[OP-F3] The End (PM for invite)

[Calrex 0]

"Is...he trying to rally the people here with an ultimatum?"

 

Calrex listened as Zelrius put on his display, his sword blazing with flames. The display reminded Calrex of Arekkusu's attack when they were fighting monsters on the tenth floor, "There certainly seems to be a lot of special effects put into the weapons and attacks in this game, but it seems like most of them either correspond to an effect or are merely for show."

 

He gave a sigh as he kept his hands in his pockets, his menu still open with the cursor set on the his Grand Chariot armor, "The question I'm wondering is if there's some plan in his mind for those that decide to work alongside him. Is he trying to start another guild, or merely just settle the conflict building here at the moment? After what's happened...I think I'm done with being a part of a guild. There seems to be too much politics, economics, and such with the higher ups that ends up somehow being passed down to the regular members."

 

As Calrex waited for the others to respond to Zelriu's statement he crossed his arms, thinking about the conversation he had with Xanatos recently. About their feeling on what happened with Mari and Daeron, about the way things have been with the frontlines players, and about their agreement to try and change the way things are in Aincrad for the better, "True Hearts...huh..."

 

He started to slowly make his way back to where the others were standing. He hadn't moved that far off, but he wanted to make sure his presence was still acknowledged. As he did he waited to see what the others would do.

 

"There is something I want to know, but I'll wait to see how this goes first..."

[Rusty 0]

Rusty rubbed his eyes to keep himself awake, he was growing tiresome after all his walking throughout the floor. This and along with sharing his life story brought his energy level down. With his fist to his mouth, his tired brown irises scanned the areas for any newcomers. The group had already gained two more players and it seemed likely that another player would join them, considering Kiru was pretty well known to a lot of players, although he didn't know who she was until he met her. It was probably because he wasn't someone who went around and talked about what was happening in SAO. Maybe it was best that way, he sometimes found himself places he wished he was never in, leading to him making enemies and "friends" in places he never thought would. This included X, who still didn't get his point after describing to the group how much he wished to fight him. "You don't know when to stop you, do you? I said, I do not want to fight. How hard is it to understand? I don't fight people, I fight monsters. Simple? Now like I said, bug off."

 

Rusty went back to pondering things when Zelrius gave his response to his sarcastic remarks towards him. He gave a small frown as Zelrius began to threaten him with death and then proceed to insult him with a few choice words. It was glaringly obvious nobody understood what he was trying to attempt from being sarcastic. "I am going to back off, I've already got all the information I need from what you said. I already made my guess on your personality, but you really don't have to tell me how that you are leagues higher than I am, level and strength-wise of course. I already figured that out from the fact the Kiru knows you well considering that she usually hangs out with the high-leveled players, something I got when I first met her, and you have equipment I don't I have ever seen in my life till this day. Also I don't know where you got the idea that I'm spoiled or a brat since I've been trying a bit hard to get stronger over these past few months. As to brat, I don't think you have the right to say considering the first thing you say to someone who thought you were dead was you were going to shove a sword up their arse. So yeah, I sincerely don't get the brat part of what you said since it seems you are the more impolite one of the both of us, but yeah I have no reason to want you to kill me. I'm not trying to set you off neither am I trying to oppose you, I just wanted to figure out your personality by using sarcasm to gauge your reaction to it." He protested, satisfied enough with portraying his intentions to the small group. It was more likely to backfire however, he might have been a bit too blunt. Eh.. It didn't matter, either way he got his point across loud and clear.

 

His early predication came true as a fellow guildmate, someone who he had gotten acquainted with on two of his guild's "events" joined the small group. "Dammit." He mumbled, a bit pissed that more and more people were joining up. Now the party count was 6, including himself. Rebekah, the girl who had appeared, seemed to be angry that X and himself were trying to pick a fight with Zelrius. She had gotten it all wrong and it was starting to get annoying that people were assuming these things about him left and right. "I don't think I can gain anything out of it if I'm not actually doing it. If I wanted to fight, I would go to floor 1 and kill some boars. No, I'm not picking a fight with him." Kiru seemed to join in with viewpoint, saying that Zelrius could wipe out almost all of them by himself.

 

In the end, Zelrius decided to end all this arguing by proposing an idea, which was that anyone who did not hate him and didn't want to fight him would raise their weapon high in the air. Rusty was one of the first, if not the first, to do by raising his rapier in the air. "I don't think I can hate somebody who I just met." he muttered, confused as to why the boy thought that everyone here disliked him.

