[SP-F1] Muddy Boots

[Celestial 0]

Eyeing the sun-rise from his window inside the local Inn, Celestial was already off to an early start. He had dressed, equipped his gear, and paid for his room all before the sunrise, but now the sun was peaking and he gave it one last, long view before leaving the inn and setting out into the city. It was early and as a result, not many of the players had risen yet. Suppressing a grimace, Celestial ran by players who had been camping outside. It wasn't long ago that he was one of those players, unable to afford the col costs of the inn and forced to sleep outside, still, times had changed. Now Celestial held a fair bit of col, and had several pieces of equipment on custom order, in-fact, one more major purchase and he'd be finished shopping for awhile. His last shopping expense would be spent on a fine piece of heavy armor, but that was for another day, today he needed to gather materials.

[Celestial 0]

Walking among the towering city-like structures of The Starting City, Celestial reflected on his time spent in this game. His run-in's with players, his adventures into the fields, his time spent sleeping outside at night, the times he went hungry because he didn't have any col...this game was rough that was for sure. In fact, because he wasn't much of a gamer, he waited several days to enter the field for the first time, he didn't have a choice, he needed that time to become familiar with the game mechanics. Now things were different though, he was gaining strength and would soon be advancing floors in this game, to the point where he would one day be on the front-lines, fighting side-by-side with players he had only heard about in the player-run newspapers. Finally on the edge of town, Celestial took a long look at the gate in front of him. This gate separated player from monster, life from death, renown from obscurity. Taking a deep breath, Celestial marched his way through the gate.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Celestial

[Celestial 0]

Once outside in the Field of Beginnings, Celestial decided to get straight to work. Moving forward, he searched the area until he found a suitable harvesting point. Looking at the ground, he noticed a type of herb which was commonly used in cooking. Adding it to his inventory was remarkably easy. He simply had to approach the small weed, and use the menu prompt which appeared to 'Collect' it. From there it was chance on whether or not he would be able to collect it. There were modifiers you get get, and skills, which would make material gathering easier, but Celestial didn't have any of those. For now, Celestial was working off nothing but luck, after several painstakingly long seconds, the item was added to his inventory successfully!

 

ID 37248 LD 15 +1 Material

Edited November 4, 2015 by Celestial

[Celestial 0]

Looking over the fields, Celestial was doing his best to identify his next hunting spot. He wanted to avoid most of the major monster spawn points, and so if he kept himself out of the open fields he should be ok. Instead, he decided to take a long walk towards the river-which had been his original plan from the get-go. Perhaps there he would find something worth salvaging, a fish, or another type of plant perhaps. To be honest, his internal guide of collectibles was still rather small; the only way to build your guide was to either fill it yourself, or trade with another player, except Celestial wasn't the most social of players. Most players in this game knew at-least one or two other people from having game'd together, but Celestial wasn't a gamer in real life, he only ended up here because of a challenge. Still, he wasn't going to let this digital game beat him. Deciding on his path, Celestial began making his way towards the river, in the hopes of finding more materials, now with a fire in his eyes.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

ID: 37257

LD: 6 (fail)

Elul put her shoes to the side, dipping her toes into the cold water. The water was clear in this shallow part of the river, rocks and gems alike showing up just waiting to be grabbed.

Or so she had hoped, the lake had been a total bust, a quick glance showed nothing more than regular stones only fit skipping across water. Elul picked up a nearby stone, curving her fingers around it and tossing it out across the waters toward the deeper part which she didn't dare go near. Elul watched as the rock skipped twice before plopping into the darker depths. Elul looked around, the place was void of enemies for the most part. Something large appeared in her peripheral view, turning her to a large muscular man.

Elul sighed, she'd been hoping to have a nice quite day out by herself, but fate had appareantly said that was a bad idea and planned for another schedule. I ccould always hide, but a quick look around revealed only a river to hide in, something she was physically incapable of hiding in.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Elul

[Celestial 0]

Moving towards the river-bank, Celestial crossed a small hill, and suddenly found himself in view of the river. Taking a moment to survey it, he realized he was being watched by a figure who was already at the river. Now being much more cautious, he moved towards the player watching him. Confrontations in the fields of SAO were always dangerous, here there was no System Protection and a player could be attacked by other players at any time. Some guilds were even using Stealth to sneak up and rob players leaving them penniless! Still, he had already been spotted and so if this was a trap, there was little he could do from here. Moving towards the figure, he realized from her outline that it must be a female player, and that she was busy dipping her toes in the water. In fact, she looked strangely familiar to Celestial.

Oh! It suddenly hit him, the player staring at him was a young woman named Elul, they had worked together on his very first hunting party; something which hadn't been that long ago actually. Feeling more at ease, he approached her. At the time she hadn't been a threat, and he felt reasonably sure she wasn't going to start being one now. He was actually interested in getting to know her better-they would certainly see more of each other as they continued to work towards clearing the game. She seemed to be taking the role of a medic, and if Celestial knew anything, he knew you always wanted to be friendly with the people patching you up.

