[F01-PP] providence. <<katana acquisition>>

[Marquis 0]

<<katana acquisition>>

ventura.	Marquis | HP: 20/20 | EN: 20/20 | DMG: 1 | THORNS: 18 notes: n/a.
	Spoiler equipped Standard Spiked Plating | THORNS II item#2 item#3 battle-ready inventory // skills Spoiler curved sword r1 buffs Spoiler   sword arts Spoiler   misc Spoiler

it was another regular day in the town of beginnings. as per usual, it had its npcs adhering to their schedules and routines, the occasional new player running about trying to complete the first lessons, and the veterans lounging about trying to catch a fresh face.

for what purpose, however, it would be completely unknown.

“hey!” one of them waved, to a lady in a pink cloak with ginger hair. the latter had just walked out of an alley, adjusting her hood. “you’re the one we’re supposed to see, aren’t you?”

“pardon?” she asked, looking over her shoulder. before her she spotted two fresh looking figures looking well adjusted to life in town, but lost. out of all places, they’d picked the one spot known best for its shade amongst city planted trees and benches for a gathering of gossiping players. it wasn’t anywhere well deserving of talk regarding secrecy.

[Shikari 0]

Spoiler curved sword r1. Shikari | Lv. 1 | HP: 20/20 | EN: 20/20 | DMG: 1

the one on the right leaning against a tree trunk had his arms folded, mask mapped to his face. the other, a green haired lady, was straddling one of the benches in an odd manner of sitting. surely, it would be questionable to others about how they came to exist in this town, because given their demeanor and appearances, it would’ve become highly unusual to see them missing from it.

but that was their story so far, if one were to ask.

“are you a broker?”

the lady in pink merely stiffened, and strode up to them in a hurry. “my friend said he’d spotted you,” the bench-straddler mentioned once their broker was close, “sorry about the holler.”

“it’s…”

“we’re the 3 o’clock, 5 minutes early. do you think we have time to wrap this up before the hour?”

as the broker contemplated, the masked man looked over to his companion. her foot was tapping the ground incessantly.

[Marquis 0]

“... what is it you’re looking for exactly? i have many maps, as mentioned in my exchange with you, marquis.”

marquis’ foot stopped tapping. her hands went from the bench’s surface to her knees.

“we’re looking for a source of information about a katana. on the first floor?”

hearing that made the broker smile.

“oh, well then, we have that most certainly! and how much col are you willing to offer for such intel?”

“...”

“...”

it was the man who spoke first, his nails combing through his slicked back hair. “um… excuse us. we’ve not been about the first lately due to… unforeseen circumstances. what exactly is the market price for the map you’re selling?”

“oh! no worries. the usual quote we go by is about 300k per katana location. it is a rare find, you see: most players have gone up beyond the first set of floors, so we don’t get many being resold on the market for the lower levels.”

“...”

“...”

[Shikari 0]

“ah,” shikari started, just as marquis sighed, hanging her head low. the corners of his mouth were turned upwards with a grimace. “upon that revelation, I realize that we can’t afford it…”

their broker’s pleasantries faded upon hearing that, and with a loud tch they turn about and leave. the edge of her cloak brushed against marquis’s face. “what a waste of my time,” could have been heard as she trailed off.

“... is that really how they do business around here nowadays?” marquis asked, not earnestly expecting a reply.

“well,” shikari replied, looking away with his arms folded as he did. “good thing we’d left when we did, wouldn’t you say…?”

“isn’t that right…?”

marquis and shikari were simply two players caught in the game’s ascension trap. marquis had never known any better weapon for her amongst the past few years before she lost it all. just as likely, shikari could say the same thing.

“and if it weren’t for that reset condition,” marquis lamented, “we wouldn’t need to be in this position… 300k col for the katana skill at level one…? what has the world come to…?”

“that’s the modern day free market for you, marquis…”

“isn’t that right…”

[Marquis 0]

so eventually they came to learn of yet another broker.

“no, not a broker,” she handwaved, keeping an obvious chipper facade. marquis and shikari exchanged looks at the mention, because they were both certain she had led with the title of a broker all the same.

“then what are you?” marquis asked. bistro chuckled to herself, one palm overlapping the back of her other hand.

“your employer. until your debt is paid off, i mean.”

shikari took a step back.

“no, marquis… this is what the first has become… a home to prospective loan sharks.”

marquis, instead, slammed her fist into the counter, gritting her teeth.

