[PP - F1] Quarter-cut Circle

[Zeke 0]

Despite having past difficulties with trying to get into the meat of his profession, Zeke was able to put his ailing memories of failure aside for one more chance at officially "earning himself a living". The weather had been clear so far for this particular day, so his normally depressed mood was currently being uplifted by the bright rays of the sun and the soft sound of the wind lightly blowing through the scenery around him. With all of the greenery as green as it could be, and the virtual sky as beautiful as ever, the player sauntered across the plains near the outside of the south gate that belonged to the Town of Beginnings. 

(Here it is. I was beginning to think I wouldn't find this place again.) Zeke thought as he moved through the two trees in front of him, entering a secluded pond that was cut off by the surrounding forest. He had found this place once before when surveying the entirety of the first floor, only remembering it because of the solitude it gave that many other places didn't; Many players were still figuring out what they wanted to achieve during their time of being stuck in the game, and some of 'em were those certain kinds of people who sought under-leveled players to kill for their entertainment. Either way, it felt safe here for a lonely, yet paranoid adventurer, especially one that had to sit at bodies of water with their backsides prone to sneak attacks. Even still, seclusion couldn't keep this young fisherman from checking over his shoulder every twenty seconds. 

Thanks to the facts that he was indeed trapped within a game of all things, preparation was easy and safe for Zeke, as all he had to do was merely equip his fishing rod and mimic the swing of a real one with his dominant hand. The biggest seller for him to have chosen fishing as a profession was not having to deal with a real fish hook, and not feeling guilty about nabbing real fish to stuff down his throat. There was also the fact that he didn't have to travel far for materials, and catching them was the only thing he had to do. Other professions required obtaining the materials AND crafting, but he could just sit on his butt and enjoy the flashbacks to all of the times when him and his parents fished during his childhood. In fact, he was enjoying the time alone so much that tears of joy started to form in the bottom of his eyelids, collecting water until it was on the verge of spilling out from the corner of his eyes. He could truly flip from happy to sad out of nowhere like no one else could.

(I miss you both so much. There's nothing I can do about it, but I hope that you both foresaw these feelings. Actually, I don't know if I do or not, you guys didn't need another reason to worry about me. If anyone deserves to rest in peace, it's you two.) Zeke thought once more, aiming the blurry vision of his eyes at the center of the pond water where his fishing rod's line would lead to if it were visible. A couple of rough wipes against his coat would stain away the wetness proving to be a hindrance for his task at hand. (I can't erase the want to have someone see me like this. I know it never helps, but what can I do about it if the feeling won't go away?) The invisible line of his fishing tool soon tugged to keep him busy with a momentary distraction until he could pull in the targeted biter. Having the struggle over with, Zeke opened his inventory to see the Blue Tilapia he had caught was sent to one of the empty spaces available. (This is what I came here for, stop thinking unnecessary thoughts.)

Edited August 5, 2015 by Zeke

[Lucia 0]

So it was within the first week or so since the death game had started. It was only a week ago since she was back home with her friends, living life like a normal youngin should. Lucia, no... Mariya, was social and confident in her abilities. All she needed to do was study, and everything would be slowly handed to her. A good job, a wealthy life which awaited her, many acquaintances and so on, she liked to think her life was at the very least enjoyable. Her life wasn't anything too extravagant. Her parents were average, so was her life and herself even. But still, throughout her life, she could recall faint feelings of nostalgia that she'd love to relive. How much she had grown since she was a little child... Mariya could remember everything. But things took a downfall once the woman made a blind decision. That was, getting her hands on a copy of Sword Art Online.

