[PP-F3]Beware of Giants Bearing Gifts

[Piera 0]

Mack's words left her stomach still in a knot, feeling for some reason as if she had made a much larger mistake, or perhaps had made him upset for some reason. Or it might have been the smell of the cooking meat and veggies coming from the fire. Listening to his words of caution, the brunette nodded, drawing the cloak around her a little tighter as she felt a chill over her skin that likely had nothing to do with the snow that was beginning to slowly fall. She wondered idly if he knew that she hadn't ever fought anything above the third floor... "I'll try and be more careful from now on." The bespectacled woman promised as she watched him extricate the pan from the fire, revealing the sizzling pieces of meat among browned onions and greens.

 

Raising her eyebrows as he slid the pan along the snow towards her, Piera glanced back up at him as he declared it breakfast and was about to ask if he was going to eat with her when he stood and walked off. Frowning slightly, the alchemist scooted closer to the pan to avoid touching it and leaned down as a fork materialized in her hand before she dug in. The meat was surprisingly tender and didn't taste quite like any meat she had ever had but chalked it up to being SAO specific perhaps. The onions and green peppers however were the best. Especially after the all meat dinner they had the previous night. She savored the juicy veggies but refrained from eating her fill, leaving roughly half of everything until she pulled away and opened her menu and took out her water canteen, taking several long droughts that left her feeling more refreshed.

 

"You were just being modest last night weren't you? You're a good cook after all." She stated, looking over at the blonde as he paced around the edge of the clearing. "You should come eat before it gets cold." Piera berated lightly before getting to her feet and using the end of her skirt to hold the handle of the hot iron pan, causing some of her leg to be exposed but it was a better alternative than possibly burning her hand or worse the cloak that he was lending her.

 

Then a ping sounded, alerting her that she had received a message and she swiped her menu open with her free hand to read it and smiled slightly, giving a slight nod before walking over to Mack. "It seems my guild is interested in the alliance you offer. They accept. Though I wonder if you've thought of any terms. Here, eat." The bespectacled young woman encouraged, attempting to hand off the pan of food to him, holding it in such a way so he could quickly replace her hand with his on the handle.

[Mack 0]

"Lucky guess," Mack called as he continued to circle the perimeter of the clearing, almost like a caged animal, as he searched for any other computer generated beasties that might have been in desperate need of being reduced to pixelated nothingness. Finding nothing he turned to face the gradually lightening blackness of the forest, putting his back to Piera, as his lip curled back in disgust. So, the game engine thought it was funny to have mobs pick on the smaller and weaker players, did it? Mack wondered how amusing Kayaba would find it when he buried the blade of Guillotine in the man's throat.

Hearing the sound of soft footsteps crunching through the snow behind him, and the sound of Piera's voice encouraging him to eat, the blonde man turned to face her. Though his grey eyes lingered on the exposed flesh of her leg for, perhaps, a few seconds longer than they should have it would not have been readily apparent to Piera that he had stared as the sun was rising at his back after he turned and his face was mostly obscured by the crimson hood of his guild cloak, casting much of his chiseled features in shadow.

"Thanks," he rumbled in a low tone, accepting the skillet and its contents from Piera and beginning to rapidly wolf down what was left of the food. He looked up from the nearly empty skillet a few moments later when a soft ding filled the clearing and Piera announced that The Velvet Room was open to the idea of an alliance. "Good, I propose that you and your Guild Leader meet with Xion and myself in a few days time, once we've completed what we're out here to do." Finishing with the skillet and its contents, Mack returned the cooking item to his inventory. "I propose your shop as the location of the meeting."

That business concluded, Mack stalked back across the clearing and put out the camp fire. It was a remarkably simple thing to do in the world of Sword Art Online, he only had to activate it like any other item and then click the appropriate menu option to put it out. "We've still got a long walk ahead of us," he said, turning to face Piera again as a soft dusting of the falling snow began to accumulate on the crimson guild cloak. "We may as well get moving, if we want to make it back to the Snowfrost portal before dark."

[Piera 0]

Piera's mouth sloped in a mildly amused lopsided smile as Mack accepted the skillet with a thanks before inhaling the food on it. She blamed his military training. She remembered her dad never being able to savor a meal and guessed that military was the same no matter the country. Watching him eat with the sun at his back, casting foreboding shadows over his face made him look oddly menacing...and hilarious considering the speed at which he was eating. 

