[F1-PP] The First Day of the Rest of Their Lives <<Making Vows>>

[Piera 0]

Piera dozed against Lee's chest, her arm settled over his midsection as they slowly considered officially waking up. Though the curtains of their bedroom were pulled shut, some sunlight still managed to find a way to stream in from around them. Pressing her face more into his chest hair, the brunette sighed, leg hooking over his body to hug him more closely. She cherished these lazy mornings more than she could convey. Hearing Jareth's purring and Babette's soft snores and snorts, not to mention being safe and warm cuddling. For a while, everything was mostly silent and still as the couple regained consciousness. Stretching slightly, Piera murmured in a voice just above a breath, "Should we get married finally?" There was a space before she sleepily clarified, "Not today I mean. Do like...planning or whatevers today." Apparently, even though she was speaking fairly softly, it somehow triggered her familiar to also wake up, trilling in a feline manner as his eyes opened, standing in a stretch and jostling the tiny boar at his side awake before he jumped and flapped up onto the bed, blinking blearily at the two players under the covers. "See, Jareth agrees," Piera stated after one glance at the owl griffon before cuddling back into Lee's chest once more.

[Lee 0]

An arm would shift ever so slightly over Lee's face, it would move just enough to keep the majority of any light from reaching his eyes as it rested on them. His other arm resting under the brunette that slept with him. He would let his mouth gaped open as it would slowly grow into a yawn as he only wished he was still unconscious. He thought about turning over onto his side but with her in her current position, it wasn't really something that could be done. It wasn't until he heard the female say something about marriage to which he would pause and think about it. She would continue with it not being something done on that day but get things together. "I mean, sure. It would make things a lot easier in terms of, well, everything. Might be able to build more onto the house and I mean, it isn't like we aren't already that way in everything but officially." Babette would kick around furiously upon waking and would jump to her feet, looking around and finding the culprit of her awaking disappearing onto the top of the bed. She would then begin to scatter around on the floor at the edge of the bed to which Lee would remove his arm and look around. "Oh yeah, sure, speak for the flying pigmy bird. That is totally the winning argument here." Lee would then pull himself up, the arm under Piera coming with him as he used his hands to rub his eyes free of the sleep as he would continue "So, what all does that entail?"

[Piera 0]

A yawn of her own echoed behind Lee's, rubbing some of the sleep from her eyes with her free hand. "Mmm, more house? We already have lots of house...nice to have not empty rooms though." Then she murmured her contented agreement with a nod into his chest once more as he stated that they were already pretty much married in all but the official title. A smile spread wider across the brunette's mouth as she heard the tapping and skittering of the tiny boar's feet, too tiny to be able to jump up onto the bed like her friend. Giggling as Lee protested Jareth getting a say she retorted, "Ey, no name calling~ He is a proud and majestic griffon." Said familiar purred and preened as he settled down at her feet. Inhaling deeply and enjoying the little smells that SAO provided, Piera followed her love in the act of sitting up, stretching her arms upwards with a prolonged groan that ended in a sigh as she answered, "I don't know completely, but I do know that we need to speak to  this one NPC at the cathedral on floor one. Like there's planning n stuff that to do we need to speak with them about." Swinging her legs out of the bed, the alchemist tussled her hair with one hand and scrolling through her inventory and selecting a somewhat new outfit that she'd taken a liking to. Smiling back at Lee over her shoulder she joked, "Need to brush your teeth? Put on some deodorant?" As of course, they hadn't needed to do such things in years since living in the virtual world.

[Lee 0]

"Hey, I have a lot of plans for this place. Perfect plans that will be the best plans that any couple could want for a house plan....plans." Lee would then turn his attention over toward the side of the bed where he heard the small boars tapping to which he would chuckle. Piera would then she would speak of the name calling he had done to which he would give a 'Pft' and wave her off. "Tiny. Pigeon." He would watch as she would rise and equip a new outfit to which he would shake his head at and as she would speak about brushing and deodorant he would turn and place his feet on the floor and pull himself up. He would equip his normal armor and stretch his arms upward as he would crack his fingers, each one twitching and jerking individually. "If there would be a reason, maybe. But there isn't, so no." His armor had become his typical attire and he only had two or three other outfits any they were for special occasions, though, he thought now that he might try and expand that wardrobe.