[Teayre 0]

As Teayre wandered around the fields of the third floor, Beleram perched on her shoulder as usual she cocked her ear hearing some voices some louder than others some making threats. Glancing up at Beleram she gasps as she hears a familiar voice.

 

“That’s… That’s Calrex, Beleram…â€

 

Turning on her heel she runs through a small grove of trees ducking from a small branch stopping at the edge of the clearing that the group of people had stopped in. 

 

“I recognise Calrex and X… But who are the others? I wonder what’s going on…â€

 

As her eyes cast over the figure who was wearing a skull helmet she closed her eyes shaking her head as she sees the orange marker.

 

“So he’s a pker and a strong one judging by the rest of his armour, why’s he trying to rally everyone? He’s strong… He’d be good as an ally maybe…â€

 

Drawing her Katana she raises it points it skyward as she nods at Beleram walking into the centre of the group. Her eagle taking off and flying towards the girl who had tear stains on her face cocking his head as he landed in front of her. Breathing deeply Teayre spins slowly in a circle looking at everywhere member of the group before sheathing her sword.

 

“Why is anyone trying to fight? I don’t know what’s happened obviously someone’s upset about something, personally I don’t know her. Doesn’t mean I don’t care but it looks as if she’s got someone to talk to about it. Someone of you should know better, others of you…†Teayre takes a long good look at X, before jerking her thumb at Zelrius over her shoulder “Will never learn, even if this guy here kills you. So just sort it out.â€

 

Walking up to Calrex she meets his eyes glaring at him, grabbing his hand and dismissing his menu before slapping him.

 

“AND YOU! Don’t even get me started.â€

 

Taking several deep breaths Teayre sighs, sitting down in the centre of the group resting her head in her hands before looking around again as Beleram clambered onto her shoulder before taking off and going to land on Calrex's perching there.

 

“Right now what’s going on? I’m guessing something about either Skull face here threatened to kill someone, big whoop. There’s something about boss planning going on from the sounds of it.†Pointing at Rusty Teayre sighs. “Just cut the sarcasm okay? I don’t care what’s happened in the past I’m ending it all now, sure you guys are higher level than me I don’t stand a chance in a fight but you know what. Just everyone shut up, stop arguing and the girl with the cool hair tell me what’s happened. Oh and my name’s Teayre for those of you who don’t know.â€

[XWuZHeAR 0]

Rusty just kept talking and talking and talking, Jesus I obviously had no say in letting him in the guild. Eventually he said "IRL he wasn't the type of person who walks around... Mmm something like that. To which I cut in,

"You can't walk at all IRL."

Then he even went on and on about how the hole time he was like evaluating everyone's personality. Sounds really really annoying and only makes me want to punch him the face even more.

"Ugh what are you a first year pysc student? Because I'm getting real tired of your bull." I said after rusty spoke his huge speech.

Zel then said who ever didn't want to fight him to raise there weapon high up in the air. I looked down at my hands covered in wraps. I then walked over towards Zel.

"Well I think I'm gonna start warming up to Zel here. After all I feel like we're gonna be seeing more of eachother." I said as I stood next to Zel and held my hand up for a highfive.

I didn't actually know if he highfived me back or not because of my hand wraps as I then went and gave him two quick pats on the chest in a friendly manor. I also payed close attention in order not to accidently activate the martial arts skill as there was once an incident with a girl and... Yeah not good.

[Rebekah 0]

Kiru's icy response to her was what she had been looking for. Even though Rebekah has never met Kiru before, that was the classic Kiru that she had heard about. So, she knew right away that it was no longer an issue. There was no real reason for her to intervene in that, she was just checking if everything was fine, and it is. Kiru was right about the fact that she was trying to provoke Zelrius on purpose, but that was the way they communicated in the past, so it was understandable for others to yell at her for it. However, the end result was what that mattered, nobody is fighting each other, or at least for now.

Meanwhile, for the other matter at hand. Rebekah had agreed with everything that Zelrius had said, and told him, "I'm glad that we are in agreement again. As for his attitude, I will deal with it privately inside the guild this time, but if it ever happens again, feel free to do whatever you need to do." She left the answer to that open ended, and she was not going to be responsible for what might had happen.

Even Rusty was getting on her nerves as well, and she knew that she was not the only one that was ticked off with his whole speech. She was not impressed, and wanted to punch him in the face at this moment, but she kept her cool. If someone was to teach him a lesson, she would not mind it at all, but as one of the few members in the higher ups in her guild, especially with Azide's disappearance, she had to step up in this situation.

