a minute passed before he spoke again, looking back into her eyes, his gaze somewhat quizzical, "Is there anyone who can confirm what you're telling me? Do you think Hikoru would even if he has no intentions of making it right?"

@Hakai

[Hakai 0]

She slumped down against the wall, crossing her arms behind her head. She looked almost carefree, which probably wasn't the best look to have at that moment. To be honest she really wanted her weapon back and she was all set to go murder Hikoru, but her own private fantasies about ripping him limb from limb and watching the blood pour out of his wounds was plenty to sate her for the moment. "I mean, i think he would corroborate what im saying, but i thought i knew him too, and i was wrong there. I cant see why he wouldn't unless he values how you view him." 

She shifted her weight, pulling one knee close to her chest and wrapping her hands around it. "I dont get close to many people, but i used it all the time and plenty of people saw me. It was a katana then. I just dont know too many people by name. Zandra could definitely back me up, and so could Domarus, although hes someone to be careful of. He's a dangerous one." She warned. It had been a longshot to think that she could simply tell him her story and he would help her out. That wasn't the way of the world. "I get it if you need some time to talk to people."

@Beat

[Beat 0]

He gave her a nod, "Hmm Hikoru and Zandra are probably my best bets. I can't say I've ever met Domarus and from the way you make it sound, that's probably not a bad thing." 

The fact that she seemed so forthcoming with information was a good sign. It was always possible that she was simply lulling him into a false sense of security, but he failed to see what she could possibly gain by allowing him to leave and corroborate her story with others that Beat did trust. He let out a satisfied sigh and took a seat next to her as he opened his menu, his fingers dancing in the air for a moment before two sandwiches appeared in his free hand. His swiped his menu away and held out one of the food items to the woman next to him, "You hungry? I kind of forgot to eat earlier this morning so I'm starving," He started with a chuckle, "which seems ridiculous since I'm a chef and I have an inventory full of delicious vanity food!" 

Beat had gotten his fill of serious business for the day and decided they could both use some lighter conversation and relaxation, "You picked quite a gloomy floor for a meeting you know?" He teased, looking at the villagers all praying in the town square.  

@Hakai

Edited February 26, 2018 by Beat

[Hakai 0]

She smiled. "Well, he's a bit of a wild card. But its better to be safe than dead." She stared out at the praying villagers. It was a little bit unnerving how they did this like clockwork, but then again, they were stuck inside of a virtual game. She accepted the offered sandwich, giving himi an appreciative look. "I'm a merchant myself. I got a lifemend slot on a piece of armor once. I guess thats my crowning achievement so far." It was certainly an accomplishment, but she wished that it had turned out to be a different more useful enhancement.

"I was feeling a bit gloomy and this place seemed as good as any. Reminds me of real life actually. Its an incredibly realistic metaphor." She looked over at him after taking a bite of the sandwich. It was a fairly delicious sandwich, with a lot of depth of flavor. "I'm not really a social person. Thats probably why you havent heard about me before. I tried joining a guild once. It was fun and interesting, but it really wasn't for me." She was reminded of Itzal and the rest. She wasn't the sort of person they wanted anyway. She tended to give into her darker urges while they were all about honor and protecting the innocent. It would only have been a matter of time before they kicked her out anyway.

[Beat 0]

He finished his sandwich as he listened to Hakai speak, his brow raising in interest at the mention of her profession, "My traveling companion is a merchant himself. I have him to thank for this weapon." His fingers danced in the air again and in moments, his spear materialized in his free hand, "It came from a quest with a slot of absolute accuracy. Getting lucky enough to get paralyze and freeze was huge boon."  

Beat could understand her not being terribly sociable. This game made you want to hide away until the next floor boss or quest, so forcing yourself to go out and make friends was sometimes difficult, especially with the possibility of those people dying was constantly present. He absentmindedly admired his weapon as he spoke, "If I'm being honest, the only people I really know are some my guild mates and Shield, my traveling companion and other than him, I don't know any of them very well." He gave her a sheepish look as he stowed his spear again and stared at the gloomy sky, "I actually only joined the guild to make getting stronger a smoother process. With my level being almost third tier, I'm thinking about reconsidering guild membership. Maybe start my own like I did in the game I played before this."   

@Hakai

Edited February 26, 2018 by Beat

[Hakai 0]

Hakai raised an eyebrow. "What kind of quest gives Absolute Accuracy? And is it still available?" She asked curiously, suddenly more interested in the coversation than she had been before. Any sort of unique enhancement was something that she was interested in. She supposed most people who cared about stats and fighting felt the same. She listened as he spoke about his reasons for joining a guild and why he was considering leaving.

