OP - F3: Sing Me to Sleep (PM for Invite 3/6)

[Mari 1]

Mari had frequented the lower floors more often than not lately. She hadn’t had a decent sleep in a long time. Rather, she rarely managed to sleep at all. Yet…there she was, a  puff of pastel pink amidst the otherwise golden soaked tree line of the forest on the third floor. It was dusk, and the sun was just setting. Cicada’s buzzed in the background – it was reminiscent of a warm, summers night. If it weren’t for the faint wailing of the forest ambience it’d almost be a perfectly peaceful setting.

Perfectly peaceful in observation only.

Nothing is ever as it seems.

Behind those closed lids, blue eyes frantically darted to and fro – the woman was in a restless sleep, plagued by memories of those lost.
 

[XWuZHeAR 0]

I was gently walking in the forest for once rather than simply leaping tree to tree using my acrobatics. Tonight was different than the others mostly because I was carrying a sleeping Maruchan in my arms. Every time he jumps a little in his sleep I sing a little and he calms down. I've grown pretty close to my familiar who I've hit it off with instantly. After a while of walking I came a across a girl in pink with a PKers cursor.

"Calm down we know her remember..." I whispered to Maruchan as he was about to wake up detecting a new person.

It was miss mari and she was sleeping out here. She's a PKer so she's not allowed into the towns so she can't buy an inn and stuff. I never buy a room just because I prefer to not sleep in an inn. Either way mari is a PKer so she probably has people who wants to kill her. After thinking about it for a while I sat down next to her with Maruchan sleeping in my lap. I wouldn't be able to protect her from some one a higher level than me but, I would be able to wake her up to give her a chance.

[Mari 1]

Mari stirred, her eyes shooting open at the rustle of another. She was resting, but she was not deep enough into sleep to not be disturbed. Mari was used to being woken up by mobs, or the murmurs of nearby players. She shot up, hand reaching out, shoving the intruder aside, her palm landed directly on XWuzHere's chest - pushing him over. She shot him a dark look as she stood up, dusting off her hands as though she had touched something filthy. "The hell do you think you are doing?"  She spat, clearly agitated. She wasn't in a good mood. She had finally found some sort of peace and yet here she was, being bothered by some stupid kid with a mutt. He looked familiar, but Mari couldn't place a name to his face.

"Ya got a whole 10 floors to occupy, why don't you run off and play dog sitter elsewhere kid."

(Short post, sleep time)
 

[XWuZHeAR 0]

"oof... Oh Hey there miss Mari." I said as I sat up off the ground and dusted myself off.

Mari had woke up and pushed me to the ground. She had every right to do so granted I was just watching her sleep. Miss Mari was who I had bought those potions off of. Taking them all at once was awesome, besides the almost dying to a psychopath part.

"Im X, I figured you don't go into towns much so you wouldn't even know about a famous performer like me. However I bought potions off you once and had a pretty good time using them. Then you know now i think I'm addicted to your calming potion." I explained to the pink woman while sitting in the dirt.

Maruchan rolled over in his sleep and I stroked his fur a little bit to calm him down.

[Rebekah 0]

Floor Three. It was where Rebekah had been hiding since Square One had disbanded. After that, Rebekah decided to take sometime off and return to being a solo player, which often involved avoiding people. She had never seen anyone visit this floor for the longest time, and realize this was where she could go to be alone. However, as she continued to explore this floor, she could make out two people lying there on this floor, probably lovebirds. But when she took another closer look into the distance, she could see the infamous pink hair of a famous player killer. Rebekah usually liked to avoid crowds, but she did not consider two people a crowd of people. Going against her better judgement, she decided to make her way towards the pair still sleeping, or they were rather awake at this time. As she got closer, it felt as if the other player was some crazy stalker watching Mari sleep, as she still could not make out who the guy was from afar, just the girl at this moment.

[Mari 1]

"Tch, famous?" Mari shook her head and shrugged her shoulders, "Kid - I think you need to check websters dictionary. To be famous is to be well known - a widespread reputaiton." Mari crossed her arms, sneering down at the kid. "Frankly - you aren't either of those things. Even if I am not in towns, word gets around, if you were famous - I'd know about it, don't go boastin' about sh*t - makes you look the fool."

She tilted her head as he further explained who he was, how he had bought potions off of her. She still couldn't put a name to a face. Honestly, a part of her felt a little bad for the guy, but Mari didn't have the best memory, she had encountered many people in this game, there was no way she could remember them all. "You can always buy more, of course - soothing salve should also help get rid of any...." She paused, tapping her lip. "cravings or addictions."

The crunching of twigs against grass alerted Mari to another player. She turned her gaze to the side to notice that it was Rebekah. Now this was someone the girl did recognize. Mari hadn't had many encounters with Rebekah. There was a time they spoke, before everything went downhill for the pink haired woman. "Yes?" She asked the blonde as she approached.