The game seemed so tempting and too good to be real at first. Technology was growing far too much nowadays. To think humanity could go all the way to transport the mind's of players into a digital realm, paired with the ability to use all five senses to perform tasks. Mariya wasn't buying the description of the game, but decided to look up a few articles for the fun of it. Paired along with the realization this was all real, it truly was a phenomenon. And so she decided that she'd obtain this game. Mariya had a brief knowledge of gaming, she owned a few popular RPG titles since her previous lover had been insisting she tried it out. Sooner or later she was sucked into gaming, but wouldn't go to the lengths and describe herself as an avid fan. Simply, the woman had a good idea of what gaming is, and bought what her money could get her. So she waited in line to get her hands on a copy, hours even. She wound up as one of those people waiting outside the nearest gaming store to enter. Then, after a while of luck, swiftness, and a bit of fighting with others, she had a copy all to herself. She was pleased. But if only Mariya knew what was ahead of her, she'd place it back on the shelf and move along.

Here she was, as a confused and whimsical woman named Lucia. Her real intents of buying the game was only to simulate the feeling of another reality in general, she outright ignored the main objective of the game. Instead she spent her time observing all the realistic details, knowing that her procrastination wouldn't get her that far in the game. But the game seemed worth while from the good hour or two of exploration. Until it became a trap by the overloard of the game himself. They were stuck here now, they couldn't flee fate. As much as they tried to, it was impossible. Lucia was completely aware of the truth, and attempted to come to terms with herself.

She knew for a fact that moping would make no progress towards her freedom. And so, she decided to seal her emotions away, although it was under a week and she still had to get mentally situated. Her confidence and chattery habits were thrown out aat the moment, as she was struggling with her progress. Lucia was still iffy and self conscious about approaching random strangers, let alone knowing she needed a bit of anyone's help to get her started on the right foot. She needed a while before she could be herself again, she just needed COL, experience, and good combat skills. Currently, she only got it down by twenty percent.

Currently, Lucia was outside the starting city, boldly walking near the boars. She kept at a good distance away from their sight range, trailing along the far sides of the path to find herself something to forage. Her stomach grumbled, telling her to hurry up. Whilst sighing and approaching a berry bush, the female looked around one more time. Coast clear. The player busied herself as she plucked a few berries off of their vines, snacking on them before noticing something hidden by two large trees in particular. Curiously she dusted off her hands and decided to investigate it. Looking ahead, Lucia saw a beautiful body of water which harbored food, since she noticed a man collecting fish. Slowly, the player would make her way over to the pond, contemplating on whether or not she should go for fish. unfortunately, the female didn't have the fisher's skill on her list.

 

((Sooo tired. I'll reply tomorow!))

[Zeke 0]

Noticing the female across the water, Zeke began to wipe his eyes until they became slightly red and sore. It would be embarrassing for him to be seen by anyone while he felt down in the dumps. If he could focus on how high the probability was that the girl would walk over to him, his mood would adjust itself to help him keep up an appearance for the stranger that could possibly become his next friend. Friends weren't an easy necessity to come by for him, so every little trick helped ease his self-conscious mind. 

(Pretend you don't see her and keep your eyes on fishing. She'll likely go away, anyway.) Doing as he told himself, this thought suggested he was more focused on social anxiety rather than the worry that he could die at the hands of a player-killer. His inability to do what was needed for power would eventually be the trigger for his death; and all because he was too lazy to go get some Col for better gear. With a bit of insanity, he soon would be out there risking his life alone. He had one friend he could call upon for help, but it was deeply troublesome for him to decide if they would be better off without feeling like they had to protect him. Zeke didn't want someone he loved to do something foolish in an effort save him, but what if they got in over their heads while travelling by themselves? There were too many dangers in this game to make a decision that mattered most, so maybe the intense fear of a friend's death would stay with him no matter what. In the end, a group of Player-Killers were much more difficult to face alone than a group of boars.

"Just Lovely..." Zeke spoke to himself out loud, all the while rubbing his index finger and thumb against the silky red ribbon in his hair; the accessory was still tied around a section of his hair from a while back, and It resided on the right side of his head where the hair came down over the front of his ear. It had become a very colorful memento that he had never bothered to mention returning it to its owner, since he was indeed supposed to. 