"I felt a similar way when i left mine. My reasons may have been a bit more complex. I'd like to be open with you. I dont tell many people this and most people aren't even aware of it." She stated, prefacing what she was about to say. "I'm not a good person. In the real world..." She paused. She didn't like talking about the real world, and to be honest she didn't miss it at all. "Well, i was fairly violent. All the time. I got pretty good at using my fists in school and i enjoyed hitting people where it hurts. I seem pretty calm usually, but its usually the calm ones with the most roiling underneath. Its like the oceans currents, invisible from the surface." She gave him a half smile. "I've matured a lot and I control myself a lot better, but i've still got that worry that i'll lose control and end up with someones life on my hands. Itzal and the rest wouldn't stand for that. Anyways, i figured i ought to evict myself before they had to." She finally finished explaining.

[Beat 0]

Beat pulled his legs in and loosely wrapped his arms around his knees as Hakai told her story. He wasn't sure if it was because she hadn't had much company in a long time or if she had simply kept this in for so long that she felt the need to reveal it to somebody, but it definitely seemed like she was the trusting sort. "I certainly have a love for battle, but I can't say I've ever had the urge to hurt another person," he paused and looked at the woman beside him, "but I'm not sure if separating yourself from people will make that better either."

The villagers began to get up and return to their homes as something inside Beat felt the need to tell his own story, as if having been stuck in SAO for a year and never telling anyone had built up a previously unknown pressure, "So, since we're sharing,  and sorry for adding my bummer story to yours, but I don't really have a whole lot to go back to either. My mother is gone and my dad is a drunk. All I've got are these games. My life in the real world sucks and I'm not sure I like being on the front lines when its counter-intuitive to what I want for myself." Beat rested his head against the wall of the building they sat against, his eyes closing as he released a long sigh, "So I guess we all have baggage tied to the real world and it sounds like your intentions are good, even if you might fail to live up to them someday." He turned his head and smiled at her, "I think that's what is truly important. Intention is everything."

Where the hell did that come from?

Edited February 28, 2018 by Beat

[Hakai 0]

She frowned. Her philosophy was fairly different. "Your speaking of feelings and intentions, but the only thing that really matters are the results. Those are what you and others have to live with in the end. Maybe if your religious intention becomes important, but if you arent its really only the end result that matters. 

She adjusted her posture, sitting up a little. "My intention is to give into my violent nature. I dont want to, but really thats just a trick to make myself feel less guilty. My nature is a part of me, it isn't something seperate like i want it to be so i can blame it for my problems." Her statement rang inside of her with an air of falsehood. Maybe it was her own weak will that was the problem. She didn't really intend to do anything overly bad. Still, her own sense of self doubt and self critique kept her from fully realizing the key to her problem, despite understanding it at a basic level. 

"My parents see me as baggage, and their probably glad that they dont have to worry about me. They were always extremely distant, in a purposeful way. Maybe they were scared of me." She explained. She glanced over at him for the first time since she had started speaking. "Really, i've done horrible things and i've enjoyed it immensly, despite the guilt i felt later." She didn't understand why she was trying to convince him that she was an awful person. Maybe it was her own insecurity and desire to hear someone say something good about her for once. Then again, that wasn't something that a total stranger she had met a little while ago could do for her.

[Beat 0]

Beat's brow furrowed as he returned her gaze, "So your violent urges feel good when you give in, but you feel guilty afterwards? Of course it feels good when the urge you've been resisting is finally satisfied." He turned his head away and watched a large vulture circle above the village center as he let his mind speak, "If you feel guilt for what you have done, then that doesn't sound like you're a bad person to me. It sounds like you have a nature that conflicts with what you know to be right and that makes you feel like a bad person, naturally." 

He rubbed the back of his neck as he considered his next words, "I've seen bad people. People that are violent just like you say you are, but relish in the results and don't think to stop themselves for a second. Making people suffer and ending lives without a shred of guilt. Those are bad people." He shuddered before looking at her again, this time turning his head to face her, "It sounds like you try to stop yourself from being violent, despite the rush you get from giving in and hurting someone then you feel guilty afterwards when you do." 

He shook his head and smiled, "I'm not saying the results don't matter at all, but the reasons and feelings you have surrounding the things you do reflect who you are inside. The violence? That's just the surface. Good people produce bad results all the time," His expression turned sheepish, "Though surely some more than others." 

