[SP-F1] Capturing Sounds of the Quiet <<Earning a Living>>

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa had begun traversing Starting City in search for what he'd hoped for an NPC mentor. After going around town, he often noticed some players talking to NPCs and until yesterday never got the courage to ask them why they'd been doing so. Apparently, all of the hustle was created by a quest that allowed them to become a profession, get a job. He asked around, hearing tons of people saying that they'd become an alchemist, blacksmith, or tailor but then he found what he'd been looking for.

He found someone playing an instrument, a mandolin that sounded similar to Kaluluwa's guitar in the real world. He asked the person who she was, and Kaluluwa was surprised to see a quest notification pop up afterwards saying the following. "Would you like to take the Earning a Living Quest?" Kaluluwa quickly accepted it, knowing that the NPC was actually going to teach him how to play the mandolin in the virtual world. Kaluluwa had no other thought that just that, playing an instrument. He wasn't even thinking about the possibilities he could do. This was for his own pleasure, to satisfy himself.

<<Started "Earning a Living" Quest>>

[Paglikha 0]

The NPC began talking. "So you like my music? How'd you like to play it yourself?" Kaluluwa simply nodded, hoping that Kayaba took in mind mutes into the quest system. "Alright then, but first you'll need to find some inspiration. My name is Ichous. Come back here when you find what speaks to you." Is that all? I was expecting a bit more than just that introduction since the game's creator is soooo goood... Kaluluwa set off nonetheless. Quiet was best anyways, he knew where to go to.

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa traversed around Starting City, hoping to find some inspiration. He wanted to avoid running towards the forest for today, he didn't want to accidentally run into some mobs. He wanted to avoid fighting for today. Kaluluwa walked around, seeing and stopped at a nearby tavern. People were already trying to drink away their worries this early in the day, trying to forget the problems of the death game. Kaluluwa sat down at the booth, listening quietly to the conversations that were happening.

Sadly, nothing interesting was going on. Most people were just sitting quietly drinking away at their worries. Kaluluwa felt pity towards the people but not inspired. They were drinking their worries away. He suppressed his memories of the Philippines, trying not to remember. Today was his day off, just enjoyment.

ID: 37564; LD: 14

<<No Materials Found.>>

Edited November 6, 2015 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa exited the tavern and walked over to the main plaza. To where the death game announcement took place. He sat down at a bench under a tree and breathed in. The memory was clear in his mind, he looked around noticing all of the people getting shocked by their regular appearance in the game. The sky turning red and blood oozing from the sky. The cloaked figure coming out. He remembered every bit of it . He didn't want to remember the rest, he didn't want to remember the pain. He left the plaza.

ID: 37565; LD: 11

<<No Materials Found.>>

Edited November 6, 2015 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

Where else could he find some inspiration other than the forest? He continued his search for places. Where he's been. Nothing really came to mind. Nothing really decided to come to him. Nothing happy did at the very least. Since he's come here, he's had some friends. Or more like acquaintances. But those places weren't really easily accessible at this point in time. He stopped by at the north gate, hoping that he could find some inspiration there. Nothing. Nothing struck out at him. He needed to leave Starting City.

ID: 37566; LD: 13

<<No Materials Found.>>

Edited November 6, 2015 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

He may have needed to leave Starting City, but was not going to without continuing to scout around at first. He exited the main pavilion and began to head off to the direction of one of the first places he visited since being trapped in the frightful and perilous world of SAO, Mack's shop. However, when he reached the former location of the Wanderer's Forge, he was surprised to see that it was no longer there. The tent that he had entered in, watched a bloodless (yet still vigorous) attack happen, and received the offer to join a guild had seeming disappeared. Has it been that long since I have been here?

But it wasn't. He had hoped that he could see the shop physically but Kaluluwa could only go off by memory, and seemingly the tent in front of him formed up ahead in a sort of ethereal form. Transparent. Wavy. Kaluluwa took a moment to reminisce about his first interaction with other players went.

And then it hit him. He needed something to remember this by; a keepsake, a note, anything. However, he had no keepsake. He didn't have anything. So he decided to make a note, or rather a rough sketch (including the wavy, ethereal lines of the tent) and the on-goings inside the shop. Some of the faces were blurred out, but others, well others seemed more natural.

