[PP:F2] Isadora's Manual to Badassdom (Koumori)

[Dora 0]

Isadora had decided the other players of Aincrad were morons; the entire lot of them was bloody, short bus all-star special morons! So far not a one of them had been entirely useful to the little girl, and this only meant one thing: she was actually going to have to do the work herself. Dora did not mind work. From an early age, her stern father had instilled a very strict work ethic upon an ickle Dora. However, she found it much easier to do things, especially in this gaming environment with other individuals, much to her dismay. In order to find a decent party, she was going to have to level hard and be an all around badass!

There were steps to becoming a badass. First, one had to get Skill Points. Dora was having trouble with that, but it was all good. She would eventually get some provided she got some more help accomplishing some quests. It was a problem for now, but not one she intended to have very long. Second, she was going to need a profession, but she hadn’t quite decided what she wanted to do in game. That question was as mysterious as being asked this in the real world. Her parents frowned on her notion of becoming a ninja-pirate or a space cowgirl. Likewise she did not think these professions were offered in Aincrad so she was going to have to do more homework on this. That left the third thing: gathering resources. She was going to need a lot of Col and a lot of materials in order to become a success. Col wasn’t easy, but resources were, all she had to do was go exploring for them, and that’s what Dora la Exploradora did best: she explored shizz.

Little bitty Dora found herself exploring the second floor this very day. She was just on the edge of the forest line bouncing through the grass, her giant axe strapped to her back as she frolicked through the tall grass looking for things she could collect. The young girl paused and pulled her guide from her inventory. She remembered seeing a sample list of things you could collect in various places and thought it might be helpful to consult. Sitting down under a tall pine tree, the little brunette twirled a lock of her hair as she thumbed through her book looking for the information she sought. 

Edited November 2, 2015 by Dora

[Koumori 0]

This was the first time I ever ventured outside of the safe zone of floor two. Not because I couldn't handle it, I could, but because I never went to the second floor. I always thought of it as that awkward kid that sat in the back of the class or the red headed step child or the black sheep. It had that unfortunate scenerio of being squished between too much better floors so the amount of attention it got was abysmal. Nevertheless, I made trips every now and then to check things out so I decided to really commit. The floor consisted mostly of forest and flat topped mountains. I didn't have an actual goal like material hunting or anything so I was basically just wandering around. Eventually I felt like I had seen all I could looking around through the trees so I decided to get a different perspective. I took a running start and sprinted up the largest tree I could find. It was a pine. I got about midway up before I stopped and leaped out to one the branches. I pulled the needles aside and gazed out at the landscape. It was an amazing sight, almost as good as anywhere else in Aincrad or maybe better. Perhaps I had been wrong about the second floor. I remained in awe until I head rustling below me. I looked down to see what it was but I instantly lost my footing and slipped off the branch. I grunted as I fumbled through the tree, hitting plenty of branches on the way. I landed face first on the ground with the rest of my body practically in the air. After a second the rest of me caught up and I laid there without moving. "Stuck the landing. 10 out of 10." I slowly moved my arms forward and pushed myself up. When my head stopped spinning I could see the girl sitting in front of me. She looked really young, younger than anyone I had ever seen. I smiled at her as I sat up. "Sorry if I startled you.  Didn't mean to fall out like that."

[Dora 0]

There was a rustling above her, but Dora did not look up. She figured it was a bird or squirrel or some other small animal flitting about in the branches above, and so she simply kept reading her guide searching for what she was looking for. Suddenly there was a SNAP!

And then another.

And before Dora knew it there was all sort of ruckus happening above. The small girl looked up and her dark brown eyes went wide as something was fast approaching the ground and before she could blink, smacked down several feet from her. “OH MY GOSH!” Dora said as she bounced off her rear and leaned on her hands and knees in front of the person who fell.

“Are you okay? Why would you jump from up there? You can die you know!” She said as the person picked themselves up and insisted they nailed their landing.

“Oh yes… your entrance totally ten out of ten, if face planting and nearly dying was your goal all along.” The little girl snarked.