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru jumped from branch to branch of the trees of floor three, as how he liked to. It was his favorite pass time, and he got to enjoy a birds eye view. Suddenly, he passed a blob of pink, yellow, and a dark gray to black. He stopped and looked back quietly, seeing the Infamous Pker he had met long ago, and the one that could have killed him if Kimba hadn't saved him. He sat on a branch afew feet away from the small group and quietly listened, hoping he could find out why they were all here.

 

"Lets hope she doesn't hear me, or else I may be dead...." He thought to himself about the PKer. Hikoru wasn't one to trust players normally, but he really didn't trust a player that he watched kill another player. He shuddered at the memory, btu gained control and sat cross legged on a branch, hiding behind leaves and such

[XWuZHeAR 0]

"Hey Rebekah I haven't seen you since I left the guild!" I said to the blonde woman approaching.

Rebekah was another council member for square one alongside me. The guild disbanded due to a disappearance of the leader, azide. It wasn't a bad guild in fact it was ment to help lower leveled players. Although I couldn't stand the leader or Oikawa the other council member who tried to kill me.

"Say miss mari. What are you doing out here anyhow? Shouldn't you be like in your shop or doing whatever it is that you do? Unless... This is what you do, then. That means. Your the same as me hahaha." I said slowely figuring this all out.

I also never paid for inns and instead just slept wherever. I wasn't a PKer and couldn't like mari so I just chose not to. Besides when you can climb trees like me why would you ever waste col on an inn. So you can sleep in a bed? Comfortably? Seems pretty lame to me il stick with sleeping under the stars.

[Rebekah 0]

As she finally approach them, both sleepy players had seen her coming this way from far away. She thought to herself, weren't they asleep just a moment ago, but it was better for the two of them to acknoledge that she was here, than attacking her because she surprised them. It had been a long time since she had seen Mari outside of big events, ever since she started her rampage killing spree. It felt like a long time ago that she was stronger than her, but Rebekah spent more time avoiding people and enjoying life as opposed to hardcore training daily. Rebekah had a feeling that someone was watching them, but she could not prove who and where the person was, so she just kept it quiet.

"Fancy seeing you out here, Mari, since I figured that floor 3 is quite scarcely populated." Rebekah spoke, but she knew that most people hang around the first two floors. As a solo player now, she had to be wary of several of the bigger guilds that are active, and Mari is the leader of one of those. The last thing she wanted was to pick a fight with someone in Mari or Ariel's group, as she easily not care about the others.

As she turned to X, he was one of the many guys in her former guild. As soon as Azide had disappeared, she had lost most of her interest in staying with the guild, and started acting as a solo player again. However, everyone looked up to her, as she was one of the strongest and most experience player in the guild left. But it was not the first time her guild had disbanded after the leader had disappeared. She thought back to Klein, Lessa and now Azide. That was the reason why she did not choose to join another guild this early, besides she prefer doing things solo.

[Mari 1]

Mari clenched her jaw, it was clear she was very agitated with the male player. "Shouldn't I be in my shop?" Mari took a deep breath and gave a heavy sigh as she lowered her head, speaking in a restrained tone of voice. "Shouldn't you be smart enough to not bother others, sticking your bulbus nose where it does not belong? Last I checked I didn't have any obligation to be anywhere."  

Her eyes narrowed, "Please, we are nothing alike, any similarities you may think we have are simply a product of your own, foolish delusions. 

 

 

Mari turned to glance at Rebekah as she too spoke toward Mari. "Mmm, I had some things to take care of." She glanced over toward the messy boy and his mutt of a dog. Mari mayhaps would have been more open toward Rebekah, if she didn't have to deal with the snot nosed brat. "People are begining to populate the higher floors, I don't deal with the noise of idiots babbling too well."

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru watched at the squabbling of the three players. He didn't understand what they all had in common, but he knew Mari was angry about something by the tone of her voice. Did she not want them around her? Or did they aggrivate her? He couldn't tell from this distance, but he knew that there was something off about Mari, and he wanted to know what.

 

"Come on man, move just an inch closer..." He thought to himself as he silently made his way towards the group from the branches, when a broken branch fell nearby him. He froze instantly, hoping nobody would notice, or it may be the death of him.

[XWuZHeAR 0]

"Hey miss mari your in a guild right? The ummm... Teal noise? Or something like that." I said while trying really hard to remember what the name of that guild was.

Maruchan was tired and went to sleep in my lap so I began slowely stroking his fur. After a couple of strokes he began running in his sleep so I left him to his own devices. I then thought about my guild and how I left it a while back. I was getting very tired of the direction things were going and azides absence have me an out.

