[PP-F1] A Mad World (Ayumu, Koumori, Ace 9)

[Ayumu 0]

“When you’re a kid, they tell you it’s all…

Grow up, get a job, get married, get a house, have a kid, and that’s it.

But the truth is, the world is so much stranger than that.

It’s so much darker. And so much madder. And so much better.”
— Doctor Who.

Ayumu didn't want to be here. It was not too long ago that SAO seemed like an exciting, new world full of promise to enter. Now, it was a literal perma-death game that she was trapped in. Everything in the real world was meaningless until the game was cleared. Her family, friends, pursuits...all gone. She sighed heavily, kicking a small rock as she walked. Ayumu was just pacing around in one of Floor 1's many fields, deep in thought. Her heart was heavy, and her stomach still churned with that nervousness from the first day she arrived here. Taking a deep breath, she looked up from her feet, taking in the digital world around her. Aincrad...it seemed so real. As she breathed in the sweet-smelling air, lost in her thoughts, she suddenly heard a noise that startled her. Shaken out of her lull, Ayumu jumped a little, looking around. Frowning deeply, she opened her menu, and out of her inventory took her sword.

"Who's there?" she narrowed her eyes, scanning the view in front of her for someone.

Edited November 6, 2015 by Ayumu

[Koumori 0]

The fields on the first floor had many secrets. That was a lie. There were no secrets, I would know. All the fruitless hours of looking for materials had shown me everything I needed to see to come to that conclusion. Still, I decided to look around for trap doors or something just to keep myself from being bored. I found myself on one of the further away fields behind a bank of bushes. When I got back there it dawned on me that the whole time I wasn't looking for trap door like secrets but really just a secret place to nap. Yeah who was I fooling. The place I found looked pretty good so I got ready to lay down but I stopped when I heard rustling in the bushes next to me. A rabbit shot out in front of me and I grabbed it out of the air in my fist. However before I could do anything I heard something else. I heard a girl's voice and saw its owner standing in front of the bushes next to me with sword raised. I looked back to the rabbit and returned to her as I realized the absurdity of the situation. I smiled wryly as I tried to explain myself. "I can explain! He called my mother fat!"

(Me on my mission to make a different, stupid entrance every time)

[Ayumu 0]

(haha awesome. :3 )

Rather startled, Ayumu looked down at the strange person who had just shot out of the bush. It was a player clutching a rabbit who had tried to bound away. Blinking with confusion and surprise, it took a moment for her to find some coherent words to say,

"Uh....yeah..." she narrowed her eyes, "I'm not sure if I should laugh at that, or just completely ignore the oddness of that excuse." she coughed to emphasize the last part. "How about you tell me what you were really doing just now behind that bush? You surprised me! I thought you were a boar or something." scowling a bit, she put her sword back into inventory, and crossed her arms, "even though I'm not very strong, I could've swung and attacked you...which is not something I'm too keen on doing to another player."

Edited November 6, 2015 by Ayumu

[Koumori 0]

The girl didn't look too amused at my explanation. She stared at me with narrowed eyes and crossed arms. She asked what my real reason was or being there and based on her reaction she must've been thinking something suspicious. I let go of the rabbit and it scurried back into the fields. I stood up and smile again. "Hey you act like I was spying on you or something. I was just trying to look for a place to nap and heard some rustling. I swear." I tried to make myself look as non threatening as possible and made no awkward moves. She couldn't kill me, at least not easily, but I didn't want to worry her. "Sorry if I scared you." I did my classic scratch the back of head routine. 

[Ayumu 0]

"Whatever," she sighed heavily, shaking her head a little, "its fine." Then, scanning him over from head to toe with a scrutinizing look, "you don't seem like a low level player...if I could even be the judge of that, which I'm probably not. What are you doing on the first floor? Don't most of the higher levels fight bosses or something on floors like ten, eleven or twelve?" she asked with a hint of curiosity, "not that I would judge you for just relaxing out here. Despite the fact that we're all trapped in a dangerous game where we can actually die, it doesn't dampen the fact that some of these floors are really well made. Even though Kayaba is probably crazy since he trapped a bunch of people in his death game, the fact that he and the rest of the developer team for this game must have some resume and portfolio for this excellent work."

Edited November 6, 2015 by Ayumu

[Koumori 0]

She seemed only mad at me. Her deliberate sigh told me that she was in the very least not happy. I watched as she examined me and made a comment about me being there. What was up her butt? "Hey no need to be mad. I'm really just here to relax. I come down to the lower floors a lot. If you ask me they're more interesting." She seemed to lighten up a bit when she started reflecting on the craftsmanship of Aincrad. It was an insanely detailed and realistic place. I stepped over the bushes to remove the barrier between us and stood closer to the girl. "They are pretty nice aren't they?" I said as I looked around. 