“well we can’t give up now! at the very least this damn shop has an alternate method of payment! rather than the last four times we did this, and they all decided we’d have to pay up front!”

“oh right, they did, didn’t they?”

[Shikari 0]

shikari immediately returned to his neutral pose, lost in thought. he gestured to the figure past the counter. “how do you figure not to impose that on us, bistro?”

“that’s on me to know, and for you to find out,” bistro responds.

now it is marquis’ turn to take a step backwards. 

“they’ve got surveillance on us know?!”

“just about anything about nearly everybody who’s anybody is known these days,” bistro chides, as though it was a reminder towards their odd ten years approximate of residing within the same castle that contributed to their efforts. “it just depends on who owns the intel about you around here.”

“oh, right,” marquis said, shrugging off the idea of a dystopian hell for a bout. she resumed to lean over the counter. “so how long will it take for us to pay off our debt?”

“hmmm…”

breaths baited, they waited for bistro’s consideration.

[Marquis 0]

“... how about 3 years?”

marquis slammed her fist on the counter again.

“what are we to you lady?! indentured servants?! the only part here we’re missing is a resume and if that’s the way it is now than frankly i refuse!”

“whatever happened to ‘we can’t give up now?’”

shikari shook his head, before placing a hand on marquis’ shoulder. she scoffed in response. he turned to bistro after his aid has calmed down. 

“how does that math work out?”

bistro’s smile tilts. “by the lowest payment factor accounting for interest accumulated through the years.” she shifted, choosing to rest her chin on the back of her hand. “you’re a smart cookie, i’ll give you that.”

“thanks, baking is my passion,” he lied. “let’s up the ante on that. how much time would it take for us to pay moderately with minimum interest?”

bistro hummed curiously. “i don’t know,” she decided, straightening her posture. “how much are you both willing to work for?”

[Shikari 0]

marquis replied with a clenched fist. “three months,” she declared, steeling her resolve. “you won’t have to go paying us to do your work. cut us out of the profits – we just need to settle our debt, and then we’ll go our separate ways.”

shikari nearly shriveled at the thought of not receiving his pay. bistro, however, perked up with excitement.

“well, you certainly know how to barter! it’s a deal i can accept.”

“perfect!” marquis exclaimed. she then promptly pulled out a quill and ink she stole from a nearby inn room, forgetting that any contract first had to be drafted first before… 

“where do i sign?”

---

thus for the second time in their lives did they find the breeze in the fields of beginning refreshing. marquis sighed, ruffling through her hair as shikari studied the map in his hands. on it, there was only one marker drawn out.

[Marquis 0]

“just to be clear,” shikari said, catching marquis’ attention. “past this, i’m not staying a katana user if this is the price of it now.”

“what?” marquis huffed, startled. as far as the pair had been together, they’d both been users of the same blade type.

shikari laughed. “i’m not even sure i’d want to go back to the zero, to be honest.”

“you’re kidding.”

“am not.”

given that it was where they’d originally partnered at, the feedback wasn’t exactly taken lightly – his refusal to go back read more of a betrayal to marquis than not. “then you’re really hanging up your sword,” she started, still shocked. “then what are you going to do, now–?”

two steps from marquis closed the distance between them. shikari lowered the map in respect to meet her gaze, but the man’s mask had always made it hard to discern his intentions. a quiet hung in the air, as the wind picked up for a bout, stray grass pieces circling the earth beneath them.

[Shikari 0]

surely marquis could’ve said something then to change his mind, right?

“crafting,” shikari then admitted, setting aside the parchment in his hands. “that’ll be the easiest way to write off my debt, i think, and learn more about what’s been going on out here whilst we were away in that cave. i can think of no better way to give you my support.”

“no way,” came marquis’ objection. her arms were crossed. “you’d always been my number two.”

the man smiled in return. “well, maybe i don’t like playing second fiddle to you that much; did you consider that?”

“what–”

“i jest,” he chuckled, waving off his comment. “who else is going to make you your katanas?”

marquis blinked, racing through all five stages of grief before landing back at stage two. “this isn’t about the pk-ing thing again, is it…?”

“pk-ing? now, who said anything about that?”

he had a point. marquis opened her mouth, wanting to mention rationale, but couldn’t find the words to do so in the end. 

[Marquis 0]

“if anything,” he clarified, “i’d be safer in town, wouldn’t i?”

“and set targets on your back from your customers.”