 

After she had relayed the alliance acceptance and the blonde man in turn proposed a meeting of guild leaders and second in command's, the alchemist's mouth opened to protest but no words came out before she eventually just closed her mouth. She wrestled with how to word it without sounding horribly unprofessional but in the end decided to just spit it out. "We don't actually have a leader. Officially that is. We rule by the council which is made up of our founding members so no one person has any more power than the others. But I guess Lowenthal could be considered the leader as he was the one that came up with the idea and started it all. I'll send him a message asking to make sure it's alright." She pulled up her menu to do just that and nodded absently as he suggested that they meet at her shop.

 

"Sure, that sound's fi-wait, no." The brunette's hands lowered from the menu as she looked down, her body's posture awkward and somewhat tense as she explained, "We...actually can't meet at my shop, sorry." She wondered if he would ask why. She wouldn't lie or refuse him the answer if he did, she was just worried about his reaction once he found out. Then upon thinking on that, she realized that it would be far better for him to know now rather than upon first meeting when they were supposedly there to talk about an alliance. "We can't because...my shop is in a safe zone." The alchemist glanced up at Mack briefly to gauge his reaction of the implied meaning behind her statement before quickly diverting her attention to her menu to type up the message to Lowenthal about said meeting and assumed leadership of the guild.

 

After that was sent off, she saw her companion putting out the fire and walked over to the bedroll he had lent her and rolled it up before handing it to him. "Thank you for the lend. It was appreciated." Her speech was somewhat formal, a left over from the tenseness she was feeling. Nodding as he remarked about the long walk, Piera made sure she had her weapon and anything else she might have left behind before approaching Mack again. "Yes. Let's get going then."

[Mack 0]

"We use the council model for leading the Blades as well," Mack rumbled in reply to Piera's comment about her guild not having a single leader. "But, we still have a Grandmaster and a Seneschal to serve in the true leadership positions. When major decisions need to be made, they're put to a council vote. We typically have a six player council, including myself and the Seneschal, Xion. In the event of a tie, my vote is the deciding vote," Mack said simply, accepting the bedroll back from Piera before storing it in his inventory and listening to what it was that she had to say concerning the unacceptability of using her shop as a meeting place. "I assumed you would prefer your own to sharing one with me."

 

"Why can't we meet at your sho... oh," the blonde man rumbled, his grey eyes narrowing to stormy slits for a moment as he processed the information. From the sound of things Lowenthal was an orange player. "I'm sure he had a valid reason for his action," the blacksmith said after a few seconds, letting the matter drop for the time being and deciding to ask Lowenthal about it personally when they met to discuss the guild alliance. No doubt it would be a topic that would need to be approached very carefully in order to avoid giving offense to a player that could, quite possibly, kill both Mack and Xion before they could take him down, if the meeting were to come to blows. "In that case, we'll meet just outside the gate of the main town on the eighth floor," the blonde man said after a moment's thought. That would have Piera up high enough in the tower that Lowenthal would also have to have his attention divided to protect his guildmate from the mobs on that floor, if it came down to that.

 

ID: 29831
BD: 9 (8+1)
MD: 1

Mack: 53/53 - Hate: 1
Piera: 29/29

Frost Troll: 22/30 (-8 Dam.) - Target: Mack

 

For the next several minutes, they proceeded through the forest in the direction of the cave in general silence as the pair of warriors moved down the snowy path through what was steadily becoming a full blown blizzard. Mack reflected as the wind speed steadily increased that it was a fortunate thing that the primary color of the Crimson Blades was a deep red since that would make it easy for Piera to keep track of him in the snowy conditions. The only problem with the change in weather conditions was that it caused visibility to drop to practically nothing and the whistling sound of the wind as it passed through the trees meant it would also be hard to hear anything that was coming towards them. 

 

So, really, Mack could hardly be blamed for not spotting the Frost Troll before it exploded out of the trees to his right and took a wild haymaker style swing at him. With reflexes though that would have matched those of any wild cat, the blonde axe man flicked out the iron butt cap of Guillotine and caught the troll in the chest with it, keeping the monster's feet from reaching the ground as it swung. Dropping to one knee to get all his power under him, Mack exploded upward and launched the troll. Admittedly, the beast didn't exactly go flying into the air, but it was still sufficient enough that the blonde warrior had enough time to reverse his grip on his bearded axe and drive the head deep into the beast's chest with a tomahawking strike that also drove the troll into the ground on the flat of its back in a shower of freshly fallen powdery snow.