"Say, You think you'll have made more soothing salve next time I come visit your shop?" I asked mari out of the blue thinking about something else.

Maruchan then woke up and climbed up to my shoulder. So I simply reached towards his chin and began scratching it.

[Rebekah 0]

As X began to talk once again, she tried to have neutral feelings towards everyone in her guild. Other than the few that she knew closely, specifically Azide, Ether and Oikawa, everyone else was truely a blur. X was trying hard in this case, but she felt that the more he talked, the more annoying he would seem. Luckily for her, she no longer had to keep track of every member of her guild if theybticked off the wrong person, specifically a Zel, Kiru or Mari. Besides, he was too busy tending to his familiar at the moment. As she turned to Mari, she did not seem that pissed yet, which was a good sign of her arrival, or at least for now. "Well, floor 3 is not exactly known for its scenery nor its hunting grounds, unless she hears otherwise from the information broker." Following up on her previous thought, she perhaps would have joined Mari's guild but she loved her freedom. The thought of a guild leader potentially restricting her right to participate in risky raids. However, she was given the freedom from Lessa and Azide to do what she wanted. Guilds nowadays are a lot stricter on the rules, so she could only imagine it.

She added, "I heard about the new Cerulean Silence, and that black hair boy, Crozeph, was it, I have something to settle with him, since he assaulted me in the forest once and left. But I won't lay a finger in him if you wish to protect him if I were to do something to him. I won't kill him."

[Shuyin 0]

Walking through the wide open prairies of the third floor, it wasn't long until Shuyin came to a large tree line. Having herd that this floor was inhabited mostly by elves, he had found it odd that the floor wasn't more Forestey. Deciding that it might be worth checking out, Shuyin entered the forest fearlessly. After all, Shuyin new this floor was scarcely populated so he wasn't to worried about running into PK'ers.

 

Although Shuyin was aware that it was dusk, he was surprised how much darker it had gotten once he entered in under the canopy of the forest. Trying to focus in on his surroundings, he began to get a bit disoriented by the sound of the cicada's which seemed to be coming from all around him. After walking for a decent amount of time, Shuyin came to a sudden stop in a small clearing. Looking around, he could of sworn that he had been here only a few minutes ago. Pulling up his menu, he scrolled over to the map and began to study it carefully for a route back to the main settlement. Just as he was preparing to close it up and head off however, he herd a commotion coming from a short distance away.

 

Approaching carefully to investigate, it wasn't long before he could make out three dark silhouettes in the shadow of the tree line. Although he could hear mumblings of a conversation, it was impossible for him to make out what they were saying over the buzz of the cicada's. Weighing out his current options, Shuyin thought about simply turning around and heading back to the village. His curiosity stopped him however, "What are players doing all the way out here....?" he wondered. Knowing that he wasn't going to head back quite yet and deciding that it was creeping to just be lurking in the bushes. Shuyin decided that he might as well walk out into the clearing and introduce himself. Although it had almost become his trademark to have one hand casually resting on the hilt of his rapier, he decided that it might be taken as a threat if he walked out with a hand on his weapon. Removing his hand from the hilt and placing it into his pocket, Shuyin walked out into the clearing and called out to the players. "What are all you guys doing out here at?"

[Kazuya 0]

Kazuya was walking around the third floor, outside of town, when he stumbled upon this odd group of people. A pink haired woman that looked very familiar, a guy that obviously didn't know what volume control was, and another woman who seemed to know how to properly talk to people. He stood back and watched as another man joined the crowd. 'Well they look like they are having fun,' he thought sarcastically. 'I wonder what has them out so late. It's practically the middle of the night when absolutely everyone should be asleep. Then again, I'm up also. Well, nothing else interesting is happening, so I might as well see what they are up to.' 

 

He preceded to approach the group. The closer he got, the more he noticed that the group seemed to have a bit of tension between them. The pink haired woman appeared to be getting frustrated at the loud one, and the smart one was now trying to talk to her. 'Do I really want to go over there? I might make things worse...Well I'm already almost there, so I guess it would be pointless to turn back now.' Upon reaching the group, he walked up to the newcomer and greeted him. "Hey there. It's funny. Here I was thinking I'd be the only one out this late and then I find you guys. What are all of you up to, eh?"

[Mari 1]

The scruffy kids words just proved that he was an absolute idiot. He clearly had no grasp on social cues. Furthermore, he didn't seem to have a concept of time, assuming it was late at night - when clearly, the sun was still setting. Casting a golden light across the once serene field. Mari turned her back on the stupid kid with the mutt of a dog. Her best action, was best to ignore him. If she was lucky, he would slink away back from the dirty pitch he crawled out from.