ID: 66072; LD: 17

<<Materials Found! +1 Material.>>

Edited August 16, 2016 by Paglikha
Post completion

[Paglikha 0]

When he finished the sketch, he looked back up to see the transparency of the tent becoming more transparent. He was losing the ability to visualize it. However, he felt somewhat content, although a bit melancholous, about how he found inspiration in this world to make music. That was his goal right now. To find out what to do in this precarious situation, how to make the most out of it. Music worthy of being played for the frontliners of Aincrad.

He left to go towards the gate of Starting City just one more time as to double-check his methods. Not to begin and defeat mobs, no. He was going to the gate to once again draw inspiration. Maybe by looking inwards, and maybe by looking outwards. Both of those options have merits but one of them was also more painful, and maybe even more serious than the other.

Edited August 16, 2016 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

When he reached the gate of Starting City, he looked out to the bittersweet, beautiful grasslands that he might be seeing for a long while. The frontliners, or so he's heard, have been making progress and he was still down here. Down here where it all started. Down here where so many people with hopes of helping the fight, die. Down here where peopled stayed in fear of dying. Down here where so many people lost hope.

Kaluluwa put his back to the wall, his memories rushing through his mind. No. Don't. Please. However, this time it wasn't his usual memories of the Philippines. This time, they were memories of his friend and of the people he met in Aincrad. The first time he talked to Juhmer, flash. The time he entered the shop, flash. The time he fought alongside Benoit and Saizou, flash. The tree, nothingness. The tree however isn't the kind that Axios engraved a message on, this time it was the Sakura tree from the day this fate was sealed. Engraved on it wasn't a message, but rather a sign. He tried to run up to it in hopes of recognizing it, but the vision went away.

Kaluluwa felt like crying as how he did not too long ago. The way he did when he saw the tree with the message no one else will notice or care. However, as he once did in the forest, no matter how much his heart hurt, his face was as solid as steel. He grabbed the memory of Juhmer. Of how he looked like, and emblazoned it in his mind.

ID: 66075; LD: 15

<<Materials Found! +1 Material.>>

Edited August 16, 2016 by Paglikha
Post completion

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa griped his dagger's sheath and raised it to his face in order to inspect it. He's had the same dagger since the beginning of this game and began to wonder if this was the correct choice. Better to think of this now than farther down the road. The dagger wasn't much, and he was planning to use it to strike quickly and then to fall back much like a strafing run. He realized that he cannot easily take on any mobs by himself and barely even was able to kill a couple of boars, one at a time, with Benoit and Saizou. Surely I am quick but that doesn't mean I'm strong. He's heard of the so-called "meta" with everyone using one-handed weapons and use a shield to become a tank, but the notion of using his small dagger and a huge shield didn't appeal to him. Especially because he knew it would slow him down, and he needed to be fast. Maybe I'll change it. It'll feel weird at first, but may be the right decision. Kaluluwa looked past the gate of Starting City once again to see the grasslands. Become strong, or die trying.

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa ran out with a zealous fervor of reaching the forest, there was one place to inspire himself and it wasn't the tree. He envisioned a beautiful clearing in the shape of a perfect sphere with the treeline covering the ends of the clearing. He would, of course, pay respects to the tree but right now he needed peace. Running across the hilly grasslands, he feels bittersweet at the lack of players. Many had moved on from floor 1, and many others had moved on from the game. Many had dreams of helping to fight against the frontlines, but most had the hope of survival. In the end, the game won. At least for the first month. Around 2,000 players had died in the first month and Kaluluwa that there would be much more. And that I was hiding behind the walls of Starting City instead of helping to fight. He looked for any players that he could help but, if there were any, his sight could not reach him. It's too late to help them, but maybe it's not help all of the others.

ID: 66475; LD: 18

<<Materials Found! +1 Material.>>

Edited August 30, 2016 by Paglikha
Post completion

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa ran through the forest with reckless abandon, arms at his side, dagger still sheathed. He didn't want to give anyone, if anyone was still hunting on this floor, the wrong impression. He knew that people could kill him easily in one shot if they wanted to. He was fragile, he was weak, he was damaged goods. But even damaged goods can be repaired, even if it is just partially. If not, then he can repurpose himself. He need not be a person of strength but maybe a person of wisdom or a person who supports someone else despite everything going against their group. Because we were like that.