[Piera 0]

A grin twitched wider the longer Lee's sentence dragged on and she echoed with humor, "Ah, those plans." She couldn't blame him for wanting to add on to their house though. Since they spent the majority of their time here, it'd be nice to spruce it up and make sure they had all the amenities that they could dream of. Who knows how much longer they would be stuck in SAO after all. Might as well be comfortable.

Pouting as Lee would name call her familiar once more she reiterated firmly, "Owl. Griffon."  Smiling down at Babette as the itty bitty boar as she ran circles around the alchemist before she was picked up. "Caaaalm down, we won't leave you behind." Jareth trilled, earning him a scratch behind an ear. "You either." Glancing back at Lee she huffed a light laugh seeing him in armor. "Maybe we can look for more clothes for you while we're looking for wedding duds." Gently setting his familiar on the ground as they walked their way through their mansion to outside.

Their walk through floor three and into Delilah Village was peaceful, chatting idly about silly things with their familiars frisking about at their heels. It only took a moment and they were whisked away to the first floor. It had been a while since she'd last been among the hustle and bustle of the Starting City. Even now with the twenty-second floor having been unlocked, the place was still busy with NPCs and players alike. Eager to get away from all the people, Piera took Lee's hand and quickly lead them to their destination. The Central Cathedral was quite a sight and deserving of the name. Another couple was just leaving as they approached, holding the door open for them with smiles. Nodding her gratitude as they entered the building, the alchemist blinked, eyes adjusting to the low lighting inside, sunlight gently streaming through the stained glass windows.

Far along the aisle and row of pews, stood a priest in front of the altar. A blonde rather young looking NPC with the title and name of <<Priest James Aria>>. Turning upon hearing their approaching footsteps, the young man turned with a benevolent smile. "Welcome. Are you looking to prepare for your wedding?" Smiling a bit bashfully, Piera glanced at Lee before nodding and replying formally for the NPCs programming, "Yes, we are."

Beaming, the Priest replied, "So you two wish to be married? That is wonderful to hear! We will need to discuss the details of your wedding such as location, the size of the wedding, food, as well as the wedding rings. I can also help you find someone to wed you, or I could do it myself if you'd like."

[Lee 0]

"Yes, those plans." He would then look down to his arms as if to check and make sure that the armor was its normal fit as it was never a bad idea to check. He would pause and let his eyes shift upward to stare at Piera as she would aim to correct him again on the species of the familiar. "Sure, sure, whatever you think." As she would pick up the small boar, Lee would then nod his head "Yeah, we won't forget the most important one." It was then that Piera would throw in the fact that while they were out that they would aim to find him more formal and wedding like clothes. Lee would then take in a breath and nod in agreement "Yeah, I will concede on the fact this isn't the best marriage attire."

They would take their familiars and leave the mansion and out into the world of the third floor. As they made their way to the town, it would be in its usual hustle and bustle but they wouldn't care too much as they made a beeline for the warp gate and take it to the first floor. Lee's hand would be taken as his significant other would lead him toward a cathedral which he would assume would be the start of this little endeavor. As they were about to enter, a couple would hold the door open for them and Lee would nod his head in appreciation as they would enter the church.

They would come to be greeted by the NPC that would ask if they were aiming for a wedding to which Piera would answer and Lee would confirm. "Yeah, we wanna do that." Lee would listen as the Priest would speak about details such as location, food, rings and just who would wed them. Lee would then look to Piera "Hey, that sounds like your territory."

