[F1-OP] Begin - The Monument of Life

[SketchSkirmish 0]

Another morning artificially snuck through the curtains of his room at the Inn. Sketch’s eyes parted open and a familiar groan of defiance slipped past his lips. 

Another minute...

He rolled to his side and felt a cold chill in his hand. Through one open eye, he looked at the karambit he purchased the day prior. It was his commitment to change. Sketch wrapped his fingers around steel grip and leather sheath before he buried his head into his pillow. He groaned.

Fine...

Sketch sucked a deep breath through the fibers. With one last sigh of discontent, he lifted himself out of bed and tossed the sheets aside. He took his hands through his messy, long hair a few times per the ritual of “brushing” it, and knocked the majority of it away from his eyes. He maneuvered through his menus, donned his green tunic and tan slacks. With the press of a button, Sketch’s new karambit lashed to his waist behind his back. 

Sketch felt he needed a place to anchor and set a starting point. He spent enough time living a “normal” life in Aincrad’s biggest city. This artificial vacation lasted long enough. Sketch wondered to the place many ventured for various reasons. He entered the massive halls where The Monument of Life lingered at the end of the chamber. 

Spoiler

Level 1 || HP: 20/20 || EN: 2/2 || DMG: 2 || ACC: 1 ||

 

Edited February 14, 2021 by SketchSkirmish

[Setsuna 0]

An uneasy silence, a child alone as she glanced at the huge slab of slate. On its face a multitude of carvings littering its surface, of names of those long consumed and forgotten by this place. Names that would never again be spoken unless read aloud here. Setsuna lifts a rather bone-cold ivory white hand, placing it upon the section of glass-like polish. Running her index down its length as she traces a line across one of many 'Shiroe Murasaki ~ Slain by Unknown'. Within her throat a burning and choking grip, like a knife driven clean into it she could feel the pain despite any limitation of the system. The emotion was not numbed here like the physical sensation. A slight gloss and a single trail like fire ushers down a pale white cheek.

A habit that was torture, a decree to always keep them fresh. "I have made a new oath Shiroe, I will complete this game for you, I have finally found someone I can trust to do what must be done."

Setsuna | HP:900/900 | EN:90/90 | DMG:16 | EVA:3 | ACC:3

Spoiler

Setsuna, The Creature in the Mist
Level: 45
HP: 900/900
EN: 90/90

Stats:
Damage: 16
Evasion: 3
Accuracy: 3

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Shiva's Embrace - Ancestry T2/Perfect/Katana [Damage 3]
Armor: Cold Fabric Kunoichi Wear T1/Perfect/L.A [+3 Evasion]
Misc: Kunoichi Wrapping's T1/Perfect/Trinket [+3 Accuracy]

Skills:
One-Handed Curved Sword [Rank 1]
Katana [Rank 5]
Hiding [Rank 4]
Light Armor [Rank 3]

Extra Skills:
Disguise
Familiar (Fighter) R1

Mods:
Finesse Rank 3
Ferocity
Athletics
Vanish
Surprise Attack (Assassin)

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystal*1
Vocal Augmentation - Resonation [T1/Perfect/Support/Instant] +60 HP*2
Bird Seed (T2/Rare/Snack) Vitality 2*1

Housing Buffs:
Well Rested: -1 energy cost for the first three expenditures of each combat
Squeaky Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 25% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Tasty: Turn 2 identical food items into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Skylight (Hiding): +1 Rank to the Hiding skill.
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
Decor [Potted Tanabata]: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

 

[Freyd 0]

Sitting atop the rounded colonnade that surrounded the monument was a figure dressed in black from head to toe.  A soft, charcoal-colored cowl draped over his head leaving only a pale chin, nose and the slimmest hint of red eyes exposed.  All of him rested in shadows, cast by taller neighboring structures and a selectively chosen time to ensure a bit of privacy as he sipped his steaming cup of tea.  Marv must have been busy that morning, or maybe Freyd had other plans in mind.  