[Ace9 0]

Red looked left. Then he looked right. Then he played it forwards. Red dashed forwards running all around the Town of Beginnings. This world was his dream. A place of new discovery. A place of rebirth. The only problem was that Yellow, Indigo, Blue, and Marla could not be here.... But he must not worry about that now. Because today-It was a new day. Red had not left his inn until now on this day. This day that he felt a sudden birth of energy, spirit, passion, pride, and realization. The realization of Kayaba's goals, which Red could agree with. The realization of rebirth, which Red loved. and most of all- A new place to run. He mustn't become lazy here. He needed to keep his goal of following in Yellow's footsteps in becoming an awesome cross country runner. He would follow each and every footstep of Yellow's. Red had looked up to him so much.... It was sad.... But Red had to fight. Sitting in a hotel room, never stirring or moving a leg muscle, not getting stronger to progress with the other player's progression. But today-Today, Red felt like he could reach the top in no time. He just had to find some kind of fresh start to lean on, and the right branch to put your foot on. You see, Red was climbing a tree. The tree to the top.

 

As Red continued on running, he eventually left the Town of Beginnings. as soon as he stepped out, he opened up his HUD.Oh..... I forgot how awesome this menu is! I haven't looked at it... Since the day we got trapped in here..... He selected into his inventory and clicked on a basic curved sword. As the weapon formed in Red's left hand(It seemed to know which hand was dominant), Red smiled. Then he began to slash the sword around, smiling. He sheathed the sword, and then began to run. But, before he could get too far, he noticed two players that seemed to be arguing around a bush. One girl had her hands crossed, obviously angry at the man, who seemed to be a much higher level than the girl. Eh? Could these people make good friends? Red walked up towards them, smiling with his best smile. Red hadn't talked to anybody besides NPC's for the hotel food since the day he joined the game. Errr.... What to say?  Red walked up, thinking he could just wing it, then paused for a few seconds. Finally, he spoke up. "Err.... My name... It's Red..... You guys.... You guys wanna go out and.... You know.... Party?" Man. Talking in other MMORPG's was never this hard. This one, they could see your face and everything. Much harder to talk, especially if your shy. Online MMORPGs you can just type words to speak. Here- Here, you cannot do so. You have to actually speak up, something Red had trouble doing. 

 

Red looked down, noticing he still had his curved blade out. He immediatly put it away, then looked around. The trees were pretty. the sun was pretty. Everything was pretty. Why haven't I gone out here before??? I mean, seriously. Why haven't I??? Suddenly, out of no where, Red got a weird cocky smile. Hah! I know why I'm here... I'm here... To be the best that I can be....... And to make as many friends as I want. And to die when my time comes. I will do everything right from now on. I will. 

[Ayumu 0]

Ayumu turned to the boy who had randomly approached them. She could clearly see the nervousness in his countenance as he spoke, finding it awkward to speak up. With a good humored smirk,

"Red, huh? Okay," she looked him over, "and as for a party...well...I guess that would be alright. I wasn't expecting to do something like that today, but life is supposed to be unpredictable, eh? What were you thinking of doing, if we made a party? Some training, exploring, quests? Hopefully you have some objective to accomplish."

Well, life just gets more interesting everyday here. She mentally mused. This is good...if I keep busy like this, eventually I'll be able to fly through all the floors and clear this thing. The sooner the better.

[Koumori 0]

The girl didn't have time to answer before the player I saw approaching from behind her spoke. He introduced himself as Red in the most nervous manner I had heard since Glory. By the looks of him he was brand new, probably his first time out of the town. The gear aside, he looked very obviously uncomfortable. He shakily asked us if we wanted to party with him and I stood there quietly. It was odd for a new player to walk up to people and just ask that. They were usually shy or nervous in the way that they didn't talk to people. The girl in front of my quickly turned to him and accepted his request, almost forgetting that I was even standing there. I took a step forward and stood next to her and looked at Red. "No I think he meant go to a party. Sorry bud I don't think they really do those here. I hear that they have some killer book clubs though!" I smiled at him before continuing. "You're new to all this right? I'll take along too if you want some help, I know a thing or two." Judging by the girls reaction earlier I assumed she wouldn't be too amused by my humor. It was possible she was annoyed by people who weren't serious. If only she knew how serious I was about most things. 

