Halcyon's Journal

[Halcyon 0]

Halcyon
Level 1 (0/1 SP to Level 2)

Solo Player

HP: 20 | EN: 2 | DMG: 4 | ACC: 0 | EVA: 0 | MIT: 0

R1 Two Handed Assault Spear

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Basic Information

Real Name: Anne Marie Lacount
Age: 15
Birth Date: September 25, 2007
Height: 4'11"

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About
History

Anne Marie Lacount was never truly satisfied with her life. Despite everything she's achieved, she thought her life to be broken, flawed, and an endless cycle of problem after problem. She was born on September 25, 2007 as an only child to a rich family who had enough money to provide for her needs and wants. Her parents were both overachievers: her father a CEO, and her mother a famous writer. The same thing also applies to the parents of her parents. So it was only natural that they would have extremely high expectations for her. They wanted her to be her generation's academic prodigy. They wanted her to be the role model of any and every classroom and workplace she'd ever enter in terms of productivity, work habits, and good attitude. They wanted her to grow up, enter any field of work (fortunately, they weren't limiting her), and excel at it. If she failed, they weren't her family and she wasn't their daughter. Such was the dilemma of a girl born into a family whose members are blinded by their high achievements.

She spent her all five of her elementary school years inside her family's mansion, learning every possible skill she would need in middle school. From reading and writing, basic to middle-school level science and mathematics, and American history to etiquette and how to conduct a conversation properly, public speaking, and violin classes. She followed a strict schedule every day: wake up early, homeschooling for more than half a day, accomplish the assignments given to her (which were always due the next day, no matter how hard they were), and go to sleep as soon as she finished all her tasks. And meals somewhere in between. Everyday, she was reminded of what her parents wanted her to be and felt the pressure that came with it. And everyday, she saw kids outside her house playing and laughing without care in the world and often thought to herself that she didn't want this life. She wanted to play outside like the normal kids did. However, that wasn't possible and thinking any more of it would only result to distraction. So she did the only thing she could. She squashed her dreams of a free and careless future and continued studying.

Middle school came, and she was enrolled into a prestigious all-girls school just a few blocks from her family's mansion. It also marked the end of her extremely difficult and stressful homeschooling. She was a year younger than most students, but she was more than prepared for the subjects as her teachers had given her middle school topics in her last two "elementary years". It started off well. She wandered the hallways with a confident stride and a cheerful and approachable expression on her face, following her teachers' instructions perfectly. She raised her hand at every opportunity in class. She got perfect scores at everything and outran everyone in P.E. Her teachers were impressed with her and some of her classmates even playfully labeled her as a teacher's pet. She met some nice people whom she could call her friends. She even got a lot of free time, which used to be a rare thing in her elementary years. She spent most of that free time advance learning topics at her own pace though. And that was also the time she discovered and began playing games. Games were like her escape when things got a bit too stressful and tiring for her. She thought of them to be a good way to relax, while developing her quick-thinking skills at the same time.

Then the first year ended and the final report cards were presented, and the students who originally held the top positions were surprised to see that the new girl who was a year younger than they had knocked them all off their pedestals. It gave most of them an opportunity to hate her. So the second year of her middle school began. It started with small things: a forceful push in the hallways that one of her classmates didn't apologize for, a girl tripping her in P.E. and claiming that it was a complete accident, and her expensive pens going missing only for her to witness a batchmate throwing it in the trash and claiming that she thought there wasn't any ink anymore so she threw it. It continued, slowly increasing in frequency and intensity. She tried reporting it to her parents after her textbooks disappeared and hate messages showed up on her locker, but all they did was buy her new books and tell her that she was "a big girl now, you could handle it yourself."