He watched from above as Setsuna reached for the monument, still worried that the girl would break under self-inflicted pressure.  Like he had any right to judge.  There were other names for which he meant to search.  Older names, from the earliest days of Aincrad, for which an accounting was required.  Somehow, they seemed to have gone missing without notice.  Possibly an entire guild had fallen too.  What became of the Madrigal?  He needed to connect the dots, but it would wait until the one he'd dubbed his 'little sister' did what she had come to do.

A pleasing scent of vanilla wafted to his nostrils as he watched, drinking sparingly to make the moment last.  The plaza received fewer visitors than it once did, though more names were added to it daily.  This was the state of their world, and there were so many floors still left to clear.  Freyd had planned this as his final stop on the way to the Settlement of the Iron Fist.   As much as he'd managed to cram, he was out of time.  The raid would soon begin and turn the page on the book of their lives.  Destiny loomed large on the horizon.

***

Freyd | HP:1790/1790 | EN:191/191 | DMG:20 | MIT:79 | EVA:2 | ACC:4 | VAMP OFF:179 | HLY:6 | FLN:6 | LD:5 | BH:89

Spoiler

Freyd, The Whisper in Shadows
Level: 88
HP: 1790/1790
EN: 191/191

Stats:
Damage: 20
Mitigation: 79
Evasion: 2
Accuracy: 4
BH:89
VAMP OFF:179
HLY:6
FLN:6
LD:5

Equipped Gear:
Weapon: Samael's Pride (T3-2HSS, VO 1, HOLY 1, FLN 1)
Armor: Skirmisher's Garb (T3 LA, MIT 2, EVA 1)
Misc: Night Shades (T3-Trinket, ACC 3)

Skills:
2H Straight Sword [Rank 5]
Light Armor [Rank 5]
Searching [Rank 4]
Battle Healing [Rank 5]
Parry [Obtained]
Energist [Obtained]
Charge [Rank 5]
Extended Mod Limit R3 [Obtained]
Hiding [Rank 5]
Martial Arts [Rank 5]
Quick Change [Obtained]

Extra Skills:
Disguise
Familiar Mastery: Fighter 3
Survival
Meditation

Active Mods:
Precision - 2HSS
Finesse - Rank 3
LA Athletics
Ferocity - 2HSS
LA Sprint and Acrobatics
Vanish
Vengeful Riposte
Surprise Attack (Assassin)

Inactive Mods:
Night Vision
Untraceable
Tracking

Battle Ready Inventory:
Teleport Crystals*5
Gungnir Shard: Haniel's Modesty (T3 Perfect HP Rec [Instant]*5
Flash of Rejuvenation (Mass HP Rec [Instant] (+30*Tier HP)*5
Fruit-Infused Tea (T3 HP Recovery)*5
Imugi's Inspiration (T3 Mass HP Recovery)*5
Mega-Duper... Sauce (Antidote 3)*5
Grave Injustice (T3-2HSS, ACC 1, Keen 1, Abs. ACC)*1

Housing Buffs:
Rested: -1 energy cost for the first two expenditures of each combat
Clean: The first time you would suffer DoT damage in a thread, reduce damage taken from DoT each turn by 20% (rounded down)
Hard Working: +2 EXP per crafting attempt and +1 crafting attempt per day
Filling: Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot.
Item Stash: +1 Battle Ready Inventory Slot
Delicious: Turn 3 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Feast. A Feast contains 6 portions of the food items sacrificed.
Relaxed: Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.
Skylight (Searching): +1 Rank to the Searching skill.
Angler: +1 material gained when fishing
Advanced Training: +2 SP to a thread. Limit one use per month [0/1]
Multipurpose: Gain +1 to LD, Stealth Rating, Stealth Detection, or Prosperity to one post in a thread. Can be applied after a roll
Decor [Potted Tanabata Bamboo Tree]: This buff affects the player and their choice of up to two party members.

