[PP-F1] In the Shadow of the Clock Tower (Helios)

[Vayrin 0]

Vayrin sat at the edge of the enormous clock tower situated in the center plaza. She had been swishing through her menu, trying to recall the day's events. For the most part today she had done nothing but explore the towns on the unlocked floors. She was not a high enough level to venture out on her own out of the safe zones yet, but she still tried to familiarize herself with the other towns. Since SAO started she had spent the majority of her time in the Town of Beginnings. Wandering the streets, looking at the shops. Some of which she couldn't tell if they were run by NPC's or not. She knew the town pretty well by now, so she tried to increase her knowledge of SAO by exploring the other floors. Vayrin gave a quick sigh as she closed her menu and leaned against the enormous tower, gazing at the Black Iron Palace. Her eyes slowly closed as the sun's glare slowly fainted behind the palace.

[Helios 0]

For some people, it was hard to believe that Helios had never once entered the Black Iron Palace. In fact, he couldn't believe it himself. He entered the castle-like structure with his arms crossed, looking at all of the incredible details. The young, black-haired man didn't spend a lot of time on this floor when he first entered the game. He left for the second floor almost right away, after doing a little bit of grinding of course. Every once in a while, the boy ended up finding himself back where he started, and he could never understand his reason for it. Glancing to the left, he noticed a violet-haired woman, who looked about his age, leaning against a large tower. She didn't look like she had advanced into the MMO much, so Helios decided to start a conversation with her. The noirette didn't really have anyone to talk to at the moment, since all of his friends were busy doing other things, so it couldn't hurt to meet new people. He strolled up to the girl and smiled lightly. "Hey, are you new around here?" he asked stupidly. Of course she wasn't new. No new players had come in after the game began. There was a good chance nobody else wanted to enter the game after Kayaba made his announcement.

Helios honestly didn't have much to say to the young lady. "I'm Helios, what's your name?" he could already tell this would turn out to be one of those awkward conversations he attempted to never have. Great job, Helios. the boy thought, hiding a sigh. Sticking a hand in the pocket of his pants, he looked off to the side, hoping he didn't completely make a fool of himself. Curiously, he examined the girl's appearance. Violet hair, eyes, and clothes. Great colour choice, if you asked Helios. As for the tall, black-haired man, he wore a grey school-like uniform lined with green around the edges. He wore grey shoes, as close as he could possibly get to his Vans in the real world, and carried his sheathed scimitar at his side.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Helios

[Vayrin 0]

Vayrin lay against the clock tower with her eyes closed for a few moments, collecting her thoughts. Suddenly an unfamiliar voice broke through them and she opened her eyes to find the source of the commotion. She looked above her to see a tall player looking at her. She quickly realized the boy was speaking to her. Her eyebrow swiveled up at his first comment. Was she new around here? She stayed silent as she observed him. He clearly figured out that was a stupid question based on the look his face had right after he asked it. He was taller than her, even as she was sitting down she could tell. He had green eyes and wore green clothing. She had never seen him before, though. She quickly shook the thought as he asked her name. 

"Oh..Uhh..." The one thing she didn't expect was a random player to start talking to her, so she wasn't really prepared for this kind of situation.

"Vayrin." She said, not knowing where to go from there.

 

[Helios 0]

(Sorry for short post, I'm tired haha)

Vayrin. The boy found it to be an interesting name. Helios let out a sigh. "Sorry, I guess this is kind of awkward for both of us. I was just bored and I noticed you over here." he laughed slightly. He had never been good at conversing with people. And being alone for most of his time in the game didn't help with that. Quickly, he tried thinking of something interesting to talk about. "So, have you heard about the Floor 12 boss fight that's being organized?" he questioned. Part of him wanted to sit down next to the girl, but the other part forced him not to. He didn't want to seem like a creep or anything. The young man waited for the young, violet haired lady to tell him to go away or something along those lines. Whatever, he thought, I can always go to the fifth floor and check on how my weapon's coming if she doesn't want me here.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Helios

[Vayrin 0]

He was strange. To her at least. She couldn't tell what his motive was for coming over here, although he said he was bored it didn't seem like that. He quickly realized the awkward situation he had created and tried to fix it. He asked about the 12th-floor boss plan.

"Yeah, I heard about it."  She said, looking down. Soon the 13th floor would be unlocked, and Vayrin knew after that they would head for the 14th. She needed to catch up so she could help. That was her goal. She looked back up at Helios. "Why the sudden interest?" He was a curious fella to her. She didn't know what his intention was.