[Piera 0]

Rolling her eyes as Lee promptly threw her under the bus with answering the NPCs questions, Piera stated wryly, "Oh yes it's not like you're a factor at all in said wedding." With a sigh, she then focused on the blonde priest and asked, "Is there like....options or guidelines that could help us decide? I know we don't want a huge wedding or anything." She glanced at Lee to confirm and James Aria answered expediently, "The larger the guest count, the more col you will need to pay in taxes I'm afraid. Here's a list that I hope will help." He then handed them a sheaf of paper that detailed things.

Spoiler

• Private Wedding (No guests) 0 col
• Small Wedding (Few invited guests, 1-5) 1,000 col
• Medium Wedding (Invited guests, 1-10) 2,000 col
• Large Wedding (Invite only/any number guests) 3,000 col

 

Humming, Piera shared said list between the two of them before asking, "Who do you wana invite?" He hadn't mentioned making a whole host of new friends or anything, but that didn't mean that he didn't have people he would like to invite to bask in their day. "I'd like to invite some of my guild if that's okay... Oh! And you gotta get a Best Man. Aaaand I should probably message my Maid of Honor to make sure she can...y'know...honor...and maid." Laughing a little awkwardly at the NPC still smiling patiently and somewhat blankly, Piera glanced over her shoulder to make sure they weren't keeping anyone waiting before sending out a message to Teion. Then she opened up the guild information and glanced over the members. Frowning as she glanced down at the numbers she was reconsidering inviting the entire guild. Groaning slightly as she deliberated excluding the two or three members she hadn't really gotten a chance to talk to or know such as Jevi and Ruby. But she also needed to factor in whoever Lee wanted to invite as well. Which meant they might need to spring for the large wedding after all rather than medium. She quickly typed out a list of people she definitely wanted to invite and showed it to Lee.

Spoiler

Teion (+1)
Jomei
Shield (+1)
Telrenya

 

Of course there were other people that she'd like to invite. Lowenthal, Zelrius, Ssendom, Carmine, Opal...all of which were dead. Also Grave, Kalesh and Nocturn, but she hadn't heard from them in so long. She even briefly considered inviting Mack, but things were always awkward with him and his crush on her, not to mention she still hadn't forgiven him for not responding to her messages about the lack of investigation into Lowenthal's murder. At least she had these four for sure...mostly. She wasn't entirely sure if Shield would come or if he'd bring a plus one, but she was optimistic.

After that was sent out, the brunette glanced back up at the Priest and asked, "Sooo food next. Hm, I'd like to get a good amount for everyone. But do we have to get special um...buffed food?"

[Lee 0]

"Yeah, I know right. I'm like the remainder in a fraction, not important." Lee would then move his hands behind himself and interlock his fingers. Piera would then continue to ask just what it was that needed to be decided in order for them to advance to which he would nod in agreement that he too wished for a not large wedding. When they were handed a list of options, Lee would scan over the letters and options given to them. The options would mainly involve the size of the wedding and Piera would ask just whom they should invite.

She would bring up the idea of inviting her guild to which Lee would shrug his shoulders "Sure, I don't think I have that many friends so by all means though, how many would that entail? Not aiming for breaking the bank." She would then bring up the fact that they needed a best man and maid of honor to which Lee would simply throw out "Jomei or Calrex." He waited for a moment as Piera would send a message to someone. Piera would bring up food and if it should be buffed to which Lee would shake his head "Nah, normal food should suffice. I always found the buffed to be too strong in flavor. Normal food works."

[Piera 0]

Rolling her eyes once more, Piera stated firmly with a smile pulling at her lips, "You are not a remainder. You are most definitely important. Especially in your own wedding." Smooching him on the cheek before going back and looking at the options. "Mmm..." Pulling up the guild page once more, the brunette counted with a frown. "Nine total in the guild, but there's also two that aren't in the guild. Shield and Teion. But I don't know everyone in the guild all that well..." She drifted off, trying to consider all the options.