Guild Hall Buffs:
Lucrative: Reduce LD needed for Salvage by 5 (10+ for Alchemist crystals, 6+ for everything else). +2 EXP per craft. Rank 9 crafters receive +1 crafting attempt per day. Rank 10 crafters receive +2 crafting attempts per day.
Col Deposit: +5% bonus col from last-hit monster kills and +10% bonus col from treasure chests.

Scents of the Wild:
Kumatetsu Statue: +1 Base Damage for a thread

Wedding Ring:

 

[Recon 0]

Recon stood there glancing over all the names written on the stone tablet the amount of people who passed away since the announcement surprised him he thought that  a lot of players wouldn't die unless it was something stupid. The reason for him being in the Monument of Life was to gather information on what goes on outside the safety of the walls In a dark way the dead can warn us of threats. Recon shouldn't be standing there he didn't have any friends when joining the game let alone having friends who died to him this was disrespectful but then again the dead can warn the living. Recon looked closely at one of the random names reading the reason they died "Killed by boar." Well that's noted but damn those things are something.

He looked back at the other names before speaking "This graveyard looks overcrowded. People must be dying to get in." Recon gave a short snicker to his joke sure it was in bad taste but that's who he was.

 

[SketchSkirmish 0]

Compared to the brightly lit streets, the interior of the Black Iron Palace lacked color. Shadows, silence, and an air of stagnation hung around him. Each footstep that carried him closer to the monument at the end of the hall echoed softly. Voices of nearby players remained low. Sketch wondered whether their tone was out of respect or sorrow. Perhaps both. As he neared, the intricate carvings of names became legible as well as cause of death. The sheer number of names settled like a rock at the back of his throat. Based on the rumors he heard in the streets, he knew at least two thousand names out of the ten thousand present had been scratched out. Silent, inquisitive, and with an innate respect for the dead, his cerulean eyes skimmed down the list.

Suicide.
Suicide.
Suicide.
Boar.
Boar.
Suicide.
Murder...

"How terrible..." he muttered under his breath. His stomach tightened. He expected to see the names of the players already lost, but not to see the number of suicides and more shockingly, murders.

"This graveyard looks overcrowded. People must be dying to get in." The phrase entered Sketch's ears and without control of his actions, he snapped a scowled expression to the source.

"What did you just say?" Echoed Sketch's heated words in the harrowed hall.

Two long stride brought him upon the stranger.

"This is funny to you?" Sketch nodded over to a girl with blue hair who had gently caressed the monument as she reminisced only moments ago. "Those are someone's loved ones, children, friends..."

Sketch looked him up and down. His teeth and fists clenched.

Take it easy... Calm down... You're being disrespectful yourself...

"Tch," Sketch scoffed, "Show some respect."

@Recon@Setsuna

Edited February 15, 2021 by SketchSkirmish

[Setsuna 0]

A soft exhale, the girl was hardly deaf to match the other condition. Another had also taken insult to the chastise of the dead, a dishonor on their memory with just a few made light words. "Before, I would have drawn my blade on you, aimed to rip that tongue from your fowl mouth. I would be doing the world a service, for it can not be held down can it? A mockery you make of those you never knew, clipped from the strands of fate long before it was to reach an end. But I find solace in the fact that when your life lingers over those same shears, beginning to fray upon the blade before they snap shut. That when your name is on this slate, no one will recognize yours and you will be forgotten. Just another smart ass that had blown away and was covered in dust, slain by his own inability to understand the gravity of the world around him." Setsuna peels a hand from the wall and shifts an intense looking glare toward Recon, a flare of blue upon her iris with ire on the rise. A wipe of her eye and a glance back, shifting to the next name not far from where the first lingered.