Dora stared at the face in front of her studying the delicate features. The face was rather pleasing, but it was difficult to tell whether or not the person that sat before her was a boy or a girl. Given the obvious lack of curves and that this person was a little too pretty; Dora figured this was indeed a boy. She had several rather androgynous male cousins who were equally as pretty, so it was easy for her to tell these sorts of things. “You didn’t startle me… not really. Are you okay though? That was a long drop.

[Koumori 0]

I smiled awkwardly as the young girl rattled on about me jumping out of the tree and killing myself. I dusted off the dirt from my head and removed the leaves from my pants. "As fun as tree base jumping sounds that's not what I was going for. I kinda just slipped and fell." I rubbed my aching head and got to my feet. That girl was really young, small too. I guessed she couldn't be any older than 12, probably younger. I never saw someone so young in SAO, let alone outside the safe zone. I wondered how she ended up here in the first place. All I could think of was that perhaps the nerve gear wasn't meant to be hers. I heard many stories of people trying out their friends or relatives game for various reasons. I didn't feel like I should ask her about it though, it was not really any of my business. I smiled at her when she asked if I was okay. "Good. I'm fine don't worry about me. It only took out a little HP." I did some stretching and neck cracking before I sat back down against the tree. I looked to the girl and decided to talk to her. She was out here all alone and probably didn't know anyone else in the game. She was probably lonely. "So whatcha doing out here by yourself? It can get kinda boring when you're alone." I didn't want to mention dangerous as she might get mad at my assuming she couldn't handle herself. Kids were like that. 

I smiled awkwardly as the young girl rattled on about me jumping out of the tree and killing myself. I dusted off the dirt from my head and removed the leaves from my pants. "As fun as tree base jumping sounds that's not what I was going for. I kinda just slipped and fell." I rubbed my aching head and got to my feet. That girl was really young, small too. I guessed she couldn't be any older than 12, probably younger. I never saw someone so young in SAO, let alone outside the safe zone. I wondered how she ended up here in the first place. All I could think of was that perhaps the nerve gear wasn't meant to be hers. I heard many stories of people trying out their friends or relatives game for various reasons. I didn't feel like I should ask her about it though, it was not really any of my business. I smiled at her when she asked if I was okay. "Good. I'm fine don't worry about me. It only took out a little HP." I did some stretching and neck cracking before I sat back down against the tree. I looked to the girl and decided to talk to her. She was out here all alone and probably didn't know anyone else in the game. She was probably lonely. "So whatcha doing out here by yourself? It can get kinda boring when you're alone." I didn't want to mention dangerous as she might get mad at my assuming she couldn't handle herself. Kids were like that. 

[Dora 0]

So it seemed the young fellow wasn’t trying to kill himself, he merely slipped and fell. “It’s not good that you’re so clumsy, but it would have been even more embarrassing to admit this being a failed attempt at suicide. I’m sure you’d need to fall from a greater height to accomplish that.” Relieved that he was fine, Dora sat back on her behind and relaxed once more against the base of the tree. She picked up her book and glanced over at the young man again as he asked about what she was doing. “Well… I came out here to gather all sorts of material… you know for crafting. People say they’re as good as Col, sometimes even worth more depending on what you can find. And I’m not very lonely. It’s way more fun out here then back in the kiddie pen.” That was her nickname for where all the younger chindren were being “detained” as she mildly put it.  

[Koumori 0]

"Hey suicide is a real problem not to be taken lightly." I said to her, mock scoldingly. I laughed at what she said next. "Well if not I'd be dead right now so it looks like it wasn't high enough." She sat back down against the tree and pulled out some book. I didn't see people make use of those very often so the fact that I was looking at a little kid do it struck me as strange. She brought her head up from the book to answer my question. People often say they aren't lonely when they really are. I'm the leading authority for that one. Although you might not feel it in the moment, looking back on it you can clearly see all the times you felt alone. Being in company makes you realize that just like I did. But what she said about the "kiddie pen" caught my interest. I had never heard about anything like that. Maybe that's why I hadn't seen many kids? I leaned forward to ask. "Kiddie pen? You mean they've been keeping all the kids in one place? How old are they?"

