[OP-F1] Trapped in 1s and 0s

[Ayumu 0]

When you're rife with devastation

There's a simple explanation

You're a toymaker's creation, trapped inside a crystal ball.

And whichever way he tilts it, know that we must be resilient.

We won't let them break our spirits

As we sing our silly song.

- Gypsy Bard

 

The plaza was mostly empty now. Most everyone had either gone to another part of the town, gone and joined a party, or went off to start clearing the floor. Ayumu couldn't make her legs move...her heart heavy and her head spinning. She hadn't wanted this, but of course, no one had. Shutting her eyes tight, she exhaled sharply, trying to release the tension. Then, with determination, she made her way out of the plaza. Ayumu didn't know what to expect next...was she going to join someone's party? Was she going to go solo? Was she going to go anywhere at all?

Look at me, I'm falling apart. She thought to herself. This is pathetic. I need to suck it up and just get out of this place! Outdoor Nationals is in a month!!!

Ayumu, or rather Tiffany, her name in real life, was a varsity athlete on her university's archery team. One of the biggest tournaments of the year, Outdoor Nationals, was just around the corner! Going to that tournament would be a way to finally make a name for herself. Archers from all over the nation were going to compete, even archers on the Olympic team. To get a gold medal and have all of the Olympians watch...

Its crazy...but I'm going to try. I have to try! I'm going to do my best to clear this game in a month. Of course...that's probably impossible though. Dang it! What do I do?

With a deep sigh, she exited the city and out into the grassy abyss of land, about to take on SAO.

Edited October 30, 2015 by Ayumu

[Greg Baxen 0]

(OOC: I'll be the first to join in.)

Greg had shown up in the fields around the Starting City. He wanted to grind on some low-levelled boars to gain some levels. He would also look for some materials, in case he wanted to barter with one of the many shopkeepers around Aincrad, which he would need to do soon to get a better blade than his current <Anneal Blade>. He had already used most of them bartering to get a <Coat of the Azure Wind>, which he was wearing right now, his casual clothes hidden beneath it. He'd already resolved to escape this virtual prison, so the logical thing to do would be to start levelling as fast as possible!

'I need to level up quickly. That way, i can reach the Front Lines, and start clearing floors, which will help with clearing the game and finally escaping this world!' he thought to himself as he was walking along, looking for boars to slay.

[Ayumu 0]

As she walked along, someone caught her eye. From the looks of it, he seemed to have more experience. Ayumu squinted, trying evaluate what kind of person he was, but he was too far away. With a sigh, she decided to approach him. She might as well...maybe he could tell her how to get to the next floor. Ayumu began walking towards him.

[Zelrius 0]

Zelrius stood in front of a rather high level cave, merely waiting for enemies to be baited out by him so that taking their Col and experience would be that much easier. His sword gleamed in the sunlight, the all white sword with the golden cross etched into it's center was the perfect representation of the Forsaken Crusader's beliefs, whom was the boss the golden haired boy had defeated to get a hold of this item. He sighed when nothing came forth after a bit. Still as boring as always. It was these thoughts that clouded the boy's mind for quite some time. Taking the Hydra helmet off his head and storing it in his inventory, the boy walked on, his Commandant's cloak with it's golden trimming blowing lightly in the wind. He took a second to stop and fix his black bowtie and straighten the white dress shirt under his similarly black and golden trimmed tuxedo. This was the boy's casual clothing and it is simply what he liked to wear. With a sigh, the Commandant continued thinking to himself silently. Takao needs to get his ass in gear with his planning so that we can get to the next boss fight. No one in Azure would have let it taken this long. Damned Solos... His thoughts were often profane as this, but his manner of speaking was not.