Tianna Boulevard ~ Slain by Unknown

Edited February 15, 2021 by Setsuna

[Recon 0]

Jesus that was dark for him to say plus it didn't help the other people around him who were mourning their lost ones. Growing up Recon didn't want to be the downer of the group besides for some reason to him showing sadness was already a sense of weakness for him and he didn't want to be weak neither did he want to be strong Recon wanted to be a neutral. He looked around him and began to realize what he had just said out loud this is just great now it's time to say adios to ever making friends here. That's going to stick with him forever. Recon began thinking about how the future will go after saying that "Don't be friends with that guy...That guy has done some really bad stuff." it made him sick to his stomach. 

Recon turned to his right "I'm sor-" he didn't even get to complete his apology when a player stormed over to him and started yelling to him. "Look I'm terribly sorry for what I said I just..." Now he was in deep other players were already were giving him a piece of their mind. "Lo-" Once again he was cut off by the person to his left. Oh boy here we go again.  Recon listened to her go off to him she just sounds like a kettle whistle going but he waited for her to stop before giving a response to the guy "I'm sorry."

[Freyd 0]

A porcelain tea cup, one of a set perhaps, flipped and spun as it dangled then fell helplessly through the air.  Liberated from its bitter contents, made more bearable by addition of another bean, it forgot both flavors what with the sudden and compelling impact of stone on its one side.  The cup shattered into a thousand pieces, each one no larger than a pixel, but enough to set everyone on edge, and to distract.  When they looked up to find its source, there was nothing.  But in the background, a figure in black now stood before the earliest sections of the monument, where the first to fall were listed.  The cowl panned and scanned, looking for names that would not to be found.  One hand, gloved also in darkness, stroked a bare chin as the only visible part of his face.  The Whisper puzzled.

"How are they not here?"  

His other hand traced down the list, looking for related scribbled, but finding none.  He lacked data.

"Damn.  This would be easier if they included guild affiliations."

A slight turn revealed an eye of red beneath the hood.  It paused and glanced at its periphery.

"What's all the hubbub about?"

[Alkor 0]

He stared hard at the monument.

There was a time when many people believed his name should have been on it. He came infrequently just to prove to himself it wasn't. At this point in his life, every day he was alive was a new experience. The person he was before Aincrad had died on the ninth floor. When he woke from that deep slumber and realized he had fallen behind, Thom was struck with the shock of knowing he wasn't able to shoulder the entire world alone. Aincrad was an enemy that could not be soloed. 

That didn't stop him from being solitary, but it had fundamentally changed his approach to the world. People weren't just something he could ignore or brush to the side. He had to engage, and he had to evolve. 

His gaze snapped up when he heard several other people talking nearby, and the mood in the plaza heated up. They were going to fight, right in front of the monument to the slain? Alkor cocked an eyebrow and glanced toward @SketchSkirmish, @Setsuna, and @Recon as they threw different kinds of grease on the fire. One offended, another righteously indignant, and the last the apparent offender.

Alkor looked back to the stone and got closer, tracing fingers over the name of another human being. 

And the name of his killer.

"Alkor."

"Don't you think it's in poor taste to have this confrontation here?" he asked in a quiet voice. He knew Setsuna, and even wore a cloak she'd woven as they spoke. She was presumably an honorable girl, from what he remembered of her. Hopefully his words would strike the reasonable part of her mind. "This is a place for the names of those people who finally found peace," Alkor let his voice rise as he stood and glanced over the group. "I'll ask you again. Don't you think they deserve to rest?"

@Freyd - The Whisper in Shadows

[Koga 0]

Koga had been at the Monument since the early morning. It had been the first time he'd visited the location since Noctua and Tala had died. He'd avoided it, really. For some reason, he thought that seeing their names carved into the granite slab and crossed out would make their deaths real. Some part of him had clung to the idea that he might one day wake up from this nightmare, and they'd both still be alive. That by looking for their names on the monument, he'd be truly killing them.

"They're already dead," he'd told himself. "You have to visit them. You owe them that much." It had taken far too long to muster up the courage, but when he finally had, Koga had gone to the monument with two bundles of flowers in his arms. Once upon a time, when he'd visited, he'd only have to lay down these two bundles, but now, there were too many familiar names on that midnight wall, and so he had to split the bundles evenly and place them each below the names they were for.