[Hakai 0]

She let out a genuine smile. "You seem to care an awful lot about convincing me that im not a bad person." Hakai commented, feeling flattered. She didn't completely agree with him or what he was saying, but it was nice to hear some reassuring words every now and then. She wasn't going to continue vocally disagreeing with him. She didn't want to seem as though she was just trying to get him to say nice things to her. Her hand reached over to grasp his and give it a gentle squeeze before quickly retreating back to her side. "Thanks." 

Her mind turned back to the whole reason they were there. Perhaps her old guild leader could vouch for her? She shook her head. Beat already had the important people who could vouch for her story, and she didn't particularly feel like getting back in touch with Itzal. "Do you have any plans for the rest of the day?" She asked curiously. "I mentioned before that im trying to get back on the frontlines and i'm trying to get some of these new quests done to prepare for the next floor boss. If you wouldn't mind maybe helping me sometime?" He had seemed a little on edge when they had first met, and she hoped that he wouldnt interpret her asking him as some kind of trap to get him out of the safe zone.

[Beat 0]

An odd sensation filled Beat as Hakai squeezed his hand. In truth, it was probably the first physical contact outside of a simple handshake he had gotten for as long as he could remember. He felt his body warm up rapidly and his heart sped up. It was uncomfortable, but at the same time, not entirely unpleasant. It was certainly new to Beat and he contemplated asking her if she had done something, but quickly dismissed the idea.

It wasn't a debuff and I would have seen her use an item...

Beat had only lost his composure for a moment, not much longer than the gesture itself, but it had felt much longer to him. He rallied his mental faculties and smiled warmly with a nod, a knot in his stomach still remaining, "I speak from what my instincts tell me, that's all. I trust them, you should too." 

But it's not all. Just what was that? 

He was glad she had brought up a new subject as it kept him from exploring the idea further for the time being. Beat had always quested with Shield, but the idea of questing with Hakai seemed much less foreign to him than he thought it would. As he thought on the idea, he began to feel silly for isolating himself so thoroughly before. He pulled up the message from the cardinal detailing the most recent patch as he spoke excitedly, "The most recent patch did introduce a large number of new quests and I know there are a lot I haven't done on the lower floors..." Closing the menu, he looked at her again, "As for plans, I think you and I have a quest to complete."

@Hakai

[Hakai 0]

She laughed, glancing over at him, a playful smirk alighting on her face. "I don't even know you; I can't trust you and your instinct. Not yet at least." You could never truly know someone from knowing them for a day. Even after a year or two being close friends with someone they could still surprise you. Now on to the quests. "I had heard, which is mainly why i mentioned it. I completed most of the old ones. I'm sure that i could solo a good number of these new quests, but i've been out of action for so long that i dont have any idea how strong i am relative to them." 

She was glad that he had agreed to do a quest with her. It would give her a chance to prove herself to him and gain some skill points at the same time. "I fully intend to join in the next boss fight, so any help getting stronger would be appreciated. Its not really about the surviving, all you need to do is be careful. Its more about getting enough damage for those last hits. I'm sure you know what i mean." She paused before hopping up to stand on her feet. 

"Do you do damage, or do you tank?" She asked curiously. Limbo's Fang was a multi use weapon, it could be good in the hands of any type of player.

[Beat 0]

Beat smirked as she mentioned not being able to trust him yet. She was right to be cautious and he couldn't really feel too bad considering he had been just as cautious about meeting Hakai in the first place. He shrugged and gave her a wink, "Fair enough. I'll just have to earn that trust." 

Upon her mentioning quests, Beat's eyes perked up as he pulled up the list of quests he had discovered, "Well, my quest list isn't nearly as incomplete as it once was, but I'm sure we can find something we both haven't done. If it's on the middle or lower floors, we should have no trouble with surviving." Beat had quested on his own a few times, opting for evasion over pure tanking and had found a good amount of success, plus his damage output would make anything on lower floors a non-issue. 

He followed suit as Hakai stood up, rising to his feet and standing to his full height a proud grin on his face,  "You're really going back to the front lines eh? Nice! We need more capable players helping us push the front lines." He said in admiration. There were many players who feared the front lines, and while Beat could not blame them, he had a hard time not being at least somewhat admiring any player who was willing to risk their lives to escape the death game they were all trapped in. "I do damage. I used to be martial arts, but two handed spears were more balanced. Better for questing since aoe is a necessity for mobs and dungeons. What about you?" 

@Hakai