[PP-F3] Love doctor L. L stands for Luuuuuuurrrvveeee {Alkor, Mari}

[Life 0]

L stood at the entrance to the 'cave of love', it was just a regular cave but it was L's cave, and today L stood for luuurrvvveeee. Today was the day he would bring together two people to love, for no particular reason other than because he could. He sent two messages, one to Alkor and one to Mari. He smiled in satisfaction of the two letters and marked the boulder he stood next to with a giant L. 

 

 

-To Alkor

 

I am writing to inform you of an urgent matter regarding the molten Hydra we are about to face. It seems as though i have come up with a near perfect strategy which has a 96% success rate. I would like to discuss it with you and go over the details making sure it's fit for public view. Meet me inside my cave, in case you where wondering which one that was it is the one with the trees. You know... the one next to the boulder on floor 3. Just meet me there as soon as possible.

 

-Thanks, L

----------------

~Dear Mari

 

It seems as though Uriel has caused me some trouble again.. well should i say... i cause him some trouble. I don't know why but i bumped into him inside floor 3s cave, the one next to the boulder.. I... I couldn't control myself and i think i made the biggest mistake of my life.. Im so sorry...

 

~

 

With that he went inside the cave keeping hidden and awaited the arrivals 

[Mari 1]

Mari had received a message from Life; it was in regards to Uriel - judging from his last run in with the man, Mari was worried. Very worried. She shivered thinking about how Life acted in the field, and how uninhibited he was. Mari had arrived on the 3rd Floor and was making her way through the forest, toward the cave that Life had politely marked on the map. Mari found this whole thing quite odd for two reasons.

1) Last time Life was in such a state - he didn't seem coherent enough to talk, let alone send a message and mark a place on the map.
2) Mari doubted that Uriel and Life just so happened to be in the same spot at the same time - but then again; Uriel may have shifted his attention from her to Life.

Mari shook her head, pink hair swishing from side to side, bangs falling in front of her eyes, with a quick puff of air Mari blew it out of her eyes. She had found the boulder which had the letter 'L' messily written on it.

Something was definitely not right.

"Life?" Mari asked, equipping her dagger and slowly creeping into the cave. Spots appeared before her eyes - the sudden shift in the light made it incredibly difficult to see. Before her eyes could adjust Mari had bumped into a wall, swearing under her breath. "Ow! censored ! Dammit Life!"

[Guest]

"96% success rate," Alkor snorted, biting back a laugh. "We haven't even fought the bloody boss yet and he's calling it that high." The skepticism was real, and it oozed off of Alkor as he approached the cave with the trees. Cave next to the trees? Cave of trees? Bloody hell. It was a cave and there were trees, and he was there.

He wasn't entirely sure how he'd gotten there with the instructions he'd been given- it was fairly obvious that Life wasn't heartset on a career in Cartography- but he had certainly made a show of it. Alkor ran a hand through his hair and looked the cave over. "It's Life, so I doubt seriously that he'll try to do anything crazy."

As he walked inside, it wasn't L that he found. Sprawled out on the floor, that girl from before was calling out. He hadn't caught what she was saying, but he did pick up on her tone. Annoyance. "Caves and trees and random girls," Alkor muttered beneath his breath. "There better be an explanation for all this."

[Life 0]

L smirked as he watched the two arrive from the dark. "And so it begins" He walked further into the shadows, deeper into the depths of the cave of love where he would operate. He almost giggled as he found the area which lit the entrance of the cave. A trail of torches lit up inviting the two to walk deeper into the cave too. The path into the cave still had lush grass and flowers growing out from them, something L had spent awhile cultivating for this specific moment. The scent of the flowers travelled all the way in and the softness of the grass gave a light crunch with each step taken on it. The inner workings of the cave where large and had a calming flow of waters inside it separating it into mini island like platforms, the water coming from a large waterfall like crevice in the roof of the cave which also gave it light beaming down into the centre of the room. Each platform where large enough to hold at least 12 people and still had luscious grass and flora scattered throughout. Birds flew in and out of the cave singing their little hearts away, the whole area giving off clean and fresh air relaxing to any persons nerves. There was one other pathway from the room which led deeper down into the cave but for now he was to let the two mingle a bit and get an idea of the situation. 