Musashi - Disconnected

Venus - Killed by Wolf

The last two names. Noctua. Tala. He couldn't bring himself to search for them, even after all this time.

He'd stood there for hours, staring at all the names. People came and went as Koga stared with bloodshot eyes, and fought back tears. He couldn't tear himself away, even as more people arrived. This was the last evidence that they had ever existed.

Some of arrivals he'd recognized. His strangely taller doppel, and Alkor. Both people he'd fought alongside. Not wanting them to notice his presence, or at least that it was him, the man pulled his hood up over his head, hiding his face.

"This graveyard looks overcrowded. People must be dying to get in."

The whispered words were like thunder in Koga's ears. Inhaling deeply, he tried to calm himself. This wasn't the place. He came to pay respects. To remember. To repent.

But he could not stay calm as others began to speak all too loudly. Thankfully, Alkor asked the offending group to quiet down. "Take it outside. Please. Some of are here to mourn," he said, looking over at them. For a moment, he'd forgotten his desire to stay hidden.

Edited February 22, 2021 by Koga

[Macradon 0]

It had been quite a while since he last came to visit the names of the fallen, not only his late mentor, but also his battle-brethren that had died besides him during harsh boss raids. Coming to mourn those that were no longer with them anymore was just a part of his monthly .... bi-monthly … half year excursions to the Monument of Life. He would stride by the many vendors, shoppes, and stalls alike, walking past as if they were distractions, because they were. If he actually acknowledged their existence he would spend way too much time indulging in whatever niche they would display to his dismay. 

It did not take long for him to reach the black iron fortress where the monument was placed, not only was it not too far from his home, but he had been here a good amount of times, and at least he had been here once every time to say sorry to those whose murderer’s name matched his. Walking towards the entrance of the great hall, Macradon could hear a commotion stirring up, or at least just a smaller gathering, so not a commotion in the slightest. 

Using his sharp wits, the knight clad in regular clothes kicked into the air in front of him as if to kick in a saloon door, and with great big steps would enter like a cowboy looking for trouble. “Somebody ring the Dinkster?” he asked out into the room of remembrance and death.

Spoiler

 

 

[Setsuna 0]

A single glance to Alkor, noting him amongst them. She had spoken her piece and chose to leave the blade in its scabbard, unsure what else he expected. To the final name upon the tapestry of slate and lead, running her fingers down the letters as they were traced left to right.

Meina Tsuji ~ Slain by Unknown

A brisk removal with a slide of her hand makes a slick sound, drug from the giant tombstone and mass grave. An usher closer to Alkor, eager to see what it was he was here for and to understand him more clearly. "I've done them a service, by not cutting that heathen down. For whom do you mourn?" Her attentions shift to the panel in front of him in a quick change of focus, but it was his name on it. Confused further, she recalls it and was sure it was the same. And then Mac happened popping in like a dumpster on fire entering a bank. Her eyes move to him, sizing up the ego on fire in the center of a silent room. All that was missing was a huge pair of red shoes, and a rainbow colored wig. It was clear what the guy was trying to do, break the tension and settle the dispute. Setsuna cannot help but narrow her eyes, and sigh.

Edited February 15, 2021 by Setsuna

[SketchSkirmish 0]

The tension in his arm eased when the exact woman he gestured to spoke her peace. Sketch took a step back and let her articulate herself. As she berated the stranger, he raise a brow at the intricacies of her speech.

'Who is this person?' he thought. Her words reminded him of some medieval lord or lady. Was she acting out in character? Is this just who she had become after being submerged in this reality for so long? These questions lingered behind the reminder and reality that she stood in these halls for a purpose. Someone she cared for died to this false reality.

"I'm sorry" came the reply after a moment of pause afforded the stranger a chance to speak.