[Dora 0]

“I know… I wasn’t making a joke,” The little girl said flatly. Dora knew suicide was a problem. She’d seen several children jump from a bell tower and break apart into pixels but she wasn’t about to explain that to a stranger. The subject was quickly changed and he began to talk about how he was lonely, and then explained how she might not notice that she was, “Maybe…” she said thinking on it a little. “My mom and dad work a lot though so I’m by myself a lot. It’s not so bad, but I miss them sometimes… I miss my bed more and Buddy… I miss Buddy. He’s my cat,” Dora explained.

In all her talk it seemed the thing that caught his attention was the “kiddie pen”.  He asked if all the kids were being in one place and Dora nodded. “Kind of… just the ones of us that came alone or haven’t found older people to look after them, no one wants to see kids die I guess so we were being kept safe of some junk… I don’t even know.” She didn’t quite understand it herself. If she wanted to fight and die… that was her prerogative.

[Koumori 0]

She responded flatly to my comment about suicide, more flatly than I wouldn't expected. I got the feeling that she had experienced it. Well obviously not doing it herself but seeing someone else do it. You know. Anyway, she started talking about being lonely in response to what I said earlier and I listened intently. She acted okay but I sensed some sadness in her voice. I smiled a bit when she reflected on her bed and cat. "Oh trust me I'd give anything to sleep in my house again. But I was alone a lot too so I know what it's like." She moved on to explain the "kiddie pens" she told me about. According to her they rounded up all the kids without guardians to keep an eye on them. Sounded like a good idea to me. Like she said, who wanted to see kids die. "I didn't even know there were many kids in here. It's not a bad thing though. I'm sure they're just trying to keep everyone safe." I leaned back and looked up at the tree. I really left a trail of destruction. "Hey by the way, how old are you?"

[Dora 0]

So the older boy missed his home too. She got the feeling that everyone probably felt this way. As cool as it was to be a part of a living video game, it was much better to be at home with those who knew you and where you things were. Dora was missing her things and her people.  He listened to her explain about the place where she was kept and he said it sounded like a good idea.

“Of course you’d say that… you didn’t have to go there. If they made you go too, you wouldn’t have liked it.” The little girl folded her arms and shook her head disapprovingly. The question then came as to her age and Dora’s little eyebrows knitted together. “ I’m twelve…” she replied as she slowly began to reach behind her back to unhook Choppy. “Why….” She asked the young man of his intentions. “ Are you planning to take me back there? Because if you are…” she said as she undid Choppy’s strap, the Axe falling into her small hand. “I’ll fight you.” The little girl said producing her battle axe. Dora would fight the young man to stay free, even go orange if she had to. No one was going to make her go back to that place.

 EVER!

[Koumori 0]

She didn't seem too happy that I approved of the so called "kiddie pen". She crossed her arms and shook her head at me as she said I didn't know what it was like. She acted like it was a prison. There's no way it was like that. If I had to guess it was probably run by a few older female players who wanted to keep the kids safe. Why would this girl despise that so much. I tried to be as diplomatic as possible with her as I continued. "I guess you might be right about that. But they at least don't have bad intentions." She dropped her eye brows when I asked her age. The young girl was clearly skeptical of my intentions. I watched in surprise as she drew her sword at me and threaten to fight me if I tried to take her back. Whew. I thought she thought I was going to try to do something much much worse. That was a relief. I calmly reached forward and gently moved her sword to the side while keeping my other hand in the air. "Hey hey, it's okay I'm not going to take you back. You don't wanna go back, that's the end of the story right? Now let's put the weapons away before someone gets hurt okay?" I leaned back against the tree in an attempt to look relaxed. "I'm 16, only a little older than you. Don't worry I'm on your team." I said with a smile. 

[Dora 0]

The older boy eyed Dora as she firmly held Choppy’s handle in her petite little hands. He moved toward her cautiously and gently lowered her axe head and spoke gently. So he wasn’t going to make her go back to that stupid place. He asked her to put her axe away and she nodded. He even explained that he was sixteen so he understood her not wanting to be kept as the children were. “Okay but this better not be a trick… cos I’ll bite you!” The small girl threatened.  She eyed the young man cautiously as she strapped Choppy back up to her back. Her little eyes never left her companion who was now leisurely leaning back against the tree behind him. His guard seemed to be down, but she wasn’t going to take her chances. She had seen players move quicker than jack rabbits and she didn’t know if this one had supersonic speed like those others. Dora wasn’t going to take her chances.