[Ayumu 0]

To his surprise, a grin tugged at the corner of her mouth, slowly changing her previously unamused expression. While Ayumu had been doing her best to retain a stoic demeanor, it fell for a brief moment. A bit of her normal self leaked out,

"Yeah, people don't really tend to get all crunk up in this SAO, my son," she gave a small snort of laughter, then realizing what she said, winced and quickly removed her joking expression, "I-I mean," Ayumu cleared her throat, "anyways - yeah, it seems we're both open to forming a party. Finding someone who knows a lot about this place is helpful when really starting to get involved. I'm only at level 2, still ignorant of all this stuff, and yet I've already learned a lot from other players. Its not easy to stay alive in SAO, so picking up tips is a good idea. So, do you know how to form a party Red?"

[Ace9 0]

Umm..... Red thought over the question for a moment. Wait.... So how do I do this party request.... Hmm.... Red popped open his HUD menu and searched for something that had anything to do with party requests. After a while, Red did something, then did something else, and he also did something else, until the party request came up. He sent it, but then he also was about to send out a friend request, when he realized it was a bit too soon for such a thing. He had no idea what friend request allowed people to see about him, and didn't want it to happen with some people who could become Player Killers at one point or another. So he decided to just send the party request. 

After Red sent the request, he smiled, knowing he was able to figure out how to send the request. "So what are we gonna do then?" Red was now confident in speaking to these two players. They were both just two humans stuck in a game called Sword Art Online..... Just like him. Just like him....... Red thought to himself. "We could always fight some monsters. Or collect materials. Or go explore. Or do something. Or something else. Or we could just hang out." Red smiled as he walked around. Again, he pulled his Basic Curved Sword Again. Red still had his leather clothes on, with no bonus though. He looked around, looking to see if any mobs were around, or if there were any players, or if there was..... Well anything. Any commotion. Any excitement. Any pride. Any heroes. Any people with talent. Any people with any sense to them. Anything. Red put his hands into his pockets, and looked casually back at the two players. "So? What be it???"

 

Equipped Items:

 

 

 

 

(OOC: Got so distracted during this post.... Apoligies)

Edited November 7, 2015 by Ace9

[Koumori 0]

I was surprised when I saw the girl smile at my joke. She must've realized herself what she was doing and quickly removed it. Oh well, take what you can get. She wasn't done though, she tried some humor of her own in response to what I said. But just like with the smile, she corrected herself and got down to business. She was a level 2 and the other kid was 1 so I was above them by a fair margin but I didn't want to exactly say by how much. "I think I'm a pretty good level, I think I can be of some use to you haha." Red fumbled around and tried to give us a party request. I accepted it as he asked what we should do. "I'm just taking along, it's up to you two"

[Ayumu 0]

She tapped the blue circle, also accepting the request.

"All of that sounds pretty good. It may not be good to do some combat at level one though. I tried that and almost died. But the rest sounds pretty reasonable," then after thinking for a moment, she looked to Koumori, "hey, how about this - you seem pretty familiar with this place. How about you show us around so we know where the most significant stuff on this floor is. You know, like the gate to floor two, some good places to find boars and other creatures to train, and some shops. I'm still rather at a loss at finding my way around, and Red might be too. I mean, if you don't want to its fine, but its definitely something we could do besides combat. The last thing we need is a player dying before they even got started. Not a good way to start the day."

[Ace9 0]

Red thought about it. The female player(who was a noob just like Red, he knew for sure now) had asked the higher leveled male to show us around. Man if this guy pulled out a blade we would be dead instantly, darn....... I hate this feeling of weakness..... Red looked to the higher leveled player. Then he thought about it again. Is it possible to even kill people while your in a party with those people???? I wonder..... Huh.... Well stop being so worried Red. This guy seems nice enough. Red slashed his curved sword an a circle form, away from the two players, as he thought. "Alrighty then. Would you like to be our guide-" Red looked at the party HP names- "Kou..Koumori? It would help us a lot if you could!!!!" Red fixed his pockets real quick then looked back up at them. Red took the curved sword, and thrust it away from the two players. Red was always fiddling with things, there wasn't many instances where you could find him when he wasn't doing so. Red messed with his scruffy blonde hair a bit. "I mean- It's totally alright if you don't want to, bro, but it would always be appreciated if you could. Thank you." Red really wanted to level up. Super badly. 

Red's thoughts were then consumed by the girl. The girl- she was pretty. And Red had not realized to what extent that prettiness went till now. And this girl was a higher level than him it seemed, and stronger than him for that matter. Red saw something in this women for a second- A spark, or a flare if you wish to say, but just for that split second. Now Red's attention was a way from the red-haired girl. Now it was on himself. I wonder if any girls think I'm cute.... Huh... I don't know... I've never been told I was cute before... I wonder...... Maybe it would make this girls day to call her cute. It would make my day if someone called me handsome, so...... I'll be kind. Red spoke up to the girl, "You-Your hair is really pretty....... And, umm, ummm...... So are your eyes...." You freaking idiot, Red! Now your giving her the wrong feeling about you!!!! Great, Red. Just great. Red turned away for a minute or so, and then turned back around. "i'm sorry, Ayumu. I don't know where those things came out of, must have been my ADHD. Sorry, Ayumu, sorry....."  Red hoped she would take the sorry and not be too mad at Red for it.