So she forced herself to pretend everything was okay. Her love for games quickly turned into an addiction as she started playing games as a form of stress relief more and more. Her grades remained the same, only her advance studying was affected. She walked the hallways with a smile and confidence and purpose in her stride and still raised her hand at every possible opportunity in class. She leaned on her faithful friends for support. But it didn't stop. Eventually, rumors spread. Rumors that said bad things about her, and the details she definitely didn't want to remember. None of them were true. But everyone believed them, even her friends whom she thought were loyal. She received those looks whenever she passed by people in the hallway, her groupmates were unwilling to work with her in projects and frequently demanded to to take her out of the group since she was apparently being bossy, and notes that definitely weren't love letters were stuck to her locker. Her parents didn't help, they just reminded her of their expectations which just added more and more to the stress she was feeling. She continued (she thought she could continue living on like that) until one day, she just broke. 

She stopped playing the model student who never stopped smiling even as everything around her crumbled. She openly glared back at students in the hallways. She volunteered to split off a group herself and said that her groupmates wouldn't do the work anyway. She grew withdrawn and stopped trusting everyone. She played games instead of responding to her classmates' messages. And one day, she went in front of the head of discipline and reported the rumors and the ones behind it. The teacher refused to do so without proof from her other classmates, but she had snapped: "I'm your best student. I score a perfect in discipline whenever I receive my report card. I win all your competitions. Do you think I would come here and ruin everything now just to bring a few classmates down?" So after a day of deciding and investigating, the ones who spread the rumors were all suspended for a few weeks after the teachers themselves stepped in and reported the whispers passed between students during study period. A few weeks after, she approached all the people who had just came back to school and smiled for the first time in months. It wasn't a good smile. "I won in the end, didn't I?"

Her new attitude continued for years and didn't stop. The other students stopped bullying her after seeing the consequences. They knew that the teachers liked her too much, and she and her grades were untouchable. Some of them, the ones who didn't really despise her from the start even tried to make friends with her. But damage cannot be easily undone and she continued living by herself, for herself. She won an international violin competition, an essay-writing contest within her region, an inter-school track and field tournament, and etc. She thought her new strategy was pretty effective. But the pressure from her parent's expectations remained.

On the day the servers opened in SAO, she had lied down in bed to contemplate her life decisions with the NerveGear in her right hand. She knew she was doing the wrong thing by constantly bringing others down. She knew she should really put some trust in the people who showed that they cared. But she was too far gone and she didn't want to go back. But what was the root of the problem? She would think. Her parents' expectations, of course. If they didn't expect so damn much, she wouldn't have been in this situation. She wouldn't have to feel like she should work herself to death every night just to win a competition and see them acknowledge her as a daughter just for a few moments. Then she looked at the NerveGear and decided to relieve some stress for now. So she put it on and closed her eyes.

Personality
Virtues

Independent - It's what being all by herself for years without having anyone to rely on did for her. She knows how to stand on her own two feet, and is used to solving her problems without asking for any help from others. She prefers to do things by herself and therefore would result in her progressing much faster (in terms of level) than the other players who would prefer working in teams.

Diligent - Even though she's trapped in a game, she still keeps her old work/study habits. Each day, she sets a goal (any goal related to getting stronger in-game and/or gaining more knowledge on a specific topic) and makes a great effort to accomplish it. She's not the type to procrastinate and only rests when she really thinks she needs it, so most of the time, she would reach her daily goal. The same applies for her monthly, yearly, and long-term goals.

Educated - The other players would get that feeling from her if they converse with her long enough. It's in the way she stands, the complicated words she uses and how she pronounces them, the way she strings her sentences together, and even the way she fights. She received a high-quality education before she began playing SAO and she makes sure that it doesn't go to waste even with her current situation, whether it be in decision making or just holding a conversation. In a way, it makes the other players respect her more.

Level-headed - She's not the type to lose her head in a tight situation. She has the ability to stay calm and composed in an event that would normally make other players panic and lose all their sense of rationality. She's not the type who's choices are quickly influenced by emotions, either. In addition to that, she knows how to make quick and reasonable decisions in the midst of a battle, which could range from the next Sword Art she would use, whether she should retreat or keep fighting, and etc.