[Helios 0]

"Honestly, it was the first thing that came to mind. I needed a conversation starter and apparently they don't sell them in shops." he smirked, hoping he didn't sound like a complete idiot. He sounded like his ninth grade math teacher, always making stupid jokes. The girl looked quite confused about his actions. A complete stranger walks up to the young woman and randomly starts talking to her. Well, you only live once, right? Might as well be social. he thought as he looked at the ground beneath him. It wasn't normal for Helios to be this awkward, even around people he didn't know. He'd kind of gotten used to to conversing with other players, because of the fact that he was in multiple guilds after joining the death game. It was obvious to Helios that his new acquaintance wasn't sure if she wanted to talk to him, since he probably came off as strange or weird. "Sorry, I'll leave you be. I'm not completely sure what i'm doing here." he reached back down to his pocket and put his hand in, beginning to turn away and shooting her a peace sign.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Helios

[Vayrin 0]

This kid was acting rather peculiar to say the least. He apparently figured out what Vayrin was thinking and responded coming clean, acknowledging what he said was kinda weird for a conversation starter. He then continued to awkwardly stand there, not knowing what to say next. Then he just said he was going to leave. At this Vayrin couldn't help but smile and giggle a little. By this point she assumed he had been trying to flirt with her or something but he had no idea what he was doing. 

"That was not the smoothest entrance, no."  Vayrin said again smiling at Helios. Helios made her laugh, and that did not happen to often for a girl such as Vayrin, so she decided to give him a second chance at...Whatever it was he was trying to do. If he even knew. 

[Helios 0]

He smiled, turning around to look at the girl. "What do you mean? I think it was pretty smooth." he chuckled. It was the first time Helios had ever made a girl laugh, from what he could remember, and he wasn't even trying to be funny. It was possible he was just a natural at being a comedian. Anyway, he still wasn't sure why he had begun to talk to the young lady, but she was quite pretty so that was most likely the reason. Feeling a lot more confident in himself, the young man asked politely if he could sit down next to the girl. He hadn't noticed until now, but he was extremely tired. The boy's attempt to hold in a yawn was successful, to his surprise. Waiting for a reply, he crossed his arms around his chest with a slight smile across his face.

[Vayrin 0]

Helios responded saying he thought it was a pretty good entrance, to this Vayrin assumed he was being sarcastic. After her last comment, the awkwardness of the conversation seemed to have dissipated a little. She decided it was fine to have some company, so she didn't try and ward Helios off by being rude or serious.

"Oh? Uhh. Sure." Vayrin said, as a reply to Helios's question. She moved over a bit, even though there was plenty space across the base of the large clock tower.

Edited November 1, 2015 by Vayrin

[Helios 0]

Helios sat down carefully beside the girl. It felt like it had been years since the last time he sat down and talked to someone, which made the boy a bit uncomfortable. Besides that, Vayrin seemed friendly enough, although Helios had a feeling he was making her... nervous, possibly? He was, of course, almost a complete stranger. They knew nothing about each other, besides their names, so obviously they wouldn't act like they were best friends or anything. The black haired boy understood that. He wasn't stupid and he definitely wouldn't do anything that would annoy the girl. Well, not anything that he hadn't already done. 

[Vayrin 0]

As Helios sat down, she observed him more closely. He had a different color choice then most people would have chosen. Green and Black. Nothing she had ever seen in SAO so far. Although she couldn't pretend it was unusual when she looked at her own clothes. She always had liked violet more then any other color, and she guessed it would come to no one's surprise when they had looked at her. She shook her thoughts though after Helios placed himself beside her. She attempted to use one of the original conversation starters so things wouldn't feel awkward again. "So.. Uh.. What brings you here? She asked a little nervously. She rarely had conversations with anyone.

[Helios 0]

The dark haired player turned his head towards the woman as he was asked a question. "Change of scenery, I suppose." he replied, his presence clearly making her uncomfortable. If she didn't want me here, she'd tell me. Helios thought, looking down at his feet. "How about you?" he asked, running his hand through his black hair. He was hopeful that he could lighten the mood a bit by talking to her. "Floor 1 isn't my favorite place to be. It's too loud, in my opinion. But, since I haven't been here in a while, I thought I'd come down" he told the woman, who probably didn't care whatsoever. He knew she was just asking the first thing that came to mind, but he didn't really care. He was happy to just talk to somebody, since he hadn't done so in quite some time.

[Vayrin 0]

"Oh?" Vayrin replied, half expecting this response. It would have probably been her's as well on a regular basis. She was strong enough to grind on some of the higher floors, but it was nice to relax every once and a while. She never really cared for the noise that the large town brought. In fact, she rarely noticed it now that she had been here often. She then tried to think up a response. She looked out at the large plaza, as the mass numbers of NPC's and Players mingled. "I don't really know... I guess same as you. Just came to relax after my grinding on the 2nd floor..." She said, not breaking eye contact with the plaza.