Snapping back into awareness from his warm reminiscing, Zeke pulled against the tug on his pole that had brought him back from almost falling asleep. Surprisingly, the fish that he had landed on the end of his line was obviously unique to a fantasy setting, since its bizarre appearance consisted of mainly of translucent scales that would make even the hungriest person think twice about sinking their teeth into it. "I'll just put you away for whenever I need to throw up on cue." The male player dry-heaved before closing his inventory, and the detailed graphic of it, away. For a bit of contrast, he decided to check back for the girl who had just recently visited his little fishing spot; She was much more pleasing to the eye than he had originally grasped from his first look at her; and her outfit... well... let's just say it could attract a lot of unwanted attention from those who were naturally drawn to a female.

(May she find solitude when she so she seeks it...) This quick thought was his riddled way of saying "Hubba Hubba!" (She probably isn't even as hot as I am making her out to be, she's too far away for me to be making assumptions like that. Besides, I don't need to be straying at all, especially when she could be a total *censor* and I wouldn't even know it. You're shallow, Zeke, but you know what you shouldn't do.) He slapped the side of his cranium with his hand, punishing himself until pain would motivate the distractions out of the inside of his mind. Right before he could finish the complete experience of brainwashing himself, the line tugged once more. It was fish city tonight and he would pay for not keeping an eye on the pole. With it pulling further away each and every second that passed, his fishing rod leaped from off of his lap and into the water. Without thinking much about it, he followed after it by diving into the pond water, knowing full well that getting another pole would cost him Col that he couldn't afford in his current state of poverty. 

(OOC: I hope I didn't keep you up with replying!)

Edited August 6, 2015 by Zeke

[Lucia 0]

The female raised a brow as she peered at the male, from the corners of her eyes. She was minding her own business, she'd like to say, desperate to find something nice to feed herself. If only he could walk away for the moment, so she could stick her hand into the pond and wrestle for a fish. But hey, it was SOMETHING at least. Lucia knew that this embarrassment would go away after a while. People started somewhere, and people had their own special kind of stupid. In her case, greediness and temptation to buy things left and right. hat was the only reason why she wound up like this. Quite frankly, the more she brought it up, the worse it made herself feel. Perhaps it was just time to do instead of think. Averting her gaze, Lucia gently dipped her hand into the water, debating on whether or not she should stick her whole arm in the rather frigid water. She bailed out, and was about to get up so she could move along. However, she witnessed some 'entertaining' moments unfold before her.

The same man was in the process of discomfort due to her presence, and she knew that very well. So, there was a wide distance between the two. It looked like he was trying to compose himself, but she could be getting it wrong. He'd slap the side of his head, shaking all his negative emotions off as he glanced her way. At first, Lucia looked a bit concerned, despite that it wasn't her business at all. She'd glance at him from afar, arms crossed. Yeah, she should just mind her business and walk off. So she did, retracing her steps until she was a good distance behind him, resorting to the berry bush in the end. Or so she had thought. A splash of water had hit Lucia lightly, causing her to look back.

She'd raise a brow as the man dived into the water, frantically reaching out for his fishing pole. She didn't question him, she just found it a bit odd how he'd be willing to dive for just a fishing rod. Okay, it's probably her fault she was there. But still, Lucia wanted to stick around a bit longer to see how things would turn out, inviting herself into the situation as she sat down beside the edge of the water. With a slightly entertained expression, she'd prop her chin over her palms. Probably he'd need help getting back up with a heavy lure in his hand.

As entertaining as the situation was, Lucia needed to get it together and stop fooling around. Her first encounter was good enough to learn a few tips and tricks, albeit it was humiliating. Now she took the liberty of watching a man dive for his fishing supplies. Honestly, what are responsibilities? What are goals? The world may never know. Currently, the woman didn't like what Aincrad was doing to her.