“none of them are on the first anymore,” shikari corrected, to no avail. marquis only seemed more despondent with her pout unchanging. 

“you don’t know that…”

“hmm…”

shikari shook his head, and slung his hands behind it, one foot set to his other’s ankle. he had his gaze set to the sky: a great expanse of blue on a sunny, cloudless day. the quiet that fell between them served multiple purposes only he had the capacity to observe – one of which was time for marquis’ emotional recovery. the other…

“would it help if i just said i was lazy?”

that immediately snapped marquis out of her trance. she shot him a look.

“ – what. lazy?”

“yeah,” shikari decided, “lazy.”

the woman rubbed at her face, stuttering – “lazy’s not a…” – but with a sigh, she recovered. “okay,” she decided with a final eye roll, “fine. yeah, sure. leave all the hard work of getting us back to where we came from on me.”

“oh, you literally cannot say that.”

“can too!”

“oh yeah?” shikari shot her a smirk and a challenge. “then tell me, whose weapons will you be using in the interim, huh?”

marquis brushed out a lock of hair, with some semblance of a smile finally returning to her face.

“god – shut up.”

[Shikari 0]

it was a simple task to submit the revised details of the contract over to bistro, who shot back with a quirky, “so soon? that’s a new record.” but it wasn’t as though they’d had their signature down on anything just yet, so perhaps marquis and shikari were simply just fortunate their broker had so much trust in them. on their way to their destination, marquis had wondered why.

“how do you think she’d found out about us?”

the pitch was set to a distracted shikari, map open in his hands. they were not lost in a forest, as far as marquis was concerned – her second would’ve been able to tell.

“who found out about…” was his reply, before the apparent, “oh,” struck her. “uh, iunno. it’s as you said, isn’t it? they’ve got surveillance everywhere and on us right now. say hi to the camera.”

“shikari.” marquis turned around to face him. they’d stopped.

[Marquis 0]

“i’m being serious,” he said, nose-deep in his navigation attempt. it definitely didn’t help that there were no signifiers that weren’t organic in these woods, as opposed to the players’ originally accustomed environment. the man looked up, trying to salvage what he could of his surroundings and of their conversation. “look, they might even be watching us right now. getting lost in the very beginner forest of floor one.” 

“shikari.”

“mtv material. watch how these two veterans who haven’t gone back in a decade react to the new floor one in aincrad!”

“new – wait, it’s new?”

shikari waved off the map, allowing it to disappear into the aether. “after whatever happened to us? yeah, i bet it’s new. either cardinal’s screwing with us again, or i literally don’t remember the layout of the first floor already. and, as we both know…”

“i was literally here running back and forth between tolbana and the town of beginnings making deliveries for col and exp.”
“you were literally here running back and forth between – yeah, yeah we get it – for col and exp.”

“exactly,” he finished, folding his arms. the scowl on his face was only half-read as annoyance, with the mask upon his eyes. marquis shook her head, accepting the perceived weakened intensity of his dissatisfaction, and helped survey the area in turn, hand to her forehead.

[Shikari 0]

“okay, einstein, what am i supposed to be looking for?”

“small temple,” he recited, as though a mantra not formed from bistro’s broken scribbles on the parchment. “made out of stone. smooth stone, almost golden in color, washed out in saturation against the brightness of the sun.”

his friend sniffed. “in a clearing, or…?”

“in a clearing in the forest. that’s why we’re here.”

marquis scoffed, dropping her hand. she started to walk again, too, though her eyes were set on the scenery than remaining idle. “you know, it might help you look if you take off that mask of yours.”

“haha,” shikari returned, pulling up the map once again, this time analyzing the text he once thought to have interpreted correctly at the corner of the page. “maybe if you told better jokes, we’d have enough to fund a laugh track for your comedy show.”

“we are not being filmed right now!”

[Marquis 0]

despite marquis' help, it was shikari who found the temple in question first. gaze towards the sun's setting, he called to his distracted partner to look upon the structure, placed strangely amongst a gangle of non-native trees to the area.

"oh, come on," marquis drolled, strolling up to the temple's steps right behind shikari. "what was even the point of me looking around for it if you were to find it in the first place?"

shikari chuckled. "eliminates the choices i deal with," he said, gesturing marquis within. 

she wasted no time stepping past him, giving him a slight nod in turn. "are you sure you don't want your own katana past this?"

"if it happens, it happens. if it doesn't, i shall be content with my lot."

their voices echoed, stepping into the temple's only chamber. marquis could only regard him with a somber expression, her front pivoted towards him, hand on her waist. 