[Helios 0]

The young man nodded, his eyes still locked on the ground beneath his feet. Helios wasn't completely sure why the conversation was so awkward for him. After he arrived in SAO, he was able to speak to people with ease. But this conversation was different. Could it just be that the girl was making it awkward for him, or was he making it awkward for himself. Either way, he was trying his best not to say something stupid. "So," he began, "Do you sit over here often?" he questioned, unable to think of a better thing to say. His hands entered his pockets as he straightened out his legs, looking straight forward, not at anything in particular.

[Vayrin 0]

Judging by the boy's posture and lack of speech, Vayrin could easily tell he was still uncomfortable. She couldn't really blame him, as she wasn't the most open or talkative person. Although his presence didn't really feel as awkward as she'd expect. Due to her lack of social interactions with others, she was slightly surprised why she didn't feel the same way he obviously did.

"No. Not in particular." She told him. "I guess I was just running a few errands down here, and took a moment to relax." She said staring out in the same direction Helios was. As Vayrin began thinking of it, her expression had changed to slight anger as she furrowed her brow. "I really should be grinding more...I need to get stronger so I can eventually join the front lines. Actually do something useful..." She said again, now looking down at her feet, similar to how Helios did moments before.

[Helios 0]

"Frontlines, hey? I assume there is a particular guild you want to join then, am I right?" he asked the violet haired girl. The girl looked a bit angry with herself, and Helios could only assume it was because she was a low level. He turned his head to the girl and smiled a bit. "You shouldn't beat yourself up about not being able to assist the frontliners. They're doing fine clearing floors at the moment anyway, so all we can do right now is work up to their level." he told her, feeling more comfortable around the young woman.

Helios could tell what kind of person she was easily. The boy had a met another player like her a while back. The girl was most likely upset that she couldn't help clear the game with them and she'd probably force herself to grind so she'd become stronger. The conversation he had started with her was probably the reason she wasn't grinding at that very moment. The young man could tell she didn't want to be in the game, which was good.

[Vayrin 0]

Vayrin stayed quiet as the boy naturally assumed she was going for a guild. That was not her plan though, she tried to stay away from guilds. Even though they were helpful. She didn't correct him though, she just stayed silent. She looked back up after his second remark, and all in all it was true, she couldn't argue with him on that. "Yeah, I guess your right... I just want to help is all..." She replied. The one thing though that made Vayrin angry was not being able to help when people needed it. For SAO anyways. She stayed silent for another moment before looking back at Helios. "Your goal the same as mine?" She asked.

[Helios 0]

Helios ignored the fact that he wasn't given an answer. The question wasn't that important anyway. He looked up for a moment, thinking about what she said. "I know how you feel, I want to help as well." he told the violet haired woman, a slight smile on his face. They shared a similar goal, although it seemed to him like they were very different people. "Yeah, I suppose our goals are the same." he replied, turning his head to the girl. "If you ever need some help leveling, you can ask me. I don't mind." Helios looked at his own stats. I'm actually weaker than she is. I have a long way to go before I'm strong enough to become a frontliner. I should pick up some armor and a new weapon at some point in time. the young man thought.

[Vayrin 0]

"Glad I'm not the only one..." She said again, staring out at the plaza. Not that she hadn't expected that response from him. By the looks of him, he seemed around the same level she was. Either that or he was just another high leveled who were just wearing their casual outfit. She seemed to have a habit of running into those kind of people recently so honestly nothing would surprise her by this point. But they way he spoke suggested he was in the same boat as her. She on the other hand had been wearing her full build. She always did. Vayrin had rarely taken off her cloak, or her chest piece unless she was sleeping. Although it seemed many others liked to wear their casual, non combat outfits when they weren't outside of the safe zone. She looked back at Helios when he offered his help to her. She gave off a small smile. "Well. It seems like you'd need mine just as much as I'd need yours." She said jokingly, suggesting they were evenly skilled based on her observations.

[Helios 0]

Helios didn't feel the need to reply to her comment. It'd be a safe bet to say half of the players stuck in Sword Art Online have the same goal. he thought, scratching his neck. For the most part, it was probably true. There were a lot of people who became trapped in Aincrad, and out of all of them there were a good amount of people fighting. Of course, there were also a lot who couldn't work up the courage to do so, which Helios understood. Some players were afraid of what there was behind the safezones. It was understandable, seeing that most didn't want to die. Helios chuckled. "You're right, I would." he smiled back. The young man relaxed his head against the wall after looking away from the woman. "I suppose I should be heading out now. I should start grinding now, since I haven't done any today." he said, attempting to find the strength to pick himself up from his comfy spot next to the young woman and letting out a slight laugh. "Sorry if I bothered you by staying."