[Mari 1]

Mari didn't do crowds.


She disliked them. Greatly. Whenever Mari was around a large group of players, it never ended well. With the exemption of organized raids against Event and Floor bosses. Her moods were volatile at best - and she had become a figurative storm of destruction.

It seemed like a millennia since the pink haired PKer had made an appearance, when in reality - it was only a month. A month of reprise - as the notorious 'most feared pker' silently faded into obscurity. Becoming nothing more than a hushed whisper among the lower levelled players. Mari never asked for the mantle, she never expected it. Yet here she was, a smear of pink amidst a field of blinding yellow. Mari was planning on remaining low on the radar, incognito so to speak. Her eyes were downcast, no longer holding a light to guide her way - finding little worth fighting for. She fought for the sake of fighting, nothing more. She would lead the fray into the higher levels - not for Alkor, not for Evelyn, but for herself.  

Mari paused in her stead, darkened eyes rising to the tree dotted horizon. Shouting? The woman tilted her head to the side, as though she were straining to hear them. Voices. Many voices. Distraught, in pain. Agony. Distress. There were many synonyms for what she heard - the content? She could not hear, the pained words failing to be carried on the winds long enough to reach her ears.

Mari was not one to back away from confrontation. So she continued forward. If anything, most people should know better. To not mess with those marked with orange cursors, furthermore, to not mess with Mari. As she approached the group she saw a few familiar faces, two of which she did not expect. The first; was Zelrius. There were rumours of his death, but there he stood, as arrogant as ever. Mari did not keep track of levels, but she was sure that she was close to him, if not, surpassing him If that were the case, she would have more strength, more skills, however - he still had better equipment. If the two were to ever fight it'd be a very even match with no determined victor. 

The other, was a very distressed looking Kiru. Mari's eyes widened at the site of the multi-toned girl in such a depraved state. Her hair was a mess, and her eyes bloodshot. Mari was in clear sight of the group now. She would ignore the others, and only address Kiru, that is, if she hadn't heard the tail end of her sentence. 

 "-but I do not know- nor do I care where Mari is."

 

 

Of course.

Why would she? 

Mari left the notion of friends and friendship in the dirt weeks ago. During her time away from everyone, during her time of self reflection - she decided it simpler to not dwell on such things. No matter. Mari's eyes lingered on the group for a few seconds, a gust of wind picked up, and her hair danced in the faint breeze. her eyes lingered on Kiru's - before she pulled her oceanic orbs away, and continued her stead. She would not remain where she was not wanted. She would not exchange words where none were needed. It was clear the group was in the middle of.....something and Mari wasn't going to interfere. 
 

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius extinguished the fire of his sword into his golden sheath that hung on his hip. He glanced around and then stopped on Kiru. She seemed to be doing much better than when he first arrived, and it seemed no one was trying to kill eachother any more. That much was good, that was the last thing SAO needed at this point. With no Azure Brigade, no Cerulean Silence, and no Guardians of Aincrad, The power gap left in this world was deafening. And with that Power gap, PKing needed to be slowed down, if not stopped, as much as possible. The boy looked down at his feet, his dress shoes were spotless as ever, and his bowtie always slightly askew, a problem the Blood Buccaneer could never fix. With a sigh at the general reaction to the latest events, Zelrius dug through his inventory. He produced a single light blue crystal from it and placed it on the ground infront of him. These things were of no use to him, Being orange and all the boy couldn't enter towns. Nevertheless, He left it there for someone who might want to use it. 

 

"I have more important things to be doing."

 

Those were the last words Zelrius spoke in the ears of this group of people. He turned around and bolted off. Gone, just as fast as he had come. And even faster than when he had disappeared.