The latter point was proven when he came upon a seeming low-leveled girl. Though there was no way for him to know for sure her level, Zelrius only guessed everyone who wasn't him was a weakling. For a moment, he stood, only watching as she walked over to another seemingly low leveled player. Another sigh escaped his lips as he decided going to make fun of them would probably be more fun than standing around on the first Twelve floors not doing [censored] else. His arrogant and over-confident smile facade was put on his face as he approached the pair himself and spoke. "Greetings and Salutations, Sir and Lady. Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Zelrius, Commandant of the Azure Brigade, Champion of the Clash of Blades Tournament, Slayer of the Hydra, and the longest running Frontliner as of right now." His tone and speech pattern had matched that of Medieval aristocrats, or so he tried to mimic. 

[Ayumu 0]

Ayumu blinked in surprise, turning to the random player. She scanned him from head to toe, and while his greeting seemed normal enough, he seemed like a rather arrogant person. He was definitely a high leveled player as well. Even if he did turn out to be a jerk like she suspected, a lot could be learned from him, no doubt. Any help was needed if she was going to get out of here and back to normal life.

"Well...hey," she said awkwardly, giving him a slightly judgmental look, "That's...impressive. I'm Ayumu, and I guess I'm what you what call a noob, at least at this game anyways. Who is someone as great as yourself doing here on floor 1?" 

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a small sigh of relief as he returned back into the Starting City from the field zones surrounding the settlement. As he passed through its gates he swiped on his menu, changing out of his initial armor, the Grand Chariot: Legacy, swapping it out for the Grand Dragoon. The deep-sea blue full body armor vanished in a flash of light it was seamlessly and immediately replaced by his casual combat clothing and the similar colored pauldrons and poleyns of his barebones heavy armor. His light blue fur-lined jacket shifted in the wind for a second as he walked past the fountain in the plaza just inside the gate.

Looking over he saw a familiar blonde-haired player, seeming dressed to impress at all times, was chatting with a couple of lower level players, one that seemed to have not even had any experience in combat just yet, "Guess I might as well stop by and say hello."

As he walked over he heard the boy's introduction, or at least the tail end of it, where he had mentioned all of the achievements he's gained thus far. Calrex couldn't help but give a small laugh before completing his trek over, "Hey Zel, it's been a while. Keeping busy I see?"

Looking over he gave a nod to both of the other players hearing the redhead's introduction as Ayumu, "It's nice to meet the both of you. Ayumu was it? I'm Calrex."

[Zelrius 0]

If the boy's smile could grow wider, it would. The look she gave him in her dialogue was simply fantastic, one that very few people gave the golden haired boy anymore. Maybe this won't be a complete waste of time. His thoughts drifted around in his head for only a moment. In the distance, Zelrius could hear the grass rustling in the wind before he spoke once more. "Pleasure to meet you Lady Ayumu." Being polite to people was one thing he was very good at holding until they gave him reason not to anymore. "Noob, I figured as much. No offense, dear Lady. This game you say? Meaning you have played and excelled at others? Fantastic. I feel like there are not enough actual Gamers here in the world of SAO. As for myself, I am simply trying to pass the time until our next Floor boss battle. Which shouldn't be too far away. However, I do believe that later this evening, I have some gardening duty." Just as he said that, one of the few people Zelrius actually didn't hate show up. Calrex, what in the hell- His thoughts were cut off by the man's introduction and greetings.

"Busy? No. This is hardly busy. Simply trying to find something to entertain just enough so that I don't go around causing Guild Wars or Soloing bosses. Both of which I am sure I can do easily enough, just would ruin the fun of a lot of other people." The boy smirked, the same wicked smile he always wore. "Don't you have said Gardening Duty as well, Calrex?"

[Ayumu 0]

"Nice to meet you," she nodded at Calrex, then to Zelrius, "yes, but this is my first virtual reality game, so I'm rather unacquainted with the works and all." Then after a pause, "well, before you two plan on doing...'gardening duty,' or whatever, can you tell me how to get to the next floor?" she asked both of them, "I...kind of need to get out of here as soon as possible. Back in the real world, I have...things that could determine if my life will be lame forever or not, so hanging around in SAO isn't exactly my goals."