'Snap' 

Mari didn't tilt her head up - yet brilliant blue orbs drifted skyward, toward the sound. her eyes locked with the wide eyes of the young boy, hiding in the trees above. He looked afraid, or perhaps just worried. Regardless - Mari didn't think of him as a threat, or even a bother. He looked as though he was observing the situation at hand. A smart move on his part. Mari didn't alert the others to the tree dwellers presence. Why cause more of a commotion?
 

Mari sighed as she scratched her cheek, addressing Rebekah. "Not exactly new, just got rid of dead weight. I don't have the time for layabout trash. It's small, but that's easier. I don't need a large guild, that would be bothersome." 

Rebekah spoke of Crozeph, and how he had assaulted her once, Mari frowned at the prospect of this new information. "Well now, that won't do." Mari said as she approached Rebekah, crossing her arms over her chest. "You want to pay him back? some ridiculous notion of revenge?" Mari shrugged her shoulders. "Do what you will. I don't think you're stupid enough to kill someone under my protection. Who am I to get in the way of a personal issue between the two of you?" Mari asked.

 

Another voice  called out, Mari gave a heavy sigh, raising her hand to run it through her fringe, as she muttered bitterly to herself. "Why does it seem as though people flock to me? Ugh..." 

Mari's eyes narrowed as Kazuya approached. She equipped her dagger, effortlessly twirling it in her hand. "Fancy seeing you here." She muttered, "Last I heard, you were threatening, plotting to kill me - for killing that moronic man, Argumail. Come to put some weight behind your words?"
 

[Kazuya 0]

A confused look entered his eyes. "Huh? You know me? Argumail? Kill you?" Then it dawned on him. "Oh, You knew me before this crazy amnesia thing. It all makes sense now. You killed a friend of mine, some other stuff happened, and my mind decided it was getting a bit too crowded. Well for your information, since I can't remember anything, I've decided to put all my past interactions with people behind me and just focus on the problems that still plague me, which are surprisingly few. After seeing how happy I am, I suggest you do the same. It's not fun forgetting, but I wouldn't be opposed to just looking past them." He leaned against the tree, feeling a presence above him, but choosing to ignore it. 

 

"Well, Would you mind cluing me in as to who I was just a bit. Oh and try to keep it a bit unbiased, would you?" 

[XWuZHeAR 0]

Mari ignored me as Rebekah asked about the cerulean silence. Damn. That's what it was called. Well it's a small guild not that well known so I don't think I should feel too bad about not knowing the name of it. My hands then twitched slightly and locked up. I then cracked my knuckles by a way found much easier. I layed them palms down and Maruchan massaged them with his fore paws.

"So, now that we have a pretty decent sized group here... I suggest we all get some drinks!" I suggested as my detection skill helped me count all the people nearby.

Boy maruchan has gotten good at this, it seems the martial arts skill locks up the joints pretty bad. The skill basically locks your fist while you use it, which is also why I work difficult palming attacks and grabs into my usual combo of hits. Gives the fingers a little more of a stretch. Perhaps it will get easier the more I level the skill or I won't notice.

"So... Drinks right?" I said after letting maruchan finish massaging my hands.

[Rebekah 0]

As Mari spoke, the last thing Rebekah wanted was for her to draw out her weapon to tell her to back off. But as she explained her story, she could sense her opinion began to waver, and in the end she was allowed to what she wanted to him. Rebekah made sure to reassure Mari once again, "I have no plans on becoming yellow anytime in the near future." That was a true statement by the girl, as she loved exploring, but also being able to visit the towns on every floor other than the first floor since it was so crowded.

Meanwhile throughout all of that, another guy has entered into the conversation. Something about amnesia, revenge, stuff he was talking about. Rebekah had relatively zero interest in other people's personal affairs, since she would prefer to keep hers private as well. However, it was nice to hear someone putting the past aside and moving on with their own life. Meanwhile, X was encouraging the group to drink, which was the last thing she wanted to deal with today, not people intoxicated with alcohol. She did not know if that was possible in Aincrad, but rather intoxicated with potions. Mari's potions, it was great that she has not taken one out just yet, or maybe she has something hiding in her inventory somewhere.

[Shuyin 0]

Having approached the players it seemed that they had been too busy talking amongst themselves to have noticed his presence yet. "Or maybe they have noticed, but have deemed my unworthy of acknowledgement."  he thought to himself.   Looking around it was clear that Shuyin was the lowest level player amongst the group. Taking in the sight of the woman with the pink hair, he noticed that her name was in orange instead of the standard green. Shuyin had never encountered this as of yet and wondered what it meant.

 

Deciding that he would try again at announcing his presence, he cleared his throat and spoke. "I'm not sure if any of you are hungry, but I've got plenty of snack food if anybodies interested." Opening up his menu, he tabbed over to his shop inventory and began to look at what he had to offer the players.