Kaluluwa began to reminisce of the group back home. And then the group back in the Philippines. And finally his parents. He was unsure how to feel when he realized it was difficult to find their faces in his memories even though he has seen them in the flashback not even two hours ago. He reasoned that the appropriate reaction would be to be sad, but he felt relieved. Relieved that he wouldn't be envisioning their sad faces if he died.

ID: 66528; LD: 3

<<No Materials Found.>>

Edited August 30, 2016 by Paglikha
Post completion

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa never found the clearing he had hoped he would find. Instead, he found a pristine lake not without the trees surrounding its side. What to call it, what to call it? Then he came to the decision of naming it Berberoka Lake. If he ever brought anyone here, he would have to make up an explanation. Not because it was just the first word to pop into his mind, but because of the somewhat dark, cynical nature of the meaning of Berberoka. It was the name of a monster in the Filipino folklore that drowned its victims by luring them with "low tides" and fish by swallowing all of the water in the lake.

And yet, it suited the lake. Opportunities could be found there as there was a fisherman class, but it was surrounded with danger. Even Kaluluwa, looking at the treeline surrounding the lake noticed it would be hard to see any movement just a couple yards away from the treeline. He dared not get in the lake for both the fear of the unknown leaping out at once and the lack of knowledge if water meant death in SAO, never having dealt with water at all.

ID: 67274; LD: 2

<<No materials found.>>

Edited September 8, 2016 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa dared not to set even a toe in the water, fearful that he may destroy its purity from the years of “dirty” living by thinking when he would be able to eat another morsel of food. And yet, he had just remembered that he denied everyone’s help from the beginning despite his upbringing. He had denied food offered to him by friends although it would mean having food to sate him for the short amount of time it gave. All he asked them was to show him where to gather food and how to obtain it. Did he ever say thank them for the gift of prolonged sustenance for the upcoming weeks? Did he ever ask them in a tone worthy of him calling them friends and himself not a leech? He was unsure of this.

Pride. Greed. The two words resonated through his consciousness. And Kaluluwa felt his cheek muscles being tugged at. Kaluluwa did not understand what was going on. How long ago was it since his face showed an emotion? Perhaps too long, but this terrified Kaluluwa even more. He felt guilty beyond compare and how much has he given back to his friends? Companionship? What has he given them, the ones back in the Philippines, other than money to buy food for his parents? Kaluluwa brought his hand up to his face to touch it. Surely enough they hate me, so why am I smiling when I have nothing to be proud of?

ID: 67564; LD: 12

<<No Materials Found.>>

Edited September 12, 2016 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

No explanation that he generated made enough reason to satisfy him. His smile was one of a madman that has known of his insanity for a while and embraced it without trying to cure himself. What would the others think of me? And Kaluluwa felt the tiny bit of insanity, or was it his sanity, in the back of his mind raise to the surface. They wouldn’t. I know they won’t think of anything. As I am the observer, the one who can’t react. Kaluluwa wanted to deny his own words, but he knew that they were correct. Rin, Macradon, Mina, and Itzal, the most recent of players that he had met. They all had the ability to feel. The ability that he had lacked for most of his life.

And Kaluluwa realized that it would take only a single step into the body of water and to stay down there. The end for his problems and the solution to end suffering. The world would be much better off without him. There wasn’t anyone in this prison with the capacity of 10,000 players that could understand him, not with his stoic expressions and monotonous voice. Kaluluwa raised his foot over the water and held his breath.

((NOTE: Not MPD, just him coming to a “supposed realization.”)

ID: 67565; LD: 13

<<No Materials Found.>>

Edited September 12, 2016 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

And then he came back to reality, his own illusion of bravery in death broke and he breathed once again. He began to slowly back away from the lake, taking each step carefully. He wasn't able to bring himself to drown peacefully. Why couldn’t I do it? He unsheathed his dagger and hurled it recklessly at the closest tree and watched it thud as the flat of the dagger impacted the trunk. “I’m weak, I’m weak, I’m weak”, Kaluluwa repeated to himself. “Why must I be so weak? Why can not protect even one of my closest friends?”