"Hail Elul. It's me, Celestial! What brings you out here this morning? And how's the water!"

Edited November 4, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

Elul retracted her feet, "a l-little cold." Elul quickly slipped her shoes back on, standing up to give a courtsey to Celestial. "I-I came to s-see if their were val-luables in the water, but th-there's none in the shallow end." Elul studied the man, she had assumed he had leveled up from the last time she had seen him, there were no other players in sight so it was safe to assume he was alone.

"S-so how are you?"

Edited November 4, 2015 by Elul

[Celestial 0]

"Hmmm, I'm fine. Though disappointed to hear there isn't much here. I came all this way to look for materials too." Feeling slightly dejected, he paused for a moment.

"If there's nothing in the shallow end, maybe there are more crafting materials towards the deeper parts?" Celestial suggested after a moments thought, determined to not give up his search so easily. "I was planning on doing this alone, but I don't see any reason we couldn't work together if you'd like." Celestial then slowly made his way up to the woman, well young girl really-she was quite a bit younger than he-and bowed deeply. "Elul, I would be most honored if you and I could work together on this. We can split what we find and I'll even pay you an additional hundred col for your time."

Edited November 4, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

"Th-thats not neccesary, I'll just w-work by your side." Elul had been taken back by how the man acted, going so far as to bow. A small red tinge appeared on her cheeks, "I c-can't really look-k in the deep water, but I'd be h-happy to continue searching in the shallow end." Elul made sure to leave out her lack of swimming ability, trying to avoid being a burden.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Elul

[Celestial 0]

Celestial smiled. "Thank you very much. Why don't we get started looking." He walked a short ways and then dropped down onto his hands and knees, quickly sinking four to five inches into the mud. The mud, it's temperature was cool, he noted. Here the river was awfully muddy, but crawling around and digging his hands through the stuff, he hope he might eventually find something. Sadly though, he seemed to be coming up empty.

 

ID 37308 LD 2

Edited November 4, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

ID: 37310

LD: 18 (success +1 mat)

Elul took off her shoes again place them to the side, rolling her pants legs up so as to prevent them getting wet. Celestial had moved to the muddier parts of the river, digging into the ground to bring up nothing but muck. Elul felt a numbing feeling in her foot, indicating she had stepped on something sharp. Elul retraced her feet into the air out of fear, only to notice a shiny object where she had stepped. Bending down revealed a green object akin to an emerald. Elul unearthed the stone and held it in her hand, making sure if Celestia turned her way that he'd know of her find.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Elul

[Celestial 0]

After spending several more minutes searching his area, Celestial let out a large sigh. Not finding anything, he stood up to where he was sitting on his heels. He could feel the morning sun as it was beginning to gain traction, see the water tremble with the insects that were beginning to emerge and buzz near its' surface, and he could shut his eyes and listen to the soft background music that was always playing if you would only stop and listen.

"It's so peaceful here Elul." He paused, willing to wait a few more moments staying still like this, before returning to searching.

ID 37341 LD 6

Edited November 4, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

ID: 37391

LD: 1

Elul leaned down as she walked, digging through the ground, nothing but pebbles as far as she could see. Elul frowned, she had been hoping that her luck would continue, but apparently not. Elul nodded in agreement, it was quite nice out today, if it was the real world she would've never been out picking for rocks, much less anywhere near a river. Elul shifted through the water, heading a new spot to try and find valuable rocks. It was tempting to just sit in the cool water, but the after affects of wandering through the cold air dripping wet didn't appeal to her much.

Edited November 4, 2015 by Elul

[Celestial 0]

Not having much luck in the mud, Celestial decided to clean himself up a bit and see if Elul was having any luck playing in the river. Taking big heavy steps, he eventually slogged himself through the mud and took a seat on the river-bank where she was filtering through the pebbles which lined the bottom of the river-bed. Sloshing water on his boots and wiping the grime off his hands, Celestial made a mental note to let his equipment dry later, the last thing he needed was for the game to use 'dry-rot' as a reason to destroy the durability of his equipment. Next he started checking the many stones that were near him, admiring the smoothness of the pebbles which had resulted from the constantly moving water.

After several moments of silence, he stirred and quietly asked, "Hey Elul...I know it's taboo, but do you want to talk about the real world, about how you became stuck in this death game?"

ID 37423 LD 19 +1 Material

Edited November 5, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

"I- I don't care." Elul, picked at the rocks, hoping to unroot anything that could be useful in crafting, "I-I loved to pl-play video g-games in the r-real world, and some-mehow I don't believe this g-game will ch-change that. I hav-ave a friend from the re-real world, you may have me-met him, has br-brown hair, r-runs around, does random things, co-constantly gets into trouble." Elul sighed at the idea of her friend Whit, "unfortunately, I-I'm afraid he doesn't c-care much for the lives of other p-people, b-but when he t-terrorized the people who were mean to me, I became friends with him. Od-duddly enough we shared a similar intr-trest in gaming, and so we became a tag team duo of the insane sw-swordsman and his medic. Then we heard of this game, and I th-think you can guess the rest."