Gamer - Knowledge and experience is power. She has a few years worth of experience in playing games and can even call herself quite skilled at it. She isn't the best gamer out there, but she knows as much as the experienced players do. She knows the use of the basic in-game stats and which one she should focus on; she knows about crafting and trading among players, and already has a strategy she could use once she starts crafting and selling items; she knows when she needs the help of other players and when she could do everything solo; and etc.

Neutral

Competitive - She likes being the number one. She always wants to be better than the others. It's both a good and a bad trait for her. For the 'good' part, her competitiveness inspires her to work hard every day which helps her progress more. For the 'bad' part, her competitiveness can sometimes be a bit too much. It leads to her overworking herself just to beat a certain person at something, not playing fair, and even fostering feelings of jealousy for the ones who are better than her.

Perfectionist - For her, everything has to be perfect. She has an all-or-nothing approach when it comes to her work. Either she makes something up to her standards, or she does nothing at all. Therefore, most of the work she actually finishes are of a very high standard. Anything short of it is discarded/recycled and done all over again until she's satisfied with it. Her perfectionism also causes her to be a bit too hard on herself. She's quick to lose self-confidence if she does anything that's less than perfect, and constantly mulls over her previous mistakes.

Anti-social - She got used to being alone. Not very surprising, since she didn't have much people to lean on during her darkest years. She doesn't like being around people, unless the situation calls for it. She goes out of her way to avoid them, even the friendly ones (because who can tell if their niceties are genuine?); and prefers to spend her free time by herself. She sees idle talk as a complete waste of energy and would rarely engage in one, even with a teammate.

Flaws

Untrustworthy - Promises are made to be broken. Secrets are supposed to be told, in exchange for a price. She doesn't care much about reputation or how much trust other players put in her, unless having a bad reputation and being untrustworthy would get her killed. It's all meaningless to her, unless a miracle happens and she starts valuing some other person's trust in her.

Callous - She has an almost-cruel and insensitive disregard for other people's welfare. She wouldn't help a person in need unless they offer something good in exchange: she believes that they could do it by themselves if they at least try. She's the type who wouldn't feel anything even if a player dies right in front of her eyes. She would have made her best efforts to protect them, and they would have simply been too weak to protect themselves.

Vindictive - Like when she satisfied her desire for revenge by reporting her bullies to the teachers, therefore failing them in 'Discipline' (she actually did more than that, but it would take too long to tell all those stories). All who have wronged her will suffer, and she wouldn't hesitate to bring judgment down upon them. She wouldn't flinch away from hurting another who had hurt her first, like any sane person would. It's a somewhat useful trait of hers, but it holds huge consequences pertaining to sanity.

Prideful - While quick to lose self-confidence whenever she fails, she still holds herself way above others. She made a golden pedestal for herself when she began beating her enemies at their own game, and she now refuses to come down. She thinks she's always better than the rest, even if she's at her worst. So she constantly puts others down, acts cold and high-and-mighty with other people, and makes big shows of her abilities.

Distrustful - When someone gets bullied by more than half of the students in their grade level and offered no help for a time, they eventually end up losing faith in people. She's extremely slow to trust other players, and she makes no effort to hide it. Oftentimes, she would only approach players who are of a lower level than her (less capable of killing her, since they're intimidated by her higher level) and even then, she would be openly hostile towards them and make it a point that she, in no way, trusts them to watch her back and one wrong move would be their death.

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Story Thus Far

Arc 1

Spoiler

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Edited April 12, 2017 by Halcyon

[Halcyon 0]

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"Won't you remember me?"

Skills
Available SP: 0
Used SP: 5
Skill Slots: 1 | 2

Utility and Mobility
»

Combat
»

Weapon
» Rank 1 Two-Handed Assault Spear (0/8 to Rank 2)

Armor
»

Extra
»

Skill Mods

Profession

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Inventory

Equipped:
» Starter Two-Handed Assault Spear [vanity]
» Starter Cloth Armor [vanity]

Edited June 26, 2017 by Halcyon

[Aoda 0]

Approved!