ID: 67566; LD: 19

<<Materials Found! +1 Material>>

Edited September 12, 2016 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

“I’m weak because I run away”, Kaluluwa came to the conclusion quickly. “Always have been running away.” He closed his eyes and exhaled. I can't run away from this problem anymore. All I can do is pretend it's not there, and that's impossible. Kaluluwa inhaled and opened his eyes. He then listened, and he was given no audible sound. No auditory distractions. He had a nice feeling attached to this moment. Not the feeling of having attained peace or satisfaction, but rather the acceptance of his situation. And when Kaluluwa felt as if he should have been smiling, his face returned to its natural state of the lack of emotions.

ID: 67617; LD: 7

<<No Materials Found.>>

((Pardon for 67616, forgot to link to roll.))

Edited September 12, 2016 by Paglikha

[Paglikha 0]

Then, he sighed. One of relief, not of sadness or grief over his friend. He knew, of course, that running away would never solve his problems. In the real world, his familial obligations were still holding him down from living a more luxurious life. In this world, he could be blamed for the death of his friend, Axios. Yet he was still relieved. A feeling he has not felt for a long time other than the occasional save of making it to class on the nick of time, of course, however, being asked by the new teacher if he got any sleep last night because of the way he looked. He was relieved that he knew that he is constrained. That he is no longer able to run. Not in this world.

So he ran with reckless abandon. The exact opposite of what he was planning prior to his discovery on the lake. Before, his movements have been deliberate and quick. Now, it was random and liberating. His voice was solemn as ever, but he was able to muster up a single word to the spirits around. "Thanks." 

ID: 88452; LD: 1

<<No Materials Found.>>

((My first post back. And then I got a one on a decently written and progressing post. Haha.))

Edited September 15, 2017 by Paglikha
Post completion

[Paglikha 0]

There was nothing in the world save for the sound of the wind rushing past him as he ran through the forest and the occassional crunching of leaves beneath his foot. However, at the same time, he knew he could survive. That he should. It wouldn't be a wonder that Juhmer had died, unless the game creator was cruel enough to have him only die when Aincrad either claimed all of its victims, or until it was beaten, to those in the real world.

He could imagine Juhmer's family members having been gathered around him when he died. They weren't people of tears, in fact, Kaluluwa believed that he knew that they would already have made peace. Of course, they would be sad and questioning the reasons why a single man would do this to ten thousand others. Yet, they would move on. Kaluluwa knew that, as far as he knew, he was the only friend of Axios in this game. That the family would be waiting for him to return to the real world in order to get answers that he wasn't able to obtain. Yet, he decided to attempt to not worry about the future (although of course, there is the strong chance he may die soon in this hellish world). Rather, he wanted to focus on the present, he wanted to make it through.

ID: 88457; LD: 14

<<No Materials Found.>>

Edited September 16, 2017 by Paglikha
Post completion

[Paglikha 0]

Kaluluwa stopped when he reached the end of the forest, facing Starting City once again. The sun was beginning to disappear behind the great walls of the home of the afraid and of the promising. He loved the resonating sound of the empty void, nothing was more calming than the lovely sounds of the quiet. It allowed him to think. It allowed him to both reflect on the past and plan the general future.

He's met a couple of good people, which he hopes to meet once again and finally take them up on the offer. He had the feeling like he was reverting back to his old self. He felt like he was the little child in the Philippines that had climbed up trees for a banana, the beggar on the streets near the airport asking for food, the child with the broken soul. He felt as if he would do anything, within his moralities, in order to survive.  I wonder if it's just because I am selfish?

ID: 88501; LD: 18

<<Materials Found! +1 Material>>

Edited September 18, 2017 by Paglikha
Post completion

[Paglikha 0]

Well, I'm not wrong. Kaluluwa accepted the fact that he will eventually have to accept offers of help from others. It didn't make him a bit less compassionate, nor did it make him a bit more at ease. It's always been his goal to not be a burden to others, yet he couldn't help but feel like he was one at times. Still, he knew that he'd have to make peace with it, or die with no impact at all in this world.

It was then Kaluluwa looked back out to the open plains. There were so many hopeful people wanting to get better. Some of them were alone by circumstances, but most of them were in groups. Friends that had stuck together. Kaluluwa's head fell and his face was wet, something he has never experienced in most of his life. He felt the tear travel down his face and roll off his head onto the ground in front of him. He started running towards Starting City. I'll do it.

ID: 88532; LD: 15

<<Materials Found! +1 Material>>

((Pardon the half-done reason. I accidentally pressed enter before completing it.))

Edited September 19, 2017 by Paglikha
Post completion