When Lee would respond to her query about his best man, her eyebrows would raise in vague surprise. "Really? Well we should add Calrex to the list then. Sooo, in the end, Calrex or Jomei? Need to flip a col?" 

Regardless of his response, they still needed to consider the total guest list. "Nnn...fff.... So should we keep it to ten or under or go over? Cuz total guild count is at nine, plus my two personal makes eleven. Plux Calrex makes twelve." Glancing over at her partner she asked, "What do you think? Should I trim some on my end?"

Smiling at his opinion on buffed food, the alchemist chuckled. "You have a point. Well that's one thing down." Facing the priest, Piera stated, "We'll just be getting normal food then. No buffs."

[Lee 0]

"Well, I guess you need two to tango...er, or two to get married." He would let himself lean into the kiss on the cheek as they would then turn themselves back toward the paper. Piera would then begin to speak about the guild in general and that of the ten spots, nine were in the guild and even with that, there was the wish to add two others that were not in it. She spoke of flipping a coin to which Lee would shake his head. "Nah, that'd be too much of a problem. Then whoever it picks, I might lean toward the other and then I will want to honor the chosen of the coin. I think I'll just ask Jomei since I've known him longer and he's helped more." She then simply asked if they should increase the number of guests to which he would look back down at the paper to which he would then stroke his chin. "Well, that's an extra thousand COL. I mean, it is mainly up to you if you think you can narrow it down but if you do want to have all the people without looking like an a*shole, I wont say no. But I don't care about the people in your guild if you don't." 

[Piera 0]

Nodding in understanding to the reasoning behind his decision, Piera noted the maid of honor and best man. And then huffed a laugh as she received a message from the former. She didn't reply just yet though, not entirely sure the answer to the question that had been posed. Looking back at Lee as he pointed out that going any larger than ten people would cost them an extra one thousand Col caused her to grimace.

With a sigh she explained, "It's not that I don't care, just that I don't know most of them.  Don't know Ruby, Hestia, Kimi, Jevi or Kairi. Just Jomei, Telrenya, Spencer and kind of Ryo. Teion knows him. Pretty sure that's who she's gonna have be her plus one. And Shield isn't in the guild but I want to invite him as well. And pretty sure he'll bring his husband."

Running her hands through her hair with a sigh, the alchemist rattled off, "So really I just want Jomei, Telrenya, Spencer, Shield, Beat, Teion, Ryo, and Calrex. And that's eight." Resting her figuratively overheating head against his shoulder, Piera asked, "Anyone you want to invite? We still have two spots free to make for ten."

[Lee 0]

Lee would listen as Piera would contemplate just who would make the cut and the more she went on, the more it began to sound almost funny. Who was going to be cut was almost on par with who was going to be saved from the fires of hell. She would clarify that it was mainly that she didn't know the majority of them and thus, with the limited space, they had to be cut down. As she went through the names of the people she didn't know, Lee would snap his fingers at the mention of Hestia and comment. "Oh, I actually know her. We went on an outing a little bit ago and she showed me her shop. It was actually pretty nice, throw her on the list. She's good people." He would then think of the names that she had gone over, "That makes nine." He would then shrug his shoulders and continue. "At the moment, I got nothing but I'm sure that once we move past this and can't go back, I'll want to change my mind but for now, you get the last spot."

[Piera 0]

Eyebrows raising in surprise as Lee stated that he actually knew one of her guild members, Piera then smiled as further edited the list. "Awesome. And actually, that makes ten. Giving Hestia a plus one, I'm ninety-nine percent sure that she'll bring her girlfriend Kimi who's also a guild member. SO! We've got Hestia, Kimi, Jomei, Telrenya, Shield, Beat, Teion, Ryo, Spencer aaaand Calrex." Beaming with that hurdle completed, the spectacled woman turned back to the NPC who was still patiently waiting for them to acknowledge him with a passively benign smile. "Okay, so we'll go for the medium-sized wedding. Just ten people. And no food bonuses, but enough to feed twelve people." Frowning lightly with thought, she asked the NPC, "Is that everything?"