[Piera 0]

Piera's head tilted as she listened to Mack explain his guild's hierarchy, nodding in interest occasionally. It seemed like a good setup. Fair, but organized. And they had an official leader that acted as figurehead more than dictator. "That seems really fair and organized. Did you set it all up yourself?" Then she grimaced at her own question. Stupid, of course he did, he made the guild didn't he? But she was distracted from her blunder at his statement which caused her face to go blank with confusion. "Eh? Share one...with you? What do you mean?"

As the blonde's understanding of her statement, the alchemist nodded as he said that he was sure that Lowenthal had a good reason. Her nod was tentative and she didn't meet the warrior's eyes, obviously uncomfortable with the subject as she stared at her feet as they walked. Grateful for the change in topic, she glanced sidelong at Mack's side as he proposed an alternative meeting place. The corners of her mouth tugged downward slightly at the floor's high number but she nodded nonetheless. "That shouldn't be a problem." She'd just have to stay close to Lowenthal when they traveled there. "I'll speak to him about it after we get back." She would have sent another message sooner, but she hadn't gotten a reply back from the first one and Mack had said that the meeting wouldn't take place for another few days still, whenever was convenient so it could wait for a bit.

Their journey was silent for a while as they continued to travel closer to the cave through the snowy forest. She had been hoping that the weather would remain the same as yesterday, but a blizzard picked up, forcing her to raise the hood and facemask of the borrowed white cloak and pulling it closer around her body as she walked a bit closer to her companion. Their walk was blissfully uneventful until she saw abrupt movement from her right, Mack flicking out his axe's pole to catch a frost troll that had been rushing towards him in the chest, forcing him to the ground. The brunette stumbled back in surprise, fumbling with cold fingers to get her lance in hands in a battle ready position but failed miserably. Not only did she trip on the long hem of the cloak while trying to back up, she fell back on her butt in a puff of snow and dropped her spear.

ID: 29857
BD: 1+1Acc=2

Mack: 53/53 - Hate: 1
Piera: 29/29

Frost Troll: 22/30 - Target: Mack

Edited September 1, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

ID: 29860
BD: 7 (6+1)
MD: 6

Mack: 51/53 - Hate: 2 - (-2 Dam, Mit.)
Piera: 29/29

Frost Troll: 12/30 (-8 Dam., -2 Thorns) - Target: Mack

 

As Mack wrenched the carbon steel bladed head of Guillotine free from the chest of yet another frost troll that had decided he and Piera looked tasty, he spared a glance backward over his shoulder. Sure enough, Piera was on her rear in the snow again, the tip of her spear just barely sticking out of a snow bank. She really was just a little bit adorkably bad when it came to combat. Not that it mattered a ton if she helped with the frost troll or not. After all, it was only a frost troll. As he turned his full attention back on the troll the creature swung with a right cross that caught Mack in the jaw and snapped his head around. Growling, the blonde blacksmith shifted his right hand forward on the axe and retaliated with a punch of his own, his hand protected by Guillotine's bearded blade, which connected with the troll's midriff landing another solid hit.

 

ID: 29861
MD: 10

Mack: 51/53 - Hate: 2 - (-2 Dam, Mit. 2)
Piera: 26/29 (-3 Dam., Mit. 1)

Frost Troll: 12/30 (-8 Dam., -2 Thorns) - Target: Mack

Salamander: 15/15 - Target: Piera

 

While the combat was going on between Mack and the Frost Troll the serpentine head of a lizard like creature stuck its head out of a tiny knot in the tree that Piera had come to rest against. It would have been hard to miss the creature, given that it was the same color as Mack's guild cloak. Turning beady black eyes on the cause of the noise that had disturbed the creature from its hibernation, the salamander hissed and darted its forked tongue out from between its lips. It was disturbed, it was unhappy, it was awake. Without any kind of warning, the creature lobbed a fireball from its mouth in the direction of Piera, because she was closest to its tree. The blast struck the spearwoman full in the chest, the ambient heat melting what, as it turned out, were several feet worth of snow in a drift that had gathered against the tree. In an instant the drift was turned to water, Piera was soaked through and through, and she disappeared from sight in a massive cloud of steam.