There, maybe they'll be courteous enough to at least tell me that. She thought. I still need to learn about combat and stuff, but that I should be able to figure out on my own. Outdoor Nationals, here I come.
 

Edited October 31, 2015 by Ayumu

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg noticed a girl walking towards him, before someone else butted in, and started boasting about something. Greg honestly couldn't care less, to be frankly honest. The man, named Zelrius, was a frontliner. Cool enough, he supposed. Doesn't mean he should just brag to new players about his achievements. Instead he opted to just introduce himself and ignore the braggart. "My name's Greg. I wouldn't call myself a complete noob, but i'm not all that good yet. Level 8. I plan on getting stronger, though. Strong enough to reach the Front Lines. In fact, that's why i'm here right now- to grind! I would do it on the higher floors but my terrible luck dictates that i'd probably die." He says, introducing himself. The girl introduced herself as Ayumu, and said she was a noob, probably at level 1. A third person came in, who turned out to be a friend of this Zelrius, who introduced themselves as Calrex. He gave off a MUCH better first impression than his friend.

[Zelrius 0]

"Aye, I am told it is nice to meet me quite a bit." He laughed,  clearly in a better mood than where he started. "On a more serious note, We have quite some time before our 'Gardening Duty'. In fact, I do not even think it is tonight. Correct me if I am wrong, but wasn't two days, Calrex?" He addressed his fellow frontliner with a question, one that he already knew the answer to. Zelrius simply wanted to make conversation to ward off boredom once more. "I am sure this is everyone's first VRMMO. But don't think about it like that. Everyone is experienced in the thing called "Reality" or "Life". I'd say most of us are fairly apt at that, walking around, interacting with others, etc. So instead of a Virtual Reality, simply think of it as the things you've been doing for years upon years, and throw in the mix Levels, Skills, and Monsters. All of those can be used to benefit you if you tried hard enough." The boy stopped there, realizing he went too deep into a philosophical rant that none of them probably listened to a word to. "Lame forever?" The boy's arrogant smile faded into a flat line of thought as his eyebrows creased. Though he didn't say it, Zelrius thought to himself that SAO was probably one of the best things to happen to him. That was a story for another day, back on topic. "Whatever your reasoning, you can go inside the town of Beginnings. Follow the entry road straight to the Oblesik in the center. There is a podium with a open circle in it. Simply stand under that circle, and say where you want to teleport. If you simply want to go to the second Floor, Nimbus is your best bet."

The boy hesitated for a second, looking away. Then looking back. "As I am terribly bored, Would you mind if I accompanied you? It would give me something to do other than wander aimlessly dodging annoyingly weak monsters." 

[Calrex 0]

OOC: Sorry guys last post for a bit. I'll be back on later today, so feel free to continue in my absence XD.

IC:

"Yeah, if you're referring to that event boss, you're correct. I'm one of the participants as well, although I don't think I can do any further preparation other than trying to get some last minute consumable enhancements, although I have a feeling all of the active professionals are already up to their heads in commissions."

"Well, it's not like I've done any worse so far without them, heh."

Looking over he gave a nod to Greg as he introduced himself as well, "Well, if you two keep at it, you should reach frontline levels before you know it. Although of course I'd suggest you two play it safe and don't go taking on anything over your heads on your own. Like Zelrius said, you're free to visit any of the floors that have been unlocked, but play it smart. We've got no continues in this game, so playing it safe is top priority."

Giving a calming breath he put his hands into his jacket pockets, "If you guys wouldn't mind having me along I'm up for lending a hand as well."

Looking over he gave a friendly smirk to the blonde Blood Buccaneer, "I'm no Tristan, but I can certainly keep those boars off of you all."

