[OP-F1] First Steps [COMPLETE!]

[Shirosu 0]

"Oh!" Shirosu looked over to Mack's slowly retreating back side, Bear bobbing on his shoulder and started to follow him her steps light as she followed the man to his shop. She was seriously considering the joining of his guild, she was very weak and alone right now, players like that on top of not knowing what she was doing didn't lead to a good ending, a guild would support her with some form a mentor ship at least. She guesses that Koumori was it? and Mack had some bad blood, wasn't her place but she had enjoyed Macks quick hostile retort, people who think fast on their feet were ok in her books. She glanced back curious to see which of the guys would follow.

[Paglikha 0]

It was quite peculiar for Kaluluwa to see a group of veteran players group up against a newer one. He was just planning on watching behind this wall for a while until he saw that the new player that was in the middle, was a girl. No doubt, that might've been a factor. A few of them had gotten up, they were way out of earshot but their verbal expressions said almost everything. One of them was scorning the other and that exact same person started leading the girl to someplace else. The girl was still continually looking back, probably just to see if anyone else was going to follow them. Of course, to keep out of trouble, he was just going to skirt around them and keep an eye out. He was even weaker than the girl and the veterans were so much stronger than the both of them combined and knew for a fact that it would only take a single hit. Just what is going on? He put his hands in his pockets and came out from the building, just keeping them in his peripheral vision.

[Vasth 0]

Vasth followed the others behind them,he followed the 4 of them but he felt someone watching them from behind.He waved it off for now,until they got to Macks shop,

"Mack is it normal for people you know to pop out of no where?" Vasth had cheeky grin

"Your quite popular ain't you." 

[Mack 0]

"Not always, but often," the blacksmith said in a low tone to reply to Vasth's question. "I'm also not sure if Abalasster is a 'someone I know' or a 'minion' since he technically works for me. Speaking of which..." Mack trailed off from his conversation with Vasth and turned to Abalasster. "You need to make a decision on light or heavy armor so I know if I need to make you something or not," the blonde man continued as they reached the location of the extremely humble looking smithy that was located inside a tent at the very end of the Market District. Pulling aside the entrance flap of the tent, he ushered everyone inside except for Koumori. Mister Crotch Shot could open his own tent flap.

Moving behind the two tables that were heavily laden with heavy armor, shields, and various weapons, Mack began sifting through the items until he came up with the knife he was looking for. "This is Eagle's Claw, it will give you attack bonuses for both damage and accuracy. Should make killing the boars easier. Also, if you're interested in joining a Guild," Mack said, passing the long knife to Shirosu. The weapon was a bit on the lengthy side, for a knife, but as far as Sword Art Online was concerned it was a knife. "As I've said, you're welcome to join the Blades as a recruit. The same goes for Vasth." Mack cycled through the items in his inventory and activated the Guild Cloak of the Crimson Blades. It looked, in some ways, similar to Kyaba's garments when he'd made the announcement on the day that Sword Art Online had launched, something that had been done by design. The Crimson Hooded Cloak shimmered into being complete with the full ornamentation for all of the guild awards that Mack, as Grandmaster, had earned so far.

"If you're interested I'll run you both through the promotion process to move from recruit to soldier myself, either together or separately. If you're not, no hard feelings," the smith continued, throwing back the hood on his cloak to reveal his face once more.

Edited August 23, 2015 by Mack

[Shirosu 0]

Shirosu entered the tent with a look of fascination at all the weapons and armor, some of the designs were beautiful others brute and obviously heavy. Walking over to the table Mack placed a long knife in her hand and told her it was called "Eagle's Claw"  he also explained its enhancements and Shirosu stared in awe at even its handle. The knife was very well crafted and its was beautify etched with pattern resembling something kinda Celtic. Holding it gingerly in her hands she asked sheepishly, "Are you sure your willing to supply me with such an nice weapon?" She was stunned that he would give a newbie something that was probably worth quite a lot but decided it best to accept the kindness, she was still pretty helpless after all. 

When he asked once more about joining his guild Shirosu took a deep breath and said," I will accept your offer to join the Blades, it seems like a good choice on many different levels for me" She didn't like tying herself to people but it felt like the right thing to do, after all she all ready owed him for the weapon and it seemed like a good survival strategy, safety in numbers. When he donned the large flowing cloak she vaugley noticed the resemblance to Kyaba's GM cloak but ignored that thought and took a good look at the garments of the guild. 