[Piera 0]

Piera was using a snowy tree that she had fell back against as support to stand, grabbing her Bleeding Lance and was just about to run over to try and take a stab at the frost troll. And then she took a fireball to the face. The attack was so out of the blue and unexpected, not only because of its fiery nature but also because she hadn't thought there had been any other mobs nearby. It winded her and before she could even react other than gasp in surprise, she was suddenly soaked due to the now melted snow and surrounded by steam. She couldn't see anything but was now surrounded by water, the snow bank had hid a ditch that was now filled with lukewarm melted snow, aka: water. Floundering in near panic, the brunette thought briefly that she was going to drown until she realized that her feet had simply slipped and that she was perfectly capable of standing.

Doing so roughly, Piera burst from the water, completely soaked and the hood and face mask of the white cloak having been pulled down from the water, her brown hair dark with moisture as it stuck roughly to her face and neck, droplets covering her glasses as she attempted to glare out of them to find whatever had done this to her. Then she caught sight of a red cursor close to her, a lizard in the tree she had been leaning against. "AUGH!" She cried out in wordlessly fury, using her lance to point at it menacingly before attempting to climb out of the small hot spring that she was in. However this was easier said than done as while it wasn't very deep, it was roughly chest height, making it difficult for her to heave herself out of, especially weighed down by the cloak and her heavy armor underneath. The alchemist grunted in effort, wishing now that she had allotted more points to her strength stat as she scrambled at the snow to try and get traction to get out her situation.

ID: 29918
BD: 1+1Acc=2

Mack: 51/53 - Hate: 2
Piera: 26/29

Frost Troll: 12/30 - Target: Mack

Salamander: 15/15 - Target: Piera

{OOC: Two crit fails in a row. I deserve an award or something u.u;}

Edited September 2, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

OOC: I find this beyond amusing...

 

ID: 30120-21
BD: 11 (10+1)
MD: 1, 10

Mack: 51/53 - Hate: 4
Piera: 23/29 (-3 Dam., Mit. 1)

Frost Troll: 2/30 - Target: Mack (-10 Dam.)

Salamander: 15/15 - Target: Piera

 

"Enjoying your steam bath over there," Mack asked, raising his voice to make sure he could he heard over the sounds of the battle. Meanwhile, he heard a fair amount of splashing around and he could tell by the noises coming from Piera that she was less than pleased. However, between the blizzard conditions and the copious amounts of steam that were billowing up around Piera and her brand new pool. There was no time to spare to look around and see what was up with her, though. There was still a frost troll that needed to be dealt with. As it began to advance the troll slipped on a buried patch of ice and tumbled into the snow. With a bellow, Mack buried the bearded carbon steel head of Guillotine down on the frost troll, lodging it in the dead center of the creature's skull. Peering beadily at the troll's health bar, Mack realized it would die on its own without anymore help from him, so he turned to go and help Piera.

 

As it turned out, Salamanders weren't all that fond of having pointy objects shoved in their faces. Rearing back the little lizard belted out another fireball in the direction of Piera, which slammed into her chest. Then the tiny creature followed it up with another gout of flame that melted a fair bit of the snow in the tree and sent a mini waterfall cascading down on Piera's head.

[Piera 0]

{OOC: I hope the Random Number Gods curse you *__* }

 

ID: 30244
BD: 5+1Acc=6
DMG: 3

Mack: 51/53 - Hate: 4
Piera: 23/29

Frost Troll: 2/30 - Target: Mack

Salamander: 12/15 - Target: Piera

 

Piera heard Mack's infuriatingly rhetorical question and simply growled loudly in frustration. Between the blizzard and the steam surrounding her, the brunette couldn't see anything past the tree and even that was fuzzy. But going by Mack's health bar on her HUD, he was doing just fine and therefore could obviously be helping her instead. As she scrambled at the snow covered ground to somehow gain purchase enough to climb out of the newly made water hole, another fireball launched at her and the brunette gasped as she was pushed under the water again. Floundering for a moment as she regained orientation, the spearwoman burst from the water yet again with a gasp, only to immediately have water poured on her. Spluttering in indignation the bespectacled young woman grabbed her lance and began to swing wildly, barely able to see but somehow managed to clip the Salamander that had put her in this cursed situation.

Edited September 3, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

OOC: Can a player get hypothermia in SAO? I tend to assume no, but I don't honestly know.