[Mari 1]

Mari stepped back from the wall,  rubbing her forehead, she turned when she heard someone else enter the cave. It was Alkor - what was he doing here. "Life asked you to help too?" Mari asked suspiciously. Mari wrinkled her nose, feeling the tingling pain from face planting the wall. "I don't think he needs help." Mari said in a huff, crossing her arms over her chest as she looked around the cave. There didn't seem to be any sign of him. 

 

The woman ran a hand through her candy coloured hair, scratching her head. "So - I assume he told you something about a battle to get you here?" Mari asked, she knew very little about Alkor, but the one thing she did know, is that he was obsessed with training and fighting. "It seems like he wanted us both here, but felt the need to lie to us..." Mari muttered, As she finished her sentence a trail of torches seemed to light up - creating a dimly lit path further into the cave. The path was adorned with a soft grass and flowers. She tilted her head, heading over the the path she knealt down to run her hand over the grass.

"Why would someone make this, it seems too...out of place to be generated by the game." Mari lightly laughed as she looked up at Alkor, "Life doesn't seem like the gardening type to me - do you think he did this?" 

[Guest]

"The boss battle," Alkor growled as he looked around, alert. He let his hand rest on the hilt of his sword, but did not draw it since as far as he could tell, it was only he and Mari in the room. "But unless you're carrying some secret the rest of us aren't privy to, I doubt he seriously had a plan."

Cave with trees... In retrospect, Alkor probably should have contested the veracity of that letter much sooner than this. When he got a whiff of floral scent, Alkor's face scrunched up in a wince. "Someone's interior decorator needs firing," he spat sarcastically. When the candles became visible and the garden seemed to materialize out of darkness, Alkor glanced over at Mari. "I don't know why, but everything seems to point toward him," the golden eyed youth confirmed. "What are you doing? This could be a trap."

Granted, it felt a bit too cheesy for a trap. Alkor was almost always on edge, though, as Mari had once pointed out. Even something that almost looked like a tunnel of love could quickly devolve into a heartless genocide in his mind. At least, in SAO it could. Life might not want either of them dead, but his guild had every reason to. Strong players could reasonably impede their plans.

It was that thought that made Alkor almost draw his blade. He twisted round and stared back toward the entrance. If they were trapped inside, he would know that it had been a trick, and he would find Life. Just as soon as they were out.

But the way wasn't shut. He was just here, alone, with a girl he didn't really know. "What's his game," Alkor muttered discontentedly, "this isn't making sense."

[Life 0]

L checked the time with a sun dial inside the room which allowed him to spy on the two, it was right on time. Just as he had predicted the skies went dark and heavy rain began to pour outside the cave, if any of them left they would be completely drenched. The beam of light which illuminated the beauty of the room now dimmed and the moss covering the edges of each platform and some parts of the walls began to glow adding a subtle mystery to its beauty. The rain seemed to make the cave rather humid and damp, the sing songs of the birds and other animals now becoming a quiet hum in the background. They still seemed very sceptical about the whole thing, understandable but soon that scepticism will fade, of course once they finally took notice of each other in the dimmed light and atmosphere now perfectly crafted and predicted by L himself. He assumed it would be too soon for any music but soon the two would also have to find some cover from the down pour of rain coming from the crevices in the caves ceiling, luckily there was a wide variety of oversized cave trees to take cover cover with or they could also simply delve deeper into the cave of love. One of the trees being especially large and hollow on the inside. Either was perfectly fine for L, everything was working out rather smoothly which could be shown by the obvious grin on his face as he watched from a safe distance. The room he was in was inside the walls of the caves in between the stairway that went down and deeper into the cave and the room they where currently in also baring cracks which let him see everything that happened. 

[Mari 1]

Mari gave a small laugh, "Oh geez, Alkor - I don't even know you and I could guess that." She stood up and dusted herself off, looking over her shoulder at him. "Maybe you should work on that predictability of yours?" Mari bit her lip, amused at Alkor's suggestion that interior decorating was less than stellar. "What was I doing? I could say I was checking for traps BEFORE stepping on it....buuut..." Mari gave a small shrug, "I just wanted to touch the grass."