Sketch let out the breath he held in his lungs and along with it, his frustrations. His eyes closed as he paused and let the blood in his veins cool. The sound of shattering porcelain interrupted his next words. Like something from theater, a figure Sketch swore wasn't there a moment ago, now stood to the far left of the monument. Was he behind it? Was he just hard to see in all that dark clothing?

'Hubbub?' Sketch repeated in his mind. 'Who uses that word?'

Given the above standard attire, both this shadowy figure and the young girl spent plenty of time in the field. Compared to her, this guy seemed... detached. Sketch recalled some of the veterans from the real world who acted this way despite suffering the atrocities of war. He could never truly understand whether the behavior resulted from numbness or defense. It also wasn't his place to pry.

"Nothing," Sketch dismissed.

Another figure chimed in and urged the confrontation be taken outside. There was nothing to take anywhere. Sketch eyed the offender with a degree of venom.

"We're done," he paused. "He's sorry." Blue eyes narrowed.

'He had better be.'

And to some manner of comical relief or sense of entitlement, another clown joined the circus. Are people really this insensitive? Is this still some manner of game or MMO for people? Sketch shook his head and pinched the bridge of his nose.

Of course it would be. Survive enough confrontation and you might think you're immune. And who is not to say we don't just wake up? Those news clips we saw on day one could have been falsified. How are we to know? It could be a bluff.

"I just..." Sketch began and ended with an exasperated sigh. "You people do as you want."

He scoffed and waved his hand dismissively. He was done with the insanity. Sketch took his first steps toward the exit.

 

Edited February 15, 2021 by SketchSkirmish

[Freyd 0]

Freyd watched from the sidelines, content not to get involved in Setsuna's disputes.  They'd expressed their thoughts with each other about the state of players' mindset in the game, and here was not the place or time to re-hash them.  Whatever skirmish might have been stoked petered out before it could properly kindle itself.  Everyone was turning away and back to their own business, save for the odd dinkler duck dude who seemed to think that a memorial was a good place for mischief and mayhem.  

His eyes still glued to the script on stone before him, Freyd shifted his stance to encourage the others to turn their gazes back to to the granite field, then spewed out a musing for public consumption.  "I don't suppose that anyone here remembers the Madrigal?  They would have been around back in our earliest days in Aincrad; a guild, I believe, though I don't know the names of their members.  It was too long ago."

They were chaotic days.  Those unable to cope threw themselves from the castle's edge.  Hundreds simply vanished, likely to have been unplugged from outside the game, never to return.  Some just broke and started killing, eventually turning on their fellows.  Humanity literally became a plague unto itself.  It was too difficult to sort it all out based on what little was noted on the monument itself.  

"Huh... what's this?"  A cluster of characters caught his attention, all of them player-killed on the same day.  Opening a quick UI window, he jotted down some notes, then closed it just as quickly.

Stuffing his hands into a pair of hidden pockets, the Whisper rocked on his heels for a moment, trying to puzzle it out in his head.  Pieces were definitely missing, though he suspected that more clues lingered on this wall.  He just didn't know which dots connected, yet.

[Krysta 0]

Visiting the Monument of Life had become a routine to Krysta. It reminded her of the reality of the situation, and that there were many lives to save, but it also fueled her vendetta. She would slowly walk into the room, several players were present, but she was not focused on that for the time being. She walked up to the monument and took a fairly quick look.

<<Wardege>>

Full-loss Duel against Dazia

<<Lupix>>

Full-loss Duel against Dazia

<<Aldinago>>

Player-Killed by Dazia

 

It seemed that so far, nothing had changed. That was good news for the time being. She looked over to see that Dazia's name remained unaffected; the killer had not been stopped. Despite Krysta's warning to several individuals, Dazia was still at large. Krysta clenched one of her fists tightly, and she couldn't stop herself from speaking her thoughts. "Dazia, you murderous scoundrel...your evil shall one day cease, and I shall not stop until I have brought forth your undoing..." Her thoughts declared aloud.