Edited August 7, 2015 by Lucia

[Zeke 0]

Having trouble seeing the rod that he had lost because of the murky pond water blocking his vision, Zeke stayed submerged longer than expected. For at least a minute and a half he felt decent enough with the amount of oxygen he was getting, but after that he could start to feel his lungs collapse under the pain and pressure he put on them. His first search ended with no success, but Zeke dove down under the surface of the water once more to try again, taking only a brief moment to capture some air with his gasps before disappearing again. He hadn't noticed the girl had changed her location upon resurfacing the second time due to all of the water running down into his eyes, but he really did want to check as quickly as possible to avoid being attacked by her, if she so happened to be that kind of player. 

(I've gotta hurry.) He told himself in motivation over and over again, his paranoia getting the best of him like it always had done before. Deep down inside he was a worrier and a chicken, but you wouldn't be able to tell from how fearless he could be in the face something he hated; still, Zeke walked towards the female with his entire body dripping wet with dirty water. His hair was completely flattened against the curvature of his cranium, and all of his clothes, (including the coat), were hanging off of him like they had been made out of lead. The weight of his drenched clothing and the water pulling down on the length of his legs that were still under the water, the man walked towards the stranger like a zombie, but did not know this fact. In his left hand was the fishing pole he had went after, and the other hand was currently in use as something to move the hair out of his eyes. Though the soggy hair was determined to stay in the way of his eyesight, Zeke found success in just rubbing the bangs back over the top of his head, temporarily holding them against the other wet hairs that laid on his head. 

By the time he had finally came up upon the girl, the water in his eyes was finally starting to drain out enough to where he could make out blurry objects in his surroundings; this did not stop him from being unable to perceive that the female was sitting right where we he was heading. Now that he was upon her, the strange man threw the fishing pole into the woman's lap / against her legs, then fell down next to her before positioning himself into a crossed-leg sit. As a result of how wet he truly was, he had likely gotten her soaked from his obliviousness. Now that he was sitting down, searching for the ribbon he had in his hair was the first thing on his mind. By touching the ribbon with his hand, the male was able to sigh in relief to know that he had not lost it under the water.

"My eyes are taking forever to adjust. I kind of hope I didn't scare her off..." Zeke's words came without hesitation, the ignorance of his vulnerability was not something he had contemplated before correcting his vision. Continuing on with his role of mistakenly providing a show for the girl next to him, he unequipped his coat to instantly dry it in the same way he was told by a friend. Once it was equipped again, Zeke took it off immediately to use it as a towel for wiping off the rest of his body. He would have unequipped everything, but he feared the person right next to him would still be around to see him practically strip naked. So instead, he sat there wiping his face off with as much force as someone who would need to scrub permanent marker off of their skin. Now that he could see clearly, he only noticed his visitor after he had unequipped the coat again.

Despite the fact that all of his clothes were still drenched, his face was now completely dry, and his hair was just dry enough to stay out of his face. With the coat no longer on him, he would also now be able dry faster with the help of the wind. Pushing all of this information aside, however, every priority he had to face before seeking out the other person was now dealt with, and he could do just as he was wanting. Humorously, it took only one second and a slight turn of his head to now realize what had happened during his moment of being visually handicapped.

"Oh, crap! I am so-so sorry that I did that!" He got up onto his right knee quickly, keeping the other leg's knee in the air by the corresponding foot being placed firmly against the ground. He chose this positioning of his body because of the grass he tried to keep himself sturdy against was slippery and wet from his previous antics; the slope of the land the two players sat on didn't make for a very good platform to stand upon, either.

"I hope you understand, I didn't notice you there with all of the water in my eyes. Had I known..." Zeke didn't finish the rest of the sentence he cut off and instead applied himself towards focusing on taking the pole out of her lap. To get it out of the way, he unequipped the tool from his inventory, which in return had made him realize something else... he could have just returned it to his inventory the whole time. Being worried and regretful to such high extents because of two different reasons at the same time was an exceptionally confusing feeling for him. In the end, deciding to favor his attention towards the poor victim he had soaked, Zeke equipped his coat once more before taking it off and offering it to her by hand, hoping she would take the offering as a sign of no hard feelings.

 

 

Edited August 8, 2015 by Zeke