Edited October 31, 2015 by Calrex

[Ayumu 0]

Ayumu blinked again, a little lost. She was talking to three people at a time, with what seemed like three different conversations. Then, shaking the fog out of her brain, said to Zelrius and Calrex,

"Uh, sure...I guess," she hesitated, still a bit skeptical of the two, "besides, maybe I could pick up a thing or two from you guys." Ayumu then turned to Greg,

"Nice of you to finally speak," she lifted an eyebrow, "So...Naruto's weird cousin...you want to tag along as well?" after a pause, "sorry, I couldn't help myself. A bit salty, I know. Don't mind me." She smirked

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg raised an eyebrow. "Is my appearance really that similar to said anime character? I mean, i'm pretty sure i don't have the whisker marks and i wear different clothes, My hair and eyes are the same, sure, but that's it." Greg responds. He was genuinely wondering if he did look like the anime character in question. They then apologized for being unable to help themselves. "Eh, don't worry about it. And as for wanting to tag along? I don't see any reason not to, so sure." He responds to the apology.

[Ayumu 0]

(OOC: Have to go for now. Might be on later tonight or tomorrow. Allons-y!)

"Okay, I suppose its set then," with a swipe of her hand, she opened her menu, "I at least know how to do this." she chuckled a little, opening the party option. A small screen appeared in front of the three guys.

Invite

Do you wish to join this party?

O                              X

 "There," she smiled a little, "now we can go and get started!"

Edited October 31, 2015 by Ayumu

[Greg Baxen 0]

Greg tapped the Blue circle, accepting the party invite. With that done, he waited for the others to follow suit. In the meantime, he questioned Ayumu on her plans. "So, what's the plan? We aren't seriously making a party of four, including two high-levelled players, just for killing boars, are we?" he jokingly added onto the end. He hoped his quip didn't fall flat and offend someone by accident. "With that being said, what are everyone's levels? I mean, i assumed Zelrius and Calrex were high-levelled due to the fact that Zelrius announced himself as a front-liner, and you're obviously not a very high level, Ayumu, due to your relative inexperience with the system, no offense." Greg asked. He was curious.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Greg Baxen

[Zelrius 0]

(Late Reply, sorry had work.)

For a moment Zelrius looked at the screen and begin to laugh. A geniune laugh, something he had not done in a while, in fact, it was has been longer since he last laughed, than it had been since he was in a party. The Five Commandants did a ton of traveling and questing together, but rarely did they party. Almost to the point that Zelrius even forgot the function existed. Once he had stopped laughing he wiped away tear, but offered no explanation. It was merely funny to him that the first time he had partied in what might be over a year was with two low levels and Calrex. Three people Zelrius never pictured himself even standing with. Which was interesting, given Calrex was seen often at Events and Boss fights. 

"Good, Then we are off." He said looking at the assembled team. "If all we're doing is fighting boars, Than I will stand back while you two do the fighting. The last thing I need is to waste my energy and time on something that simple. Now, If one of you wants to walk along and accept a quest, Calrex and I can handle that fairly easily, and it won't be incredibly boring for myself. As for Levels: I do believe Calrex is one of the highest levels around. I know I certainly Outlevel most if not all with exception of Calrex here. Difference between him and I, however, are uniques. I have a full set of them, including a Skill." The boy spoke, actually not attempting to show off, simply pointing out distinctions between Level and Gear. This was proven by the fact that his tone was the overly confident arrogance that he usually had, No. Instead it was carried by a purely genuine and analytical tone of voice.

[Ayumu 0]

"No offense taken," she said to Greg with a shrug, "yeah, I actually haven't gained any levels so far, but whatevs. Standing here and talking about how terrible that is won't change anything. And sure, boars can be taken on by one player probably. I figured that already, if SAO is patterned after any classic game. So with that," she smiled a little, "let's go. I need to clear this game as soon as possible.Thank you guys for your help, but once I get the basics down and get to the next floor, I should be fine on my own. If I can get my levels up, then maybe I can beat this in a month." Ayumu paused after that last part, wincing a little. Now, saying it out loud, it didn't sound like it did in her head. Yep, that was stupid. Two of these players were at dauntingly high levels, and they're still here...they haven't been able to clear it yet.