[Koumori 0]

Mack made sure not to let me into the tent, closing the tarp on my face. I grunted as I lifted it up so that I could enter after everyone else. The place seemed to be about the same as the last time I saw it. Mack was in the process of giving away another weapon, no surprise there, but then he asked the others there if they wanted to join his guild. Obviously the same invitation wasn't extended to me, but I wouldn't have joined anyway. He materialized some sort of cloak, one that I assumed signified that he was the guild master, that looked suspiciously like the one worn by Kayaba. That reminded me of something I had heard not to long ago. "Thanks for the invite, kayaba's gift to the world" That was what Xion had called Mack before he challenged him to the duel. I didn't think Mack actually thought that way, but this clock was more than just odd. I think my call out might have been unsettling to some of the others though. "I promise I'm only a jerk to him, guys. Don't worry about me" I said as a scratched my head. 

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa was still following the players when they entered the market district. Personally, he didn't have any of the game's currency (Col) so he never really entered this area. Most of it was NPC-ran anyways with a few exceptions that showed the more pricey items. That was when the group he was following entered the tent, all except one. For some reason he was left out, probably by the leader of the group. Maybe to keep guard?

Kaluluwa's suspicions however were quickly dismissed as the last person entered the tent, not even looking around to make sure he wasn't followed. Kaluluwa decided to go up to the tent and then open up the flap. To his surprise, he saw the original leader wearing a cloak. Not only that, but a cloak very similar to the one Kayaba wore during the death game announcement. Clearing his voice, he started speaking. "Please don't dell me that there are cults in this game... Eef there are, I don't understand why someone would do that." Then he sighed. He forgot that he set his NerveGear to the universal translator to tagalog, so he was probably sounding a bit weird for the others.

((First time my character actually talked, just wanted to make it apparent that he had an accent/has a different native language.))

[Shirosu 0]

Shirosu glanced over in Koumori and rolled her eyes at the internal squabble they seemed to have, but when she had looked over she saw that someone had reopened the tent flap she glanced at the figure staring intently to its occupants. "Oh um hello" She said to the new comer, melting on the inside she muttered under her breath really quietly," Are there no girls in this game?" 

[Vasth 0]

Vasth chunked as he hear Shirosu's comment,since he was near her.

Vasth bended over and looked down towards so she only could heard him.

"Well, if your looking for a female friend in this game,I will introduced you to my girlfriend, So you would be the only female around here."  Vasth smiled.

"Beside there's a lot of females around here,I have met a lot...." Vasth sighed and patted the back of his head.

 

 

[Teion 0]

Teion wandered aimlessly through a marketplace that was much too large with much too many people around. Her blue eyes trailed along the shops to either side as she began daydreaming of the things she'd like to buy. Getting out of these beginner's clothes was a must. While being able to wield a huge battleaxe was beyond cool, her basic weapon left much for her to desire. Anytime an item of interest caught her eye, however, she forced herself onward and reminded herself of the empty coin purse on her belt. Some time had passed since the game creator's announcement--enough time for Teion to calm herself and think rationally again--but she still hadn't mustered the courage to leave the city and start training. Window shopping was her only option at this point. 'Maybe I'll find something that will motivate me to go start making money...'

Holding back a sigh, Teion decided to narrow her search and start with establishing a goal. "A shiny new weapon is perfect. I'll find something good, and..." The girl was talking to herself under her breath as she started looking for a blacksmith's shop. By now she wasn't sure how long she'd been wandering around this market and found herself reaching the end of the district. Giving the area a quick look-around, she spotted a tent a bit farther down and got a bit closer to inspect it. Her curiosity got the better of her and she pulled back one of the tent flaps, peeking her head around to get a look at the shop inside. A wave of regret washed over her the moment she took in the sight before her. This shop inside a tent at the edge of the market--while it was a blacksmith she had been looking for--was  practically hosting a small party. She froze for a bit, not prepared to speak to anyone other than possibly a busy smith in the middle of their work, and settled with observing the shop and its occupants until she could decide whether to continue with her original plan or head back and start over.