Then, like some kind of cheezy movie, it started raining, and it was seeping into the entrance they were standing at, "I don't think Life can control the weather..." Mari muttered, "This seems really out of character for him. Well, we ain't gonna get sh*t done standing here."

Mari grabbed Alkor by the sleeve of his jacket, pulling him toward the suspiciously sweet path - "If it's a trap it's a poorly executed one." 

 

[Guest]

"It is that," Alkor remarked as he was suddenly pulled forward, like gravity compelling him toward the inevitable. It was disarming that the way seemed so alluring, yet the youth remained rigid. The sudden rain made him lapse for the time it had taken for Mari to grab his sleeve, but the instant he snapped back, he regarded her with a cautious stare. She seemed more interested in having him follow than outright trying to kill him, so he'd play along. At least until he needed to do something else.

He'd spent a good amount of time playing games that had honed his puzzle solving and deduction skills, but with other players, he rarely had call to use them. There hadn't been a quest yet that brought him to thinking as much as this situation already was. Mari seemed to know something he did not, so she was his best clue.

Her words about predictability struck him as off; had she said that before? What did she mean by that? In this game, with his agility and strength, he felt as though his character had developed a bit more than one dimensional. Predictable how? Or was she talking about the game at all?

Alkor made a habit of keeping things on a business level with people in the game- never personal. He had a few friends, but mostly, Alkor was a quiet young man who had made the mistake of putting on a NerveGear. He wanted to go home as much as the next player, relatively speaking, but he rarely felt the entire to talk about it. When he did, he kept it to himself. There weren't many people he felt he could relate to, or even talk to in many situations.

So here, following behind a girl a head shorter than him with pink hair and a seething, sarcastic attitude that he couldn't tell the origins of- defensive or playful- Alkor was at a loss. As the obviously player generated grass crunched crisply beneath his boots, Alkor took a moment to take in the scene. "It just feels like..." he considered the notion, as crazy as it seemed to him. "One of those weird reality shows. Like someone set this up, and we're on camera."

The notion made him a bit queasy. "When I find that knob goblin, I'm gonna punch his lights out." As soon as he'd said it, Alkor's hand flew over his mouth. "Ah, hell, I forgot. Excuse my language."

He'd grown up with a very strict, very Southern grandmother that stressed good manners and proper conduct. Especially in mixed company.

[Life 0]

L smiled as Mari seemed to make the first move. He rolled his eyes when Alkor talked about punching his lights out, there's no way he'd get caught, he was way to sneaky when he wanted to be. He tried to think of his next move and decided that things needed to be spiced up a bit, he gave the signal to a small wolf on the other side of the room, the signal being waving a piece of meat out in the air making it run like a mad dog over to it. The dog bumped into the two knocking both of them down the stairs, he threw the meat off into the distance and moved into the next room down the stairs waiting to see what would happen next still grinning.  

[Mari 1]

Mari was pulling Alkor along by the sleeve, when she was sure that he was following her the girl let his arm go. "Calm down, I know you don't like bein touched." Mari muttered as she turned to look at him and noticed a less than impressed look on his face, Alkor didn't say he didn't like being touched, but the few times Mari had met him - she had noticed that he jumped, or his body grew stiff. The man was suited to battle, but not much else.

"Reality TV Show? Hmmm..." Mari looked away from Alkor, carefully going down the stairs. "More like a cheezy blockbuster movie, next thing you know we'll be sent flying off the stairs to-whoaaaaa~" Just as she was saying it, it happened. A random wolf had run up the stairs, pummelling into Mari who had lost her footing. In her flailing she had grabbed onto the collar of Alkor's jacket, pulling him down with her.

The two tumbled down the stairs and landed on a large, grassy platform below. The platform was covered in grass, and a single blossom tree in full bloom - it's petals reflecting the colour of Mari's hair. Mari had landed, sprawled out on the ground - with Alkor ontop of her.

Mari groaned, "How about we take turns punching him?"

[Guest]

"Woah!" The youth called out in surprise as he was dragged down, the outline of a wolf disappearing in the distance as he went tumbling down. He saw the landing in slow motion, and aided by the system in his quickness, he ensured that her head would be cushioned from hitting the ground by his hand. He held her gently, atypical for his persona, until she spoke up about punching Life.