[Recon 0]

It was a terrible situation for Recon now he has two people giving him shit for a joke. "He-" Getting cut off in this game is a common occurrence isn't it? It was in poor taste to be having a argument in the middle of a cemetery but there was other places that fall under that rule. Recon took two steps back from the group "Aga-" At this point he wanted to stop speaking the amount of times he was being interrupted was getting annoying and he didn't want to interrupt anyone either. Notably Recon remained calm during the whole confrontation unlike the other two or four at that point he stopped counting the amount of people joining. "Yes we are done here" Recon let out a sigh of relief.  This could have gone much worse but it didn't thank god.

Now that the situation has been handled it was time for him to leave the information he gathered was good enough. Then came busting in was the god damn circus Recon looked at the new player now entering. "Oh god here we go again."

[Macradon 0]

He looked around the chamber, many people were gathered today for no seemingly obvious reason. Every other time Macradon had seen anyone else in this room was when he had to show people what he had done, for them to understand why he acted as he did. Zandra, Mari, Baldur, Bahr, all people he had to converse with, try to level with them. But here today, many others had shown up, it was like a party, well, not that great of a party, but at least the clown had arrived. But just as the clown had entered the ring, people were leaving the circus. “Guess I really killed the mood with this ancient joke again.” he thought to himself and chuckled. He would stand in anyone’s way and took a step to the side if the man were to exit.

He couldn’t blame them for judging Macradon for his shitty behaviour, he was just compensating, but for what? He wasn’t really sure himself. His crazy antics were nothing but a facade, those that have seen his worst know that this cheery goofy person is just struggling like everyone else stuck in this hellhole. “Looks like I killed the mood in here, if it wasn’t already dead before I entered …” he said “Add that to the monument then … not like it’ll make a big difference.” he added and walked up to the monument, looking for Draigo once again.

[Alkor 0]

There were a collective of varied responses to his words, and even more excitement to follow when Macradon entered. The man had a lighthearted presence when they first met, and he was close with Mari. He offered a slight nod as he spewed some more dark humor. Alkor could appreciate the sentiment. If you couldn't laugh in the face of death, how would you lift your spirits up? There was a difference between jeering the reaper and spitting on the memories of the fallen. It was the newer Player who seemed bent about his comment. We're done. He's sorry. Alkor glanced sidelong at the man. He could have spat something acerbic back, but it wouldn't resolve the situation amicably. If they were done, then they were done. He gave a slight shrug as his gaze fell off the man like snow that had grown too heavy on a leaf.

That was when he regarded Setsuna, and her question about why he'd come. Alkor knelt next to the massive slate and took a moment to review several more of the faceless names. People he had never met, people he would never have the chance to. People he knew, people he would never know again. He couldn't force a smile. Aincrad was perhaps the darkest part of his life, and the years that he'd counted already felt like midnight. He let out a small sigh before he glanced back toward the girl with a neutral expression. He wanted to smile for her benefit, but there were some days when a person simply didn't have the power to do even that. His gilded gaze was not unkind as he finally spoke.

"All of them," he told the woman finally. "Every name on this slab is a tragedy, not a single one any better or worse than another. But for some of them..." he placed a finger over a specific name, that of Uriel. He still remembered the moment where it had come to blows. The grave offense of placing a woman and her child in a world like this, and the inhuman act of using a child for something so vile. Mari was driven to madness against her will, and all that Alkor could do was seek justice in his fool crusade against perceived evil. As the façade broke down, he came to understand the gravity of his action. The cost and weight of a human life, blood on his hands that an ocean could not wash away. If the girl followed the name to the cause of death, she would find Alkor's own name there. "Some of them have deeper meaning to some of us."

His eyes softened as he remembered how long it took to stop telling himself that it was okay. The need to justify it was gone now, lost to the abyss of time. Instead, the guilt and shame that he was too much of a child to stop himself had scarred over and become a precious, horrific memory. The knowledge of good and evil dawned on him. Alkor knew now that nothing justified killing. Not even the act of murder itself. 