Edited August 28, 2015 by Teion

[Mack 0]

"Yes, Shirosu, I'm sure. Take it, we can't have guild members running around with basic weapons, it would give the appearance that the guild is poorly equipped. More importantly, it would make it look like the Blades are only using their lower-level members as farmers for a few high level players, and that's not what the Crimson Blades are about," Mack said, giving the silver-haired woman a piercing stare with his storm grey eyes to make sure she understood that if she joined the Blades she would be expected to work and to contribute actively to the guild rather than using another Guild member as a proxy. "Meet me in the eastern gate of the City, tomorrow morning at 0800. We'll begin your training then and officially enroll you as a Guild Recruit."

No sooner had Mack finished speaking than Koumori lifted the tent flap entrance to the forge and entered. And promptly shot off his mouth. "Did someone hear a Chihuahua," the burly blacksmith asked, staring directly over Koumori's head as he spoke, which was easy enough to do given the height difference between the blonde axe-man and Koumori. "I could have sworn I heard one of those nasty annoying little rat dogs." Right on Koumori's heels another player entered the shop, which was rapidly becoming a bit crowded. 

"There aren't any cults in the game that I know of," Mack replied, crossing his massive arms over his chest as he answered the question. "But, there are a fair number of guilds, some with wildly different aims and goals from one another. If you're planning on completing the game and getting to the front lines, you're going to need a Guild. As the Grandmaster of the Crimson Blades I can say that we'd be more than willing to accept you into our Guild as a Recruit, how high you go from there depends entirely upon your own merit," Mack said to the newcomer who spoke with a bit of an accent, though not so thick an accent that he wasn't easily understandable. "Regardless, if you come back in a few days I can probably have a dagger on hand to replace your beginner's weapon there, all you have to do is trade me your old weapon when I have the new knife ready." As Mack was explaining all of that to Paglikkha, and offering him a place in the Blades as well, the tent flap opened again to admit a dark-haired woman with the look of an adult, rather than a child, about her. Of course, since the hulking smith towered over everyone else in the tent, and since he was facing the entrance, she didn't have much of a chance of slipping in unnoticed.

"Welcome to the Wandering Forge, take a look around and here," Mack said, greeting the newcomer and then stooping to dig around under one of the silver maple display tables for something. A few seconds later he emerged with Midnight Eclipse, tossing the weapon in the direction of the woman as he had spotted her two-handed axe. After all, it was the same weapon that he had received when he had just been starting out in Sword Art Online. "Trade me that piece of crap and take Midnight Eclipse, it's got a plus one damage modifier and it causes bleed damage on a critical hit. It's also just gathering dust in here. You're the only other two-handed axe wielder I've ever met. If you see anything else you like, or if you're interested in joining the Crimson Blades guild, let me know."

Chewie, also spotting the new arrival, knew just what to do. The new woman wouldn't know that he'd already been given a snack. That meant that more snack's might be obtained with the proper application of big sad chocolate brown eyes and hungry wuffling noises. Everybody knew that. With a bellowing war cry, the thirty pound grizzly bear cub, barreled through the tent, dodging in and out of people's legs. Reaching Teion's side, he hopped up on his hind legs and began to bat at her leg with one paw, making grunting noises and opening and shutting his mouth so that she would know he needed food badly because he was starving, like always. If only people understood that, as a growing grizzly bear, he needed at least a round three dozen meals a day.

[Carambit 0]

Carambit lifted the flap of the tent and peered inside. He was surprised to find a large group of players gathered inside the tent. "Oh hey, they ended up coming back to the shop after all!" he thought to himself. With a big, overextended wave he bellowed out over the store "Hey guys! Long time, no see!" and began to approach the group. There was someone new here now; a girl around Carambit's age. She had flowing purple hair and big blue eyes. As he approached her he noticed she was sorting out a business transaction with Mack. "Ah, you finally found someone to take the eclipse off your hands! Funny that there aren't many two handed axe users wandering around..." he trailed off, his gaze magnetically returning to the young woman. "Where are my manners?" he smiled a warm and welcoming smile as he did with people he was just newly meeting "I'm Carambit. Pleasure to meet you, miss...?" he waited in response for her name.