[Kiru 0]

After I issued my warning about picking fights with people Zelrius continued off my speech to make his own, this time about rallying together. He started off by telling everyone take their weapons down and then to strike him down or raise their weapons and clear floors together. I didn't know what to expect with this movement though, the tension was pretty high here considering a fight could break out any moment. This behavior wasn't like his own, but mine just now wasn't either. I decided just to go along and watch in stead of questioning him. I looked around to the players surrounding us to see if anyone was moved enough to raise their weapon and agree with him. Calrex and the other girl with blonde hair didn't do anything except for stare or say a few words. This was bad, no one was doing anything to agree with Zelrius, I didn't like that. Zelrius held so much power over everyone here yet they hesitated to join them. I finally grew tired of it and stepped forward to add something but suddenly a bird landed in front of me and cocked it's head. I titled my head with mirrored confusion at it and when I looked back up there was a girl with red hair in the middle of our group, carelessly swinging her sword every which way. The first thought that came to my head when I saw her was: annoying. I frowned and glared as she disrupted this obviously important time. I crossed my arms and shifted all of my weight to one foot. I then addressed the red haired girl who so rudely interuppted. "Oh? You think you can stop this? You don't even know what's going on or why it's happening. It may not matter to you but you are being extremely annoying right now. My...you are worse than a mosquito." I snapped, drawing out viciousness in every syllable. Nothing annoyed my more than people who though they had the power to do something they couldn't.

 

 

There was also something that bothered me, loud people. "X, shut up and stop trying to make people fight you. No offense but you'd probably die." I sighed and looked back at The Blood Buccaneer. The only ones I saw make a move was X who raised his hand for a high five and Rusty. That was it, and it made me angry. What also made me upset was the blonde girl who had just came, Zelrius must have known her because he backed down from her challenging words. I bit my lip and stared at the two of them, how would they know each other? Finally, I realized that this girl had been in my group during the Hydra battle. I closed my eyes and took a moment to recollect myself beore staring once again at the group as a whole. The incident was over, why was I still here? 

 

"Shows over guys, sorry to disappoint but I am not a tragedy and neither is my life." I said and turned on my heel while staring at the grass. My feet moved on their own, quickly going away from the group. When I finally looked up from the ground I saw a dot of pink among the yellow. I already knew what- who it was. 

 

Mari. 

 

I glared at her and gritted my teeth. She didn't deserve even a fake smile from me, there wasn't even anything needed to be said to her. She had abandoned the idea of friendship the moment she snapped and made a crazy move towards me. I couldn't get the taste from my mouth or the thought from my brain for two weeks. I pursed my lips and began to think whilst giving her an icy stare. "Was she just watching me? Does she feel sorry for me, probably not, happy that he's gone? How long has she even been there? Never mind, I don't care." I made a sharp left and walked in the opposite direction from both the group and Mari, now heading towards a different floor. My peace here had been disrupted. 

 

-Kiru exits thread-

[Calrex 0]

"Teayre?"

 

Calrex looked over in surprise as his girlfriend appeared from almost out of nowhere and began talking to the others. However, going from the reactions he saw on their faces it seemed like her words were acting as more of an irritant than a deterrent. He gave a small sigh, "Teayre, I know you mean well, but...I'm not so sure the words that you used with Kotori are going to resonate the same with these guys..."

 

His thought was interrupted when he felt a familiar strike across his face as he felt his menu close. She had snapped him out of whatever state of mind he was in. Calrex quickly gave a shake of his head as he looked down at her, feeling Beleram shift his perch to his shoulder. As Kiru responded to Teayre's speech he gave another sigh of disappointment as he placed his hands in his pockets.

 

"It might help if you told us that...but at this point I don't see any reason for consolation. You seems to be dealing with it just fine the way you're going...if dealing with it is a way of putting it. In any case for now I'm just not going to bother with it...children sometimes these days..."

 

As he let his eyes scan across the group as he noted Zelrius and Kiru beginning to make their departures from the scene. As he scanned the area his eyes noted a familiar pink figure not too far off.

 

"Mari?..."

 

His eyes locked onto her for a couple of seconds before he decided to dedicate his attention to the people around him, making sure to keep her at the edge of his peripheral vision.

 

"Looks like she might be simply listening in for now. Since Mari is a high level player I guess it would be no surprise if she was acquainted with Zelrius and Kiru, so maybe there was some level of familiarity in the group here..."

 

He looked over at Teayre before he placed a hand on her shoulder, "It was a good try Teayre, but for now I think it might be better if we stood to the side and listened for now. I don't think mincing words is going to get us anywhere in the conversation at this point."

 

With that he gave a quick rub to Beleram's head before he directed her a couple of paces away, out of the circle the group had formed, but not far enough that they were out of listening distance.

[Rebekah 0]

There was a distinct blob of pink that appeaared out of the corner of her eye, during the middle of Zel dropping the the single blue crystal. That shade of pink could only mean one thing, Mari. Rebekah was sure that she was not the only one to notice it, as Zelrius dashed off shortly after before Mari joined the group. Kiru was next to follow shortly after, neither of them wanted to have anything to do with Mari at this specific moment.