"The best thing you can do for them is forgive," he told the girl softly, "because when it's all over, they have to live forever with what they've done. Don't share their burden by sullying you own hands." Alkor reached up toward Setsuna and took her hands gently in his, cupping them palm up. "If you want to do right by the people who have died, don't add more corpses to the pile. Make sure it doesn't get any bigger."

Alkor finally found a faint, weak smile that tugged at the edge of his lips as he kept her gaze for a few heartbeats.

Then he let his hands fall to his sides. 

@Setsuna

[Setsuna 0]

A search for his eyes moments before his own would seek out the stone, knowing full well that a few of these if one looked hard enough would contain hers. "A tragedy yes, but for who?" Setsuna offered as she traced another unknown, sliding her hand up and revealing Kobold as the killer. "I would say this, there are some names on this wall that deserve another addition. To halt a handful more." Spoken from first hand, and mirrored throughout the entirety of the plate was a confirmation of it. To her adding one more could stop so many from joining it, one for multiple was a fair sacrifice to make. A slink of her hand to another, reading its characters before looking to Alkor again.

"It has deeper meaning to us, to you because your human. The names you see reflected here multiple times from some, they do not care and you will not find them here. Animal's do not mourn a meal, they assume it was in their nature." Her pain made it difficult to see that perhaps Alkor was right, those scars will still as fresh as the day they were made. She'd make that kill if it meant stopping the rest, she'd become the animal to keep it from eating like a glutton. "I disagree, with all do respect. The best I could do is never forget, when its over there will be more around because of what I do what I must and the stain on my soul could hardly be marked clean. The corpses that I will end up adding to this pile you see, you will know them to be a wolf and not a man. I will do what must be, Alkor. The grave will get bigger with or without my help, the question is can I slow it down." A signature bite to her tone was absent, a warmth on her slightly chilled hand almost burned her skin. A single trail of the same scorched her cheek, a painful memory and an oath made.

[Alkor 0]

He could never fault someone for feeling that way. It was unfair, and it was disingenuous for him to do so. The whole reason his name was on the monument at all was because he had said the same. He had acted on it. The most he could do was feel his heart tearing in two when the girl spoke because he knew what lay ahead on that path. It was a trail blazed in blood and a destination that only had regret to offer. But perhaps for Setsuna, the only way forward was that path. Perhaps unlike Alkor, she had a true and dear reason to walk the bleak road of justice to its completion. In honesty, Alkor had far too much of a kind heart to ever do it again. He felt the blood in his fingertips, throbbing. His gaze had grown impossibly soft, prone, filled with sadness. 

To be fair, he'd already touched her once. He would not invade her space again to give her consolation. He already felt odd enough and out of place from the first instance of contact, and he knew enough about her to doubt she'd overlook it again. Still, he wanted to wipe the tear on her cheek away. It wasn't wrong that she felt different. It wasn't wrong that she felt someone had to stop it. He just differed from her in that he was certain there was a better way to approach things. But to say that to her demeaned her feelings.

She would have to come to her own conclusions, and he had immense respect for that fact. She was on a road similar, but not the same to the one had had walked before. He only hoped that Setsuna would not suffer the way he had.

"Animals can be caged," he said, "and muzzled. And they should be. There are many paths to tread. There is also putting them down... but a life is a life, even if they have to regard for that fact."

Alkor closed his eyes. "A man who does battle with monsters ought be mindful that he does not become a monster himself," Alkor paraphrased Nietzsche, but he went on from there to diverge from the Existentialist. "But the tears you cry prove to me that you are not and will never be like them." He reached into his pocket and summoned a handkerchief from his inventory, which he subsequently offered to the young woman. "If you want to bear those wounds, I will not disrespect you by asking you to stop. Just know, if you can't handle the pain, there's nothing wrong with stopping. And you can always talk to me if you feel like you're drowning."

@Setsuna