ID: 37431

LD: 10

Elul shifted through the pebbles without luck moving onto the next area, looking around the river while she walked.

Plop!

Without warning Elul sunk into mud, Elul closed her nose with her hand, the mud did not smell anything like flowers, and Elul having sunk to her waist in the mud could vouch for it. Elul frowned in frustration, angry at herself for not reallizing the difference from water and mud. Her left arm had become lodged in the mud with the rest of her, leaving only her gem holding hand free. Elul clenched the gem with her teeth and pulled her left arm free with her right, after that she began pushing herself out to freedom.

Edited November 5, 2015 by Elul

[Celestial 0]

As he listened to Elul delve into exposition, Celestial continued checking the stones in his area but was coming up empty-handed. The tale Elul wove was an interesting one, a tale of bonds formed through adversity, of finding common interests, and of a solid friendship. Staring into the water's blue, Celestial attempted to choose his next words very carefully. 

"You sound as if he's a bit of a burden, but I can't help but think this friend of yours is a very important part of your soul. Sometimes life is funny like that, casting people into and out of our lives with a second thought. It's good you have a friend in this game though, and someone you can partner with, but even outside of combat, you're lucky to have someone here who you can depend on to stand by you; you're also lucky you have someone to remind you of the real world."

"You know," Celestial said, looking up towards Elul, "having a medic specialization is going to be very useful later on the higher flo--"

!!

Suddenly Celestial burst out laughing. Falling backwards and shaking with laughter, he laughed so hard he had trouble breathing. The sight of Elul suddenly disappearing waist-deep into the mud was great. Watching her struggle for a few moments, Celestial couldn't help but laugh. "You look pretty stuck haha. Do you need me to lend a hand?"

 

ID 37439 LD 7

Edited November 5, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

Elul placed her hands on the mud and pushed, resulting in her hands sinking in the mud. "N-no, just give me a m-moment." Elul placed her hands on the mud softly, making sure not to push too hard and lose her arms. Elul tried to feel around with her toes, feeling for something to push off of. Elul began pushing on the mud as an alternative, Elul stopped pushing when she began sinking instead. Elul leaned her head forward in defeat, "I need help."

[Celestial 0]

"Hahaha. Ok, ok I'm coming in hold-on."

Celestial lumbered forward into the mud. "You know, if I was as short as you, this might actually be a problem haha!"

Slogging forward, Celestial moved himself towards Elul very slowly. For all his claims, the mud was thicker than it looked. Still, that was going to stop him! Throwing on a look of determination, Celestial took several more large steps until he was standing in front of Elul, sunk in to about his upper thigh's.

Pausing for a moment, realizing what was about to happen, he suddenly blurted out, "Maybe I should have approached you from behind. Ummm, ok, I'm just going to do this! Haha...ha...ha." Bending down and reaching forward, he wrapped Celestial around the waist and hoisted her up in a large belly-to-belly bear-hug, tearing her away from the mud. Unfortunately because of the, um considerable, height difference between the pair, Elul's bosom was squarely in his face. "Oooook, let's just get back to the rivers edge!", he said, feeling his face go red. "Haha, I'm sooo going to hell for this!".

Edited November 6, 2015 by Celestial

[Elul 0]

Elul waited as the giant made his way through the mud, joking about how his size had made him invincible to the mud. "Y-yes well, I-I unfortunately am the sh-shortest p-person you'll ever meet." Celestial had stopped in front of her, stating how he should've approached from behind. A look of curiosity came over her face with a slight tilt of her head, "what do you m-mean by-" she had hardly finished her statement before being grasped around the waist and yanked from the mud, her feet feeling like they'd be yanked off her from the force. Looking around she had gotten a view she didn't get often, seeing the world from six feet high. Celestial stated something about how he was going to hell for some reason, earning him another confused look from Elul. "Wh-why would you b-be going to H-E- double hockey sticks? You h-helped me g-get out of th-the mud, w-wouldn't it be the opposite?"

(You may want to see it you can change the title to PP now.)

Edited November 6, 2015 by Elul

[Celestial 0]

(I can't still, it's still giving me some sort of an error code when I try and edit the first post)

"Oh, no, no reason!" Celestial murmured as he set Elul down on the bank of the river. Taking a seat himself, he took a long deep breath. That was surprisingly tiring! "It's been a long, fairly unsuccessful day and I'm starting to get hungry. I think this might just be it for me. We should do this again sometime though, maybe with more luck in the future, and somewhere with less mud haha. Come on Elul, let's head back towards town."

 

ID 37542 LD 5

Edited November 6, 2015 by Celestial