[Abalasster 0]

We made our way to Mack's shop. This walk was familiar enough already. We made it inside and arguments were still erupting between Koumori and Mack. "Those whom don't learn from the past are doomed to repeat it you too" I said smiling. While their arguing was pointless, it still made glorious comic relief. One who was neither irritated nor made happy by the fusses that these two got in was one who wasn't alive. Mack began showing Shirosu a weapon that he thought was ideal. I looked around the tent to see that we must have picked up some  new members. Either I was so oblivious when we were walking or they had come into the shop not longer after we had. I positioned myself away from most people, but kept myself just in ear range of Koumori, just in case he was to make another comment about Mack...

[Koumori 0]

"Bite me" I said in response to Mack calling me a Chihuahua. I wasn't actually insulted because, well, Mack's insults didn't usually get to me, but I was annoyed by his mere presence as usual. Nothing could change that. As we all settled in there, more people seemed to be coming out of the woodworks (or tent fabric, we were in a tent after all) Almost in cue another female player came inside just as Shirosu commented about the lack of girls. And I wasn't surprised to find that Mack was already attempting to give her stuff for free. Some people never change. "Mack, serious question here, but is it just me or does it seem like all new female players somehow find there way to this place? Do you have some kind of secret, like cologne or something?" As I said that I realized the girls might have been offended by that and quickly moved to correct that. I turned around to the new player and offered my hand. "Sorry I didn't mean to be rude. I'm Komouri" I said with a smile. Hopefully my tendency to speak too quickly didn't tick her off. She seemed older than me. But before the heat of the moment died down I noticed something else: what were we even doing there? Things had gotten out of hand with all of these people and it seemed like we were just there to be there at that point. "Uhh guys, what exactly are we all doing again?" I spoke again as I scratched my head. Maybe the new girls could direct us back on course. 

[Paglikha 0]

Weirdly enough, Kaluluwa felt as if he was being ignored by the majority of the group as they all focused on the girl that just entered right after him, at least, all but the girl named Shirosu and Mack. He simply sighed, knowing that it was bound to be like this if there was a girl no matter where he went. It was just human nature, you put a bunch of testosterone-driven males in a confined area and you put only a few females, well Kaluluwa passed by enough ranches and farms in the Philippines to know.

The shopowner had just finished arguing with the person in the front and had already started advertising his wares and his guild to Kaluluwa and Teion. “I’ll consider it”, he started speaking, “of course, it all depends on what I find out…” The idea of Juhmer being out there by himself concerned him. “By any chance, would any of you guys happen to know my friend? His real name was Juhmer, don’t know about his username though. Last time I saw him was…” he trailed off, partially embarrassed, and just looked up attempting a smile that he just couldn’t make. Even in here, I can’t show anything how I truly feel. And I was told that ANYTHING was possible in here.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Paglikha
Weird font

[Shirosu 0]

Starting to get a little annoyed at all the crowding Shirosu spoke up," Ok! Thanks everyone for all the advice and help, now can i make a small recommendation?"  Glancing around and hearing no complaints she continued," How about we all go some place where we can socialize, have guild talk, and beat each other up with more room ok? Are there any places like that around here, a restaurant, or perhaps a pub?"  The shop, witch had been crowded to start with, just kept collecting more people and to be honest, as much as she appreciated all the goodwill, she needed just little space to be able to talk to everyone separately and not in a huge mumbo jumbo of people. She glanced over a the burly blonde dude hoping he was ok with this, she wasn't sure how he felt about his shop being so busy and not all of them looking for weapons, some just to be annoying. 

[Vasth 0]

Vasth shrugged as he heard Shirosu,As more people came it became more crowded. "I agree with Shirosu, we should go somewhere with more room." Vasth looked over the crowded of people. "Mack,I need to give you something.Meet me outside!" Vasth called out over the crowd to Mack. vasth wondered if he heard him. Vasth walked out the shop and leaned on a tree as he waited for the other to come out.

[Teion 0]

When Teion nervously entered the shop, she immediately heard a rumbling welcome, and her eyes darted to the large man several other people were gathered around. With his words, she assumed him to be the owner. As he rummaged around amongst his wares and pulled out an impressive-looking axe, she stared for a moment before he tossed it in her direction. Luckily, she reacted quickly enough to catch it by the handle without fumbling too much or embarrassing herself. ”I-I” Teion began stammering in response to his offer before clearing her throat and starting over, ”Are you sure? That’s incredibly generous of you…” She didn’t particularly want to deny the trade, and she wasn’t sure if he would pay her any mind to, with the way she saw him interacting with his other...customers? Friends? She wasn’t sure how everyone here were related or knew each other. Regardless, Teion figured she should take what she could get, so she pulled the basic starting weapon from behind her and handed it over, giving a nod of thanks for the exchange.