Without taking the extra time to dignify the awkwardness with a response, Alkor extricated himself from the girl, his hand slipping from her hair and his body quickly moving off of hers. "Yeah," he replied, "that I don't mind at all."

He offered a hand, glancing away from her. "That's a pretty tree," he said thoughtfully. "I appreciate it," he said suddenly. "Your consideration, I mean." He never made eye contact, eyes sweeping over the ground. It was a human moment from a guy with an otherwise robotic personality.

I'm worried, but I'm not sure why, he thought, chewing the inside of his cheek. It's like there's a joke and I'm on the outside. Mari had a rigid personality, just like his, but she was an extrovert. She seemed to seethe much closer to the surface. Alkor wasn't put off by her gruff exterior, but he was never really sure how to talk to people to begin with.

"So, I guess we're stuck here for now," he said, stating the obvious.

[Mari 1]

Mari’s head never connected with the floor – instead, it had landed in Alkor’s hand, as he had reflectively cushioned the blow.  Mari wasn’t expecting that, Alkor didn’t exactly seem like the chivalrous type. He didn’t really seem like any type. He was so rigid – and blank she wasn’t sure if he really thought about anything other than battles, fighting and growing stronger. Of course, this was all just heresy- Mari didn’t know Alkor well enough to make such judgments.

Alkor quickly climbed off of her, and extended a hand to help lift her up. Rather than look at her he looked over at the tree; complimenting it. Mari took hold of Alkor’s hand and lifted herself up off the ground. “Pretty.” Mari agreed, before adding. “Also pretty damn suspicious…a cherry blossom tree…in the middle of a cave, that looks like it’s from a Disney movie.”      

Mari scratched her cheek, “If we start seeing a singing crab I call dibs on crushing it though yeh?” Mari joked, referencing how the scene looked familiar to the set up a certain crab had done for a certain red haired mermaid.

“OH?” Mari asked, stepping around to peek into Alkor’s amber gaze. “Is that a sentiment? Coming from Mr Robot?”  Mari grinned. “Well look at you, being social and all.”  Mari didn’t seem as bothered by the scenario as Alkor – she was annoyed she was thrust into this situation but Mari felt she may as well try to make the best of it. They didn’t seem to be in any immediate danger. Mari wandered over to the tree, taking a seat leaning against it’s trunk.

“Well, captain obvious. If we’re stuck here at least it’s a nice setting eh? Wonder what the hell Life is doing though, it’s a little unnerving.”
 

[Guest]

"It is a video game," Alkor reminded her, "anything is possible. Though, I admit, it's pretty weird." As she stood herself up, Alkor made sure to give her his help. While he wasn't all that great in this game at interacting with people, when he did, it was something new for him.

Mari was in his face a moment later, and they were eye to eye. Her comment about his sentiment drew all of his attention. He could easily have said something mean, or replied with sarcasm, but he felt that wasn't going to get him anywhere. "It's not that impressive," he drawled. He really wasn't sure of what else to say.

When she walked over and seated herself against the tree, he crossed his arms and watched her with a long sigh through his nostrils. "But you've got it," he told her, "any singing crabs are yours."

He sat down on the grass adjacent to her, folding his legs in a lotus position and closing his eyes. While he didn't have the meditation skill, he did have some experience with the real thing. Sometimes it was nice to relax the mind and body, even in a dangerous scenario.

"Don't stress over it," he responded. "Life wouldn't try to harm us. I don't think he would." He bowed his head and folded his hands in his lap. His mind moved back to thoughts of home, of the place he had left behind and now fought to get back to. His expression folded into one of concern, mostly for the people he'd left behind who were likely worrying over him. If he was still alive, he was in a hospital.

"I wonder how grandmom is," he murmured softly. He slowly opened and he sighed. His mother had been right about him. Instead of taking responsibility, he had run to the NerveGear for an escape. Now, he was trapped in a virtual world, and he was getting all the punishment he deserved. Am I really a worthless person?

He glanced around, then over at her. "Since we're here," he asked, "do you mind telling me about yourself? If you don't, that's fine."