 

ID: 30418
BD: 1
MD: 2
Mack: 51/53 
Piera: 23/29 - Hate: 1

Frost Troll: 0/30 - Target: Mack

Salamander: 12/15 - Target: Piera

 

With a strangled sort of grunting noise, the health points on the troll gave out as it succumbed to the bleed damage that Mack had inflicted upon it with Guillotine and dissolved into a shower of pixels. Then the blonde man took a swing at the salamander which panicked, lost its grip on the tree, and tumbled into the same water pool that Piera was still trying to get out of the pool that she had, unceremoniously, been dumped into by the salamander's fireballs. "Well, he's all yours now. Shouldn't be too hard for you to deal with a little lizard," Mack said conversationally, planting the haft of Guillotine in the snow and leaning on the top of the bladed head of the axe.

[Piera 0]

ID: 30464
BD: 9
DMG: 3+1Crit=4
Mack: 51/53 
Piera: 23/29 - Hate: 1

Salamander: 8/15 (Bleeding) - Target: Piera

 

Piera was wiping her wet bangs out of her eyes, trying to clear her vision and get a look at the infuriating reptile. Just as she thought that though, it came falling down right next to her, causing a splash to her face that undid her work to clear her vision. "Gah!" The brunette looked up when she heard Mack's voice and surmised that he had gotten rid of the frost troll. Frowning at his words, she growled in mild annoyance but couldn't find fault in his statement as she glared at the source of her misfortune. She raised her lance awkwardly above her head and stabbed downward at the salamander, causing it to shriek and squirm at the critical hit and its blood began to discolor the water as it splashed. "Eugh. You couldn't get me out of here first?!" She protested up at her companion.

Edited September 5, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

ID: 30513
BD: 4
MD: 3
Mack: 51/53 
Piera: 23/29 - Hate: 3

Frost Troll: 0/30

Salamander: 8/15 - Target: Piera

 

"I could," Mack allowed, peering through the steam at the soaked spearwoman as she flipped her bangs out of her eyes only to get splashed again by the salamander as it rocketed down into the water. "But, it must be nice there in your hot spring. Why not simply kill the salamander, put on a bathing suit and enjoy the gift the game has given you," the blonde warrior asked, still leaning with complete unconcern on the top of his axe blade. He had no doubt that Piera would be able to handle the salamander on her own without any interference from him. "Besides, the blizzard is picking up. So, if I pull you out of there you're going to get really cold, really fast."

[Piera 0]

ID: 330577
BD: 7+1Acc=8
DMG: 3+2Bleed=5
Mack: 51/53 
Piera: 23/29 - Hate: 4

Salamander: 3/15 - Target: Piera

 

Piera squinted up from her hole and could barely make out Mack's large form through the steam and snow, nevermind her wet and foggy glasses. His proposal almost sounded reasonable at first, but that only infuriated her all the more, especially the last part. But she had other things to worry about. With a somewhat hurried slash due to the awkwardness of being in water and other distractions, the brunette hit the floundering salamander and more blood began to permeate the water. "What?! Am I supposed to stay in here until it lets up? As nice as the water might feel, and while I do have a bathing suit, I think I'd rather freeze than stay in icky monster blood soup." Said monster finally managed to find the wall of the slope and was scrambling to try and find purchase to climb up it. "If it's so great down here, why don't ya join me, huh?" The brunette smiled a bit too sweetly up at where she thought Mack probably was standing.

Edited September 6, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

ID: 30621
LD: 14
Mack: 51/53
Piera: 23/29 - Hate: 4
Salamander: 3/15 - Target: Piera

"If you stay in there until the storm lets up you'll probably freeze solid in a block of ice," Mack said, considering all of the options for a second as Piera continued to flail. If he thought she was in any kind of real danger, either from the salamander or from drowning, then he would have reached in immediately, yanked her out of the pool, and dispatched the lizard with extreme prejudice. "As for joining you, I think your boyfriend might have something to say about that. Besides, I'm more of a cold weather person myself. The blizzard is preferable to the brand new and, probably very temporary, hot spring. Once she finished off the beastie Mack would haul her up out of the water and they'd make a hasty run for the cave entrance which was only, maybe, a quarter mile off in the distance now.

"I'll bet that the blood dissolves once you kill the salamander," Mack said helpfully.