Great. Now they're going to really think I'm an idiot, as if my general inexperience wasn't bad enough. Brace yourself, here it comes...

 

(Lolz don't worry, I didn't make her so mary sue that she would be actually able to do that. I'm just finding an outlet for the stubborn part of her personality)

Edited November 1, 2015 by Ayumu

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a friendly smile and a nod as he saw the party invite appear in front of him, pressing the blue circle as he saw the trio of people's names appear below his own health bar in the top left of his HUD. "Well, you're definitely right Zel. At least to my knowledge, I have yet to meet someone that has actually surpassed me in level, although I can only guess there might be someone out there. As for the strategy, it sounds good. You two can handle the boars, as learning the combat system is extremely important, and having us one-shot them won't be much of a good lesson. However, I'll be keeping any eye on both of your HP, so if it drops to a certain point I'll immediately step in and draw its attention."

Swiping on his menu he opted to switch out the Grand Dragoon for the Grand Chariot: Legacy once again. The barebones heavy armor vanished in a flash of light as it was immediately replaced by the deep-sea blue full-body armor, a reference to the original Grand Chariot made by his close friend Oikawa. The last piece to appear was the helmet, which completely masked his face, replacing Calrex's features with the stoic appearance of the gear, the only indicator of a face being the two light blue slits where his eyes would be.

"She's definitely got spirit, although I doubt we'll be able to get through this entire game in a month. She's only started recently, but many of the players have been fighting on the frontlines for months on end. Hopefully things will pick up soon..."

"Alright then, if everyone's set let's get moving."

Edited November 1, 2015 by Calrex

[Zelrius 0]

The boy laughed again, this time in mockery of Ayumu. A Month?! Too precious. Of course a Low Level would be overly optimistic about something like destroying 101 bosses by the end of a single month. Once he stopped laughing the boy grew serious, deciding that it was no good to mock her. "Lady Ayumu," He began, his voice now somber. "I am uncertain on how to put this. It appears your concept of how the Frontlines work is skewed. What is today? Late October? That would make it almost two years of my own frontlining work. As such, We've only made it maybe a handful of Floors. Though your help would be greatly appreciated up there, I am certain there is no way we can get it in thirty days or less." For a second, all of Zelrius' facades faded. He was truly struck by her eagerness, and his eyes had began to tear up a bit as he felt that his words were too mean. Throwing a quick glance at Calrex, Zelrius hastily re-equipped his Hydra skull in order to cover his face. Putting back on his Arrogant voice, the boy went on. "Nonetheless, You may be able to change that, however slim the chances are. But standing here is not going to get that done. So, if you three will follow me, We are off to the Teleportation gate." The Commandant spoke, turning back around toward the city plaza.

(OOC, I just realized: It really has almost been two years for me on Site)

[Calrex 0]

OOC: Geezes, congrats I think? XD

IC:

Calrex looked over as he caught the glance that Zelrius sent over to him, giving a nod through the emotionless face of his helmet as the young blonde put on the unique helmet from an earlier floor boss fight. As the Blood Buccaneer walked towards the teleportation gate the Ultramarine Knight looked back over at the two player in front of him, "Well, I wish I could give some encouraging words for that, but Zelrius is right. He's been on the frontlines for much longer that I have been, and as I'm sure you two are aware, we're only at twelve floors of the hundred we need to clear."

Giving a small sigh he looked down at the ground for a second before returning his gaze to them and continuing, "Adding to the frontline ranks will only make things go by faster and safer, which is why we're going to make sure the both of you get a solid grasp on how to survive in this game. It'll only benefit us in the long run. I can assure you that we're going to make it out of here, but I cannot tell you exactly how long it will be before that happens."

Shifting to stand sideways he tilted his head in the direction of the teleportation plaza, "In any case, we'd better get moving. Not gonna do us any good standing around here."