The blonde Priest asked in reply, "Where would the two of you like to be wedded? Would you like your wedding to be accessible to everyone? And would you like me to perform the ceremony? If not, I can help you find someone else more suitable for you both."

Becoming just a little stiff as she realized the connotations behind 'accessible to everyone' would be, Piera jerkily shook her head negatively. "Invite only. Nobody we know anymore is a PK anymore, so it's fine." Becoming just a little depressed as she remembered the few PKs they would have invited were they alive.  But she tried to focus on the here and now as well as the positives. "Um, actually I had an idea about the place." Glancing at Lee with a hopeful smile to see what he thought.

"On floor ten there's a huge Cathedral in Taft, but more importantly, in front of it, there's a biiig fountain. And it kinda looks like the Mac Anu fountain." Her green eyes were bright as she recollected where they had met. They had actually both met in a game somewhat similar to SAO called, [The World]; a virtual reality MMORPG that had come out less than a decade or so ago.

Shaking herself out of her reminiscing, the brunette asked her partner, "Do you have any preferences of...nn what's the word? Clergy...person?" Shrugging she just straight up asked, "Neither of us are very religious, but I'll go with whatever you'd prefer." Knowing that he was possibly just slightly more religious than herself.

[Lee 0]

 

"Sweet, so we finally have that part out of the way. Now, what kinda cluster f-" He would pause quickly as he halted himself from saying the profanity as he looked around at the place he was at and would continue. "ffffffig newton." He would then listen as the brunette would talk to the priest about what else they needed and he would chuckle as she would speak of the food and needed a bit more for those that might eat a little over their weight class. As the priest would acknowledge them and then move on to where it was they would like to have the actual wedding and would it be an open type wedding.

Lee would rub Piera's shoulders as she would stiffen at what he assumed to be the mention of PK accessibility and just shortly after she would look to him and tell him of the floor ten and a cathedral on it but to his enjoyment, she would also mention a fountain. His face would light up and he would practically beam at the thought of the previous game they had played together and the mention of the root town. "Oh, that! Totally That!" He would get almost giddy at the thought and it would be then that she would ask just whom they would want to wed them to which he would mimic her shrugging motion. "I... don't think that is a job class. I also ain't so sure on if I would trust anyone that much to do it justice. Might just keep the NPC and let him do it. Unless you can think of something else? Do you want to get some fairy king to do the work with your witch-like ways?"

[Piera 0]

Snorting at Lee's hilarious transition into safe for church wording, Piera's hand would raise to rest over one of his own as he rubbed her shoulders reassuringly. Turning slightly to look over her shoulder at her love's giddy expression as she mentioned the fountain on floor ten, the brunette beamed and knew her suggestion was a good one. "It's an NPC title, if not a job class. Though I'm sure if we wanted to, we could get a player to marry us. Not anyone I would want to though." Shrugging the notion off, the alchemist's expression became a thoughtful grimace as she gave the NPC in front of them a once over. She didn't have any particular problem with him...just that he was a little young perhaps? And...boring. Oh well.

Chuckling a little at Lee's mention of her 'witch-like ways', Piera shook her head, "Sadly, not this time. I haven't done enough quests and explored enough to know very many cool NPCs. Assuming you also are in the same predicament... I guess we'll have you marry us, Priest..." Piera paused a moment with wide eyes as she tried to recall his name before finally recovering with a smile, "Aria." 

Said NPC nodded with a benevolent smile and replied, "I would happy to officiate your union. There is also still the matter of your rings. There is an acquaintance that has a shop nearby that you can give your specifics to." A new quest update popped up on the couple's head's up display detailing the mentioned shop's location. "Thanks. We'll go check that out now. See you at the wedding!" Catching Lee's hand, Piera turned and walked out of the cathedral and out into the hustle and bustle of the Starting City, following the quest marker.