[Life 0]

L smiled as he watched Alkor make the next move, everything was going well. He hoped Mari wouldn't kill it all off just yet as he had many things still planned. The room below was much darker than the room above however the sakura trees and moss seemed to have been co-existing for many years turning the glow of the moss a bright pink. Near the end of the room however opened up nicely into a secret restaurant type area only known to L himself and some betas who had passed away. There where still npcs around the area waiting eternally for someone to order and make themselves comfortable. Everything was set up nicely for the perfect date, enough to make any teenage woman wet her pants but of course this was a date between two mature adults who L felt where made well for each other as long as they could get past their flaws. "This will speed things up nicely" There was a delicate aroma surrounding the area, a mixture between the scent of the flowers, the cold clear fresh smell of the rain as well as the warmth and inviting and appetising scent of food. L released a recording to float into the air playing delicate and relaxing music to add the final touch to the setting.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lnT6Rv-_EHE&list=FLl0NS6imL1NWxYyUTyDXcJA

[Mari 1]

Mari closed her eyes, giving a soft sigh - talking crabs...cheesy romantic caves, Life... Mari didn't understand what his intentions were, but the woman imagined a red crab with Life's head on it, and tried her best not to burst out laughing, instead, she gave a few soft snorts - and shook her head.

Opening her eyes she noticed that Alkor had sat in front of her,  "I know life wouldn't try to harm us - but you have to admit this..." Mari gestured around the two of them. "It seems out of character for him. I'm pissed - he lied about a very delicate subject matter to get me here, and now he's just playing some sort of stupid game."

She paused as she caught Alkor murmur something, however she wasn't able to fully catch what he had said; whatever it was, it couldn't have been good - his normally passive face scrunched in concern. Mari wasn't going to ask, every person in this game had their vices, they had their demons - their worries, and their tribulations.

"About myself?" Mari asked, somewhat surprised that Alkor had asked. "Well...just recently I found out that the lawyer who  cheated the judiciary system and stole my child, my home and everything I held dear is in this game- oh and he's stalking me too! Isn't that Fantastic?" Mari added in a sarcastic tone, she crossed her arms in a huff. "That's how Life got me to come here, he said that the man, Uriel, had pushed him over the edge. Life sounded as though he killed the guy. So coming to-"

Mari stopped, as the soft rustle of music began to play; 

"Oh for f*** sake..." 


 

[Guest]

He watched and listened to her passively, and when the music came on, he snickered softly at her reaction. "Yeah," he grunted, "that's an ugly way to get you to do something," he agreed, his face returning to a serious expression. "I'm sorry to hear all of that," he told her honestly. "Eventually, people like that get what they deserve." Beyond that statement, Alkor left the topic alone. It was a difficult thing to rehash.

It appeared he was going to be the first to stand. "I'm not used to games like this," Alkor admitted. "People, conflicts, relationships..." He let out a small sigh. "I guess SAO has forced me to interact with people more than I ever did in reality. And it's been difficult."

He gestured toward the source of the music. "I'm frustrated, but not really upset. I want to know what he intended with all of this. I'm willing to at least figure that out before I kick his ass. What do you think?"

They didn't know each other all that well, but Alkor could see the turmoil surrounding the woman. Her emotions were a storm, and they'd been played with. It wasn't at all fair to her. If nothing else, Alkor would pop Life in the nose for that, if Mari didn't do it herself first.

[Life 0]

L was disappointed, they didn't jump at the chance to get some food but he didn't want to rush anything too soon anyway. He waited until they finished talking, the music orb would last a bit longer until he had to release the next one. He had played all the songs himself in real life however he lacked the skills required to do so in game, silly logic he thought to himself but it didn't make a difference to him as long as there was something good to liven up the atmosphere. There wasn't much left for him to do but wait, he still had some tricks up his sleeve of course but he didn't want to push anything too soon. Instead he put on a blonde wig, mustache, thick glasses and bright blue contact lenses to hide his red eyes and dressed up in a waiters outfit and hid behind a bar beginning to clean some glasses with the npc bartender, luckily he didn't have the two on his friends list despite them all being friends so his presence was still fairly well hidden. "Lebensebeschreibung" Is what he would tell them if they asked for him for his name, it was german for 'life' he wondered if they would pick up on it, either way he was still interested to see how it would all play out.