 

(OOC: Once we get to 20 posts, lets end it then make a part two thread starting from wherever we left off alright???)

[Ayumu 0]

(OOC: Mkay, sounds good)

Her face was immediately flushed by Red's latter comments. Ayumu...was not expecting that...at all. In all honesty, she didn't know what to feel besides surprised. It wasn't like he was rude, so she wasn't upset. Ayumu wasn't necessarily flattered either. As a matter of fact, her feelings were surprisingly of a neutral kind, despite the uncomfortable-ness of this situation. She tried to open her mouth to say something, but couldn't really find the right words to say at that moment, so she clamped it shut. Wincing, she desperately tried to come up with something to make this less awkward. Finally, able to speak,

"I-Its okay Red, don't worry about it," she laughed nervously, "I'm not upset, if that's what you're wondering. Just...caught off guard, I suppose. And since I'm not rude, I should sincerely return the comment - you don't look too bad yourself," then clearing her throat, "well, that settles it," she changed the subject, "if you're up for it Koumori, then it seems we're set." Looking at the both of them, "Whenever you two are ready to go, I am." Ayumu gave an affirmative nod.

[Koumori 0]

Red nervously asked me to be their guide, to which I smiled. "Why not? I like to help if I can." When I spoke to him I noticed his attention was on the girl next to me. I could tell he was thinking about her in the "woah she's pretty hot" way. Sure enough he made a miserable attempt at hitting on her. If he said that anymore awkwardly I think I would've felt embarrassed too. But hey, who doesn't want nice hair and eyes? I looked to Ayumi and saw her face turn red, obviously she wasn't expecting that either. She thought about what to say for a second before telling Red it was okay. She even tried to throw a complement back at him. I smiled as I watched the two go from strangers to, well, two people who don't know what to say to each other very quickly. Ayumi broke the silence quickly though and said we should start moving. Good idea. "Right, let's head back to town then. I know her place like the back of my hand." I said, waiving over my shoulder as I walked. 

(Sorry for not advancing the plot, I'm about to go to bed and I'm super tired)

[Ace9 0]

Red didn't understand why exactly they were going back to town, but he was fine with it. His level one self wouldn't be a match for these boars. If they critical, Red would die. "Mmmmm.... Okay! Let's head back to town!!!!" Red followed Koumori as they walked back looking at his curved sword as they went. "So, if you don' mind me asking, what level are you too??? I'm still level one, but was just wondering what level you guys are currently." Red smiled. He hadn't seen people this nice in forever. As town came into view, Red began to race ahead of the group. With no armor on, it was rather easy to run. "Last one there is a rotten egg!" Red yelled as he hurried to the town, passing Koumori and Ayumu before yelling to get a lead. Gotta do what you gotta do to win, as long as it's not cheating. 

 

(OOC: Really would post more if my life wasn't so busy.... Sorry again guys.)

[Ayumu 0]

"I'm only at level two," Ayumu answered as they walked, "so I'm just a low-level player, obviously. Nothing special." she shrugged. As she was walking with the group, her eyes scanned over the vast expansion of land, drifting back into her previous thoughts she was perusing over before. She then looked forwards to the Town of Beginnings. The only recent memories played through her mind again...putting on the nerve gear, Kayaba's speech, and the realization that she was stuck her. Red running ahead shook her out of these thoughts, and she blinked with surprise as he threw a rather childish taunt a them as he sped towards the town. Ayumu rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a small sigh. He was like kid...and who knows, maybe he actually was. Not everyone here was a gamer over the age of 18. This game's rating allowed some younger ages to play as well. Instead of racing along with him, she continued at her current pace, not really caring about when she reached the town.

[Koumori 0]

"Oh, I'm level 18. I've been at it a bit longer than you guys so it's not like I'm super amazing or anything." Red and Ayumu were both very low level. So low level in fact that I could practically kill them with a poke. Obviously I wouldn't do that. I don't kill and I never will. Before I could notice Red zipped past me and screamed for a race to the town. I grinned devilishly; did he forget I was level 18? I got into a starting stance and pushed off from the ground. My advanced level and skill stack kicked in and I moved like lightning across the field. I pasted Red without any effort, probably leaving a gust of wind behind, and reached the town gate before he knew what hit him. I smiled and waived. "Sorry bud. Speed is my specialty."