[Piera 0]

ID: 30692
BD: 10
DMG: 3+2Crit+2Bleed=7
LD: 13
Mack: 51/53
Piera: 23/29
Salamander: 0/15

Piera grimaced as the image of a Piera popsicle flashed in her head and then Mack having to tote her around and use her frozen body as a club. Shaking her head to clear it of her daydream, the brunette looked up at the large form in the mist as he stated that Lee might having something to say about him joining her in what equated to a hot tub. The blush that rose to her cheeks had very little to do with the warmness of the water. She couldn't think of a response that didn't involve putting her foot in her mouth, so she kept quiet as she turned her attention back to the salamander that was still attempting to tread water and bleed out.

Glaring at the monster, she vented all of her emotions in one brutal stab that caused her weapon to enter the lizard on one side and exit the other before it shattered from the collective damage. Instantly a window popped up and she smiled in spite of the situation. "I leveled up!" She crowed happily. Just as Mack suggested, after only a moment after it died, the water began to slowly clear. "What do you know, you were right." She remarked before realizing that now they had a different situation.

".....I really don't want to get out. Can you get hypothermia in here?" She asked worriedly, referring to SAO. "You might be used to cold weather, but I'm from Southern California..." At this point she was muttering to herself, feeling a pit in her stomach as she tried to come to a decision before finally groaning and standing on her tip toes, holding out her lance in what she was pretty sure was Mack's general direction, intending for him to grab it and help pull her out of the hole. "Let's just get this over with."

Edited September 7, 2015 by Piera

[Mack 0]

Mack watched as Piera continued to flail about in the water, growing steadily more and more angry at her predicament. She was more than a little cute when she was angry. "I assumed that the digital blood would dissipate, after all its part of the salamander you just killed," Mack rumbled in response to Piera's comment about the water clearing in relatively short order after she had dispatched the salamander. "If you stay in there too long, though, you'll freeze solid." Mack continued in response to Piera's comment about not wanting to get out of the water. "I don't know if you can get hypothermia in SAO or not, but do you really want to chance it?"

When Piera extended her spear out of the water Mack sheathed his axe and then wrapped one hand around the spear shaft and jerked the weapon out of Piera's hands. Just as quickly his free hand latched on to both of her's and he hauled her bodily up and out of the pool and into his arms like a princess before replacing her weapon in her hands. "You'll freeze if I don't carry you, and there's really only one way to do this while still being able to collect the fire wood that we're going to need," Mack said, after a second's thought, cupping one of his arms beneath Piera's rump to serve as a modified seat as a hatchet appeared in his now free hand. "Your arms go around my neck, or at least one of them does." His instructions given, Mack began moving in the direction of the cave which wasn't too far off, slicing branches and boughs from trees as he moved and dropping them into Piera's lap.

After about a twenty minute further walk, during which the wind seemingly increased to gale force and the snow became nearly blinding all while Piera's wet clothing and armor steadily leeched into the front of his own gear, soaking the front of his shirt and pants largely due to the cape and cowl that Mack had lent Piera in the first place, both of which were hemorrhaging water at an impressive rate. Both of them were going to need a change of clothing and, somehow, Mack had his doubts that Piera had any. Stepping into the cave, with Piera still in his arms, Mack set about completing all tasks that needed doing.

"This is the cave entrance, so we're here but we need to deal with the new problem first," Mack rumbled, setting Piera down on the ground in the cave mouth and plucking all of the firewood out of her arms before moving a short distance away so he could set up the camp fire out of the howling presence of the wind that was whipping into the cave while still being close enough to the mouth of the cave for the smoke to easily escape. Dropping the firewood in a pile, Mack pulled up his inventory and quickly produced both of the sleeping bags from his inventory which he placed on the ground one on top of the other since they would need one to sit on and one to wrap up in. Next, he produced his beginner clothing, the only clothing item he had that was dry and dropped that down on top of the sleeping bags before returning to Piera again and lifting her up into his arms.

"Your lips are turning blue," he observed, moving her over near the where everything was set up, but making sure she didn't soak anything else. Mack continued, his survival training kicking in. "You'll warm up faster in completely dry clothes and you won't get the sleeping bags wet. Also, you'll want all your things to be warm and dry when you put them back on." As he was speaking Mack was careful to make sure his eyes were boring into Piera's so she understood the full meaning of all of her clothing. "I didn't expect to need extra clothing, all I've got is the one set and I need something warm as well since you've soaked me a bit. Take the shirt, leave the pants. You're so little it'll be like wearing a dress anyway. Now, go ahead and change, I won't look. I need to get the fire going anyway." With his instructions given, Mack turned his back on Piera and set about making the preparations for a roaring campfire. Once he had the fire good and blazing he shucked his own armor, set it around the fire to dry out and pulled on the beginning clothing pants he had before taking a seat on one of the sleeping bags while wrapping up in the other and pulling up his inventory to produce a bottle of brandy. The brandy wouldn't actually make them warmer, but it would make them feel warmer.