 

((We never added each other in character :P)) 

[Mari 1]

Mari gave a wry grin; “Maybe I shouldn’t punch him – but kick him in his shins. That way we can double team him. Ahah..hah…” Mari gave a half hearted laugh, running a hand through her blossom hair – the petals from the tree fell atop her, landing on her hair and shoulders. The petals that landed on her hair blended in almost perfectly – and at the rate the flowers were falling – Mari was soon almost covered in them. She gave a huff, blowing a stray petal off her nose.

“Good thing I’m not allergic eh? Do allergies occur here I wonder….”

Mari furrowed her brows, continuing from her concerns before. “Maybe, but I don’t think anyone deserves to die – no matter how vile they are. Life tried to kill Uriel – but I stopped it. Don’t get me wrong, I loathe  Uriel – but I don’t want to see someone die.”

Mari stood after Alkor did, and shook her body, a flurry of petals fell off and around her. Hearing what Alkor said about interacting with people…it explained a lot. “Why play a MMORPG? It’s basis is to be social?” The question came out more blunt than Mari had intended. But she did have a point. Alkor pointed toward the direction of the music, and Mari could have sworn she smelt something….something good. The pink haired girl took a few bouncy steps toward the source of the music.

“Sure~ I’m interested to know what has Life acting so…Un-Life-Like~”  Mari said as she approached Alkor, reaching out to pluck a petal off of his forehead, she let it drop to the floor.

Her mood seemed to have lightened somewhat after talking with Alkor, and – again Mari took the lead, again – grabbing Alkor by the sleeve of his Jacket. Dragging him forward a few steps before letting go. Being sure not to physically touch his person.  Mari had walked forward, down the path and into the restaurant; she stopped short and suddenly. If Alkor wasn’t careful he would bump into her.

“There’s a….errr..restaurant. With..NPCs? What the actual f**k?”

One of the NPCs, a blonde one with a rather large moustache gave a grin and a nod toward her. Mari didn’t really see this as unusually behavior for an NPC. She was more so shocked there was a place like this in a cave.

[Guest]

Alkor laughed aloud despite himself. Allergies in a video game? That would have been way too real... and way too dangerous, considering the one and done rule Sword Art Online had going on. Still, the joke was silly enough to make him smirk.

Just as quickly, though, Mari was back to talking about the lawyer. When she said she didn't want him to die, his thoughts turned dark. He shouldn't have logged into this game, he mused. Then, she commented about the irony of playing a Massive Multilayer game. "It was a game. Just a game," he muttered discontentedly. "It was never supposed to be..." he took a breath, released it, and sighed. "This."

If not for SAO having effectively become his life, he would never have become as ingrained in a culture or society as he had. He had learned more about himself and interacting with other people in this game, in these few years, than he recalled learning through grade school. He remembered being laughed at or outcast, but in this game, he had helped people, and people looked up to him.

It almost made him feel good about himself. "Oh," he said, as though he recalled something. "I almost forgot. Since we're here, and all," he opened his menu and scrolled through items, but stopped short when Mari made another comment.

His body pressed into her back accidentally when she stopped short, and he backpedaled to give her back her personal space. That was the first time he'd ever made that particular mistake. It put a blush on his cheeks. "Sorry," he muttered, and went back to opening his inventory.

"You've got to be f*cking me along," he blurted in a harsh monotone, finger still lingering over the HUD. Sure enough, keen to Mari's assessment, there was a fully functional underground restaurant complete with NPCs. "This can't be a thing," he scoffed, quirking a brow.

After the moment it took to compose himself, Alkor finished bringing up his inventory and selected the armor he'd crafted, remembering how he'd thought that she didn't seem well prepared for a boss fight. "I noticed you were really well prepared the last time we were in a group," he said. "I wanted to make sure you survived the boss battle."

Flourishing Mail

Perfect quality

Made by Alkor

Armor type: torso, light metal

Abilities: +2 Damage Mitigation, +1 Evasion

Description: Chain Mail with pink and white accents; instead of the normal, drab mail, it boasts a stylish appeal. There should be a warning label on this thing: "too sexy to care!"