She suddenly felt and small but definitely noticeable force pushing again her left leg and looked down, a bit startled. Her eyes widened a bit at the site of the bear cub, completely unsure how to react. She took a step back, not positive who the animal belonged to, although she realized that it was friendly and not actually attacking her. She ended up just staring back at the baby grizzly awkwardly, hesitant to touch it. Another voice brought her back to the people around her, and Teion realized someone was speaking to her. She turned her head as a blue-eyed man introduced himself to her. When he asked for her name, she stopped a moment. ”Teion.” She spoke her name with a small bow. She felt silly for her lackluster interactions, but the overwhelming feeling of all the hustle and bustle in the small shop distracted her from that. Another person spoke in her direction, and she sort of caught what the brown-haired boy said before he gave his name. The color of his eyes caught her attention for a moment before she broke her gaze away and preoccupied herself with studying her new weapon. She kept it in her hands, as it provided a nice distraction from whatever pitiful attempt at small talk she would likely come up with otherwise. She heard a female voice mention moving to a more open area, followed by a couple of other voices chiming in agreement. Teion mentally agreed as well, but still awkward and starting to get a little embarrassed, stayed anchored to the ground inside the shop, wondering if it was really okay for her to accept this weapon.

Edited September 1, 2015 by Teion

[Mack 0]

OOC: Koumori, couldn't resist... if you want me to edit, let me know :)

ID: 29787
BD: 8 (7+1)
Koumori: 27/27 (In Safe Zone, outside of duel, takes NO DAMAGE... the attack only has knockback, per canon)
Mack: 53/53

"Making space is easy," Mack said in a genial tone, unslinging Guillotine from his back and making his way through the crowded shop towards the entrance where Koumori was standing. Quick as a flash the heavy head of the axe swung through the air in an uppercutting motion and connected with Koumori right under the chin. Since they were in a safezone, and not in a duel, the attack did absolutely no damage whatsoever to the brown-haired snot. However, it still generated enough knockback to launch Koumori back out of the shop through the tent flap. "Duly bitten," the massive blacksmith called after the kid through the shop's entrance before turning back to address the rest of the crowd with a smug and satisfied look on his face.

"There, more space, and yes I'm sure," Mack said, accepting the basic beginner's axe from Teion in exchange for Midnight Eclipse. "It's been sitting here for weeks collecting dust because there aren't many two-handed axe players running around Aincrad at the moment. So, you may as well take it and put it to good use for its intended purpose," the hulking blonde man rumbled, watching through his grey eyes as Teion examined the weapon before turning his attention back to Paglikkha.

"The invitation to join the Blades is an open one and, I am sorry, but I'm not familiar with any Juhmer," Mack said, answering the questions that had been posed, at least so far as he was able to do so. "Now then, the shop really is much too small for this type of gathering. I agree with the new recruit, Shirosu, that we should head to the pub and there's a decent one not too far from the shop." Moving to the tent flap that served as an entrance and exit from the Wandering Forge, allowing everyone to exit before he closed the tent flap on Chewie  to keep the bear cub from wandering off.

As the group began to gather together Mack wandered a short distance away from the rest of them with Vasth, holding Guillotine easily in his hands and shooting Koumori a look that very clearly said that if the brown-haired warrior had enjoyed his first flight on Wandering Forge Airlines that Mack would be happy to arrange another. "What is it, Vasth," the blonde man asked, planting the butt cap of his axe on the cobble stone street and leaning on the carbon steel head of the weapon.

[Abalasster 0]

People began talking about how we didn't have enough space for our little conversation. Mack, taking this to the absolute extreme, did something a bit rash. I stand watching as my friend Koumori is physically evicted from the tent by Mack's axe. I sigh and walk out of the tent after him. One to see if he was mentally ok and two, to prevent another fight. "Before you retort,  just keep in mind that we are in the presence of others. I know that you won the first fight, but i really don't think that it is worth it". I look a back to see people begin to walk out of the tent. "Let's head to the restaurant that isn't to far from here. The one that we went to on our first adventure, Mack and Koumori'. Hopefully they could make it through without arguing...