[Piera 0]

Piera sighed at Mack's query about her chancing getting hypothermia and replied grudgingly, "Nooo..." She let out a soft exclamation of surprise as her spear was jerked out of her hands and was about to joke that he didn't know his own strength when both her hands were clasped by only one of his, easily lifting her from her watery hole, though it didn't feel quite as easy to her. She was extremely weighted down by the weight of her drenched clothing, not to mention the heavy armor. But the blonde man didn't seem to have any problem with it and she had to wonder if he literally poured all of his points into his strength stat. That would certainly explain a lot. Then she realized he wasn't putting her back down as he held her against him with both of his arms....princess style. Her mouth opened to argue that she had legs meant for walking when he cut her off before she could start. Still she argued anyways, "I w-won't f-freeze." Her protest was pretty much nullified though with the chattering of her teeth as a heavy gust of snowy wind blew against the pair, causing her to involuntarily shrink inward closer to his body.

The spearwoman wiggled slightly at the change of position and tried to ignore what was acting as her new 'seat' as she clung to his shoulder to keep balance until he suggested where she should place her arms. "O-Oh." The entire situation was awkward, but suddenly she felt distinctly uncomfortable at the idea of hugging Mack, clinging to him... The brunette closed her eyes as forced her right arm around the back of his thick neck to keep balance before opening her eyes and realizing that this brought their faces a bit too close together and she attempted to lean back a bit to give him some personal space, her face flushed with help of the extreme cold. Though to be honest, she wasn't thinking of it much, at least not until she looked down at his chest and frowned deeply. "You're getting soaked..." She stated lamentably. "I'm sorry...stupid salamander. What kind of lizard is on a snowy floor. Stupid Kayaba." She began to mumble to herself a bit brokenly as she suppressed the shudders that were beginning to wrack her body as Mack walked on.

The bespectacled young woman tried to keep her free arm around the wood that the axe wielder collected along the way to keep it from falling from her lap. By the time they reached the cave mouth, Piera's eyes were closed against the harsh winds and they were both covered in snow, clinging to their hair and clothes. The white cloak that he had lent her was half frozen and she belatedly realized that she couldn't really feel her fingers. Feeling a shift in gravity, the alchemist's eyes fluttered open, snowflakes caught on her eyelashes as she peered at their surroundings and realized that Mack had found the cave and set her down inside of it before putting together the firewood. Involuntarily, she began hugging herself tightly as if to combat the shivers she was experiencing, though her lips and shoulders were quivering all the same.

She felt oddly disoriented and a bit sleepy but when she realized what was going on as Mack spoke she offered, "D-Do y-you need help-p?"  Her voice was soft in the cave, perhaps the wind drowned her out as she didn't get an answer, only him returning to pick her up, which she didn't bother protesting against this time, though she did blink blearily in surprise, her numb fingers touching her apparently blue lips. "Sh-Sh**, I g-guess you can g-get hyp-po-poth-th-.... you know." She gave up attempting to pronounce the words with her chattering teeth. Trying to focus on Mack's face as he tried to explain to her what would best help her, she nodded, not really understanding until he mentioned her taking his shirt. "O-OH. N-No. Got spare clothes. Sorta."

Watching the hulking man turn away, Piera did the same and unsteadily opened her menu on the second try before methodically unequipping everything and materializing it next to her, then equipping the only other clothing she had. His shirt probably would have covered more, but she felt bad enough that she'd gotten him wet in the first place, she couldn't in good conscience take his shirt from him too when she had perfectly good clothing to wear instead. She was just thankful that the bikini's bottom was in the form of a half skirt. She would have showed more in her underwear and she was glad that it hadn't come to that. Glancing behind her, the shivering brunette saw that Mack had changed into the pants he had mentioned, but his torso was left bare, the firelight letting her glimpse at a sliver of his musculature that wasn't hidden by the sleeping bag before she looked away. She felt a little better being out of the freezing wet clothes, but still very cold and worn.