Rebekah thought about being the next to disappear but decided to stay behind as Mari approached the group. She quickly scanned to see if Mari was carrying any potions, or if she was acting slightly different. She was not afraid of Mari, but rather her potions. It was the type of consumable that could make one lose control of themselves, was something that she wanted to avoid taking. It was some luck that she had today, running into Mari, Zel and Kiru in one day, especially since most of them disappeared for a while.

Rebekah's eyes quickly scanned the rest of the group, trying to see what they were planning to do, she could notice that the pair of lovebirds are planning to take a step back and just listen to the conversation. That left precisely her guild group, Rusty and X left. She awaited for them to make their move, as she also decided to act more low key at the moment, trying to observe, rather than act. However, she was still planning on teaching them a lesson, just not in public. Perhaps another day, when they have a guild meeting somewhere, whenever Azide returns.

[Rusty 0]

Rusty too noticed the pink bob in the distance, the player all too familiar and went by the name of Mari. She was watching them, most likely for most of the entire conversation here. Still, she wasn't doing a single thing but that. He had no reason to worry at all and even then, she didn't look like the type who killed for fun. The boy's eyes turned to the rest of the group. He knew how the players felt about him, they all just despised and felt as if he shouldn't be here. He was just a nuisance to everyone, save maybe Calrex. He didn't blame them, at this point he probably was such a thing. Rusty deep down just hated himself. He just couldn't accept it. Everything that had ever happened to him was his fault and he just put the blame on people. He was awkward, he was annoying and he most definitely cause his own loneliness. Why was he trying to fix other people's problems when he never addressed his own. It was a thought that brought him to his senses, maybe for good. "I'm j-just going to leave.." He mumbled before heading towards the city. His eyes were no longer wearing an emotionless expression. They were the eyes of a tired and weary person. 

[XWuZHeAR 0]

I looked on and saw that streak of pink in the distance. I instantly wondered who was this person but then it hit me... Miss potions! Er-no hmmmmm oh!

"Hey miss mari!" I said as I waved and smiled brightly.

I know her because she sold me those potions I got really messed up on. Those affects they were um... They were something. Then I recived another scolding from Kiru which I'm used to at this point barely bothers me. However this means Kiru is fine and I no longer need to worry. I then knelt down and stroked Maruchans fur.

"Come on boy! Let's get out of here!" I said picking up my familiar and setting him on my shoulder.

As i got a little bit out I looked back at the group of players most of which I knew. While continuing to walk backwards I waved and maruchan barked a little.

[Calrex 0]

As the group began to spread out Calrex looked around, making note that Rusty and X had decided to take off their own ways after Zelrius and Kiru had taken off. He gave a small sigh to himself as he looked at the people remaining.

 

"It's not exactly the resolution desired, but it seems the best for now. I just hope they all stay safe and don't go flying off the handle."

 

He looked down at Teayre, reaching and gently holding her hand, "Come on, it looks like things are winding down. We'd best be making our way as well."

 

WIth that he turned, but not before looking over at the single player remaining, giving a nod to her before turning and heading in the direction of the settlement, taking Teayre along with him.

 

"I only know what Xanatos and the other people have informed me about Mari's recent behavior, but with Teayre here I don't want to take my chances. Maybe one day when I'm strong enough I might be able to speak with her as an equal...and find out what exactly is going through her head."

[Teayre 0]

Teayre let out a small sigh as the girl with the multi-coloured hair talked down to her, looking at her eyes thin. “I heard the big guy say about raising weapons to clear the game or strike him down, to say the least there was one person I care about that I didn’t want getting hurt so that’s why I did it.  If I wanted to stop this, well I know I can’t but I can do what I can. The pker could kill us easily if he wanted judging by his armour so I wouldn’t want to even try to fight him.†As the red head spat her words back at Kiru she noticed the girl starting to run away, letting out a laugh Teayre moved with Calrex as he took her to one side. “Really is she that much of a coward?†Sinking down against a tree Teayre doesn’t notice the flash of pink that everyone else seemed to have noticed. Taking Calrex hands she follows him dragging her feet, her free hand clenched into a tight fist. Beleram began nibbling at her ear and Teayre threw her hand at him. “Cut it out Bel.â€

[Mari 1]

*Kiru has requested this be closed off*

All Participants: 1 SP + 50 Col