[Shikari 0]

"i'll wait for your return," she said. "as will everyone else."

he laughed even further, waving a hand at her. 

"no, please don't.” his recovery was swift, his arms folded. under his mask he wore a smile. “i'll make it on my own time. you go on ahead, like the shooting star you've decided to be."

"what....?"

the comment caught her off-guard. her mouth shifted from an 'o', forming a grin on her sheepish face. and, she did so wanted to laugh too. a scoff, void of negativity, left her instead.

"now where did that come from...?"

shikari shrugged. the compliments traded between them weren’t few nor far between, and yet past their reawakening, they seemed to be scant. so the hunter knew reason as to why he’d dolled it out. 

when marquis turned to face the chamber's interior, it was with solidified determination -- she would have to live up to the ideals she had intended to uphold.

[Marquis 0]

how finding a katana would work in the past for marquis was simple. there was a place of worship where the weapon would be located. on an ornate stand it sat, basking in the light of the environment around the temple, rays seeping through a carefully torn hole through the ceiling with steps laid out before her to ascend and receive her reward. she never did ask if shikari experienced the same ritual as she, but judging by his lack of surprise, she assumed he did on assumption.

on this occasion, the same had occurred -- so she did as she knew and reached out for the blade, to take into her hands. then, as before, her curved sword skill would finally morph to match what she knew was her habit, her nature, and the scabbard, had it been equipped to her side would make up for all the emotions she'd felt while she had it missing, a comfort restored as she had it in her possession.

[Shikari 0]

that was not exactly what would happen, however.

out of nowhere, there was a crash of something great directly in front of her. the stand was shattered into pieces from the impact of the collapse -- marquis only had time to register what was happening with a glance towards the ceiling (the exposed opening from the roof?) as she backed away from the sudden threat.

"marquis!"

and, even without a weapon in hand, her partner still had her back. 

when the dust cleared, what blade, now broken, was laid across the floor in pieces, yet the parts were still technically whole. the figure that cut through their prize – her prize – seemed large and looming at first glance, with two solid metal arms, thick as blocks, lodged to the ground by their side. the rest of the strange figure was coated in vibrant red, especially from the pour of sunlight above, but as the shadows cascaded from their face, marquis could make out that it was but a woman. 

[Marquis 0]

another player. the cursor would’ve confirmed it. and here she half expected the entrant to be an ambush from a sudden enemy, cardinal unrelenting. but the glare shot her way, in blood-hot scarlet, did anything but assuage that presumption. 

they bent down. picked up the piece of the broken sword that was laid by their feet. the metal claws that the other player had equipped, large, bulky, had covered their arms from the shoulder downwards, such that even their digits were coated in mechanical steel. the blade fragment, of gleaming white folded metal, seemed of everything old in contrast to that palm in black.

and with a scoff, the other player shattered it with a clench of their fist.

“worthless. a waste of my time.”

marquis had just stood, watching — confused. her brows were furrowed. the glitter that sailed through the air as the item broke did no favors in answering that sudden event.

[Shikari 0]

shikari grabbed her shoulder, trying to pull her away from the steps. was she in danger? she decided not to move. meanwhile, their intruder simply paid them no mind, save for one last glance to both figures cut in that darkness, before rolling her eyes and making her exit.

one leap — the same way she had made her entrance. additional dust from the broken rubble spilled through the ceiling in her wake. shikari stopped. marquis examined the crime scene left. the blade was missing, now, both parts of it. it was a miracle it was kept intact in the first place after its initial split, she considered.

still…

“what the hell was that about?” shikari spat out, arms folded, gaze to the skylight. “worthless? did she even know how much this has cost us? talk about lacking an eye for the finer things in life.”

the scabbard of the sword on display had slid away, over to a corner of the temple. marquis approached it and picked it up. it was only upon the system’s confirmation that the skill they had been looking for had been acquired that the woman finally let out a sigh of relief she wasn’t aware she had been holding in.

“doesn’t matter,” marquis returned, waving the scabbard in her hand. “we got what we needed.” her gaze drifted to the ceiling, too, vision blurry. “let’s head back before… something like that happens again.”

on their way back to town, marquis fumbled with the basics of iaijutsu with shikari’s lecture, despite his reluctance (“that’s literally my trademark. just because i’m hanging up the katana for now doesn’t mean i said you could have that!”).