Her cold shaky hand reached out to Mack as she handed him back his shirt. "Here." Seeing his own armor laid out by the fire, she tried to do the same, shaking out the cloak first and then her own clothing and armor before finally awkwardly kneeling on the ground by the fire, her arms folded over her chest. Piera felt distinctly uncomfortable with pretty much everything, but especially her current state of dress. It really shouldn't though, she reasoned with herself. She'd worn this very swimsuit in front of a handful of strangers at Lowenthal's birthday party. What was one more? And Mack wasn't a stranger really. Maybe that was the problem? The alchemist was staring deeply into the fire with her numb fingers outstretched to try and get warm, the cold wetness of her hair against her face and neck not particularly helping.

[Mack 0]

At the sound of Piera saying "here" Mack looked around and saw the brunette woman sitting in a bikini swimsuit on the cold stone floor of the cavern. Of all things, that would not help anything. Sighing, more in exasperation than anything else, the massive blonde man took the beginner shirt in his hands and rose from his spot on the sleeping back, crossing to Piera. "See, the thing of it is I wasn't actually giving you a choice in the matter," the blacksmith said in a low tone, crossing the cavern to where Piera was seated on the ground. He had his doubts that she was going to enjoy what was about to happen, but it was what needed to be done. So, she could just be angry, when it came right down to it.

"This is what needs doing, so it's not really an option for you," Mack rumbled, forcing the shirt on over Piera's head and not really caring that it pinned her arms to her side in the process. Once that was done he hauled her to her feet and tugged the shirt down so that it covered her as much as was possible, all things considered it did nearly reach her knees. Before she could flop back down on the cold ground, again, Mack had hefted the alchemist up in his arms and then seated himself on one of the sleeping bags before wrapping the second one around both of them. For her part, Piera was like an ice cube which wasn't a good sign, and Mack didn't seem to mind that she was a tiny breathing lump of ice since he preferred the cold anyway.

"Here," he rumbled, picking up the bottle of brandy from the ground in front of him. Gnawing the cork out of the bottle he spat it into the flames of the roaring fire then he placed the lip of the bottle to Piera's mouth. "This won't make you warmer, but it'll make you feel warmer. You should also rub your torso, the friction will help raise your core temperature and it will warm your hands. More to the point, if you don't do it then I will." It probably wasn't the best way to impress Piera, by making such threats but, again it needed doing and so it would be done one way or the other. Mack didn't know if the game would start slowly killing Piera or not if they didn't raise her body temperature and he wasn't all that keen to find out.

[Piera 0]

Piera blinked at the fire as she heard Mack's voice and tore her eyes away from the fire to look over at the hulking man as he stood. "Huh, ch-choice in what?" She asked absently, not understanding until the blonde shoved the soft t shirt onto her head and down her torso and somehiw managed to pull her to her feet effortlessly to pull it down even further over her thighs. "Th-there's a fire, I'm f-fine!" The brunette chattered. She was just about to at least snake her arms through the short sleeves and sit back down when she was being picked up yet again. "M-Mack, I'm not a b-baby, I-" But whatever she was about to argue next was as she shivered at the warmth that the blonde man, sleeping bag and fire provided her, her legs curling into her. Eyebrows raised however as a brandy bottle found its way to her lips. She pulled her head away with an instinctual wariness.  "You f-first." She seriously doubted that the axe wielder had any ill intent, but she was becoming painfully aware of her vulnerability currently. She was a young woman, in a state of undress, stranded alone with a man in the wilderness without her armor or weapon at the moment. Piera tried to make light of the situation, her purplish lips trembling in a smile, "If I d-didn't know better,  I'd say you were t-trying to take ad-dvantage of me." Though his threat caused her smile to waver and she stiffly attempted to do as he said under the cover of the overly huge t shirt. She wasn't able to rub very fast due to her joints being stiff with cold however.  

[Mack 0]

"Fine," Mack rumbled, taking the bottle in his hand. Raising it to his lips, he took a long pull from the bottle. "It's not drugged, that's not how I operate," the blonde man continued, holding the bottle to her lips to drink. "You're not going to drink enough of this to get drunk, it would take more than I'll let you drink. Now, drink," Mack continued, noting that Piera had begun to rub herself to warm up, which was a good sign. "I'm doing what needs to be done to warm you up, not what needs to be done to get into your pants. The fact is that we don't know if SAO can kill you with hypothermia or not, but the evidence seems to indicate the answer is yes. Therefore, you need to warm up and so you will," Mack said in a low tone, his eyes narrowing slightly at the insinuation that he had other plans.