Haname spawned into Aincrad at 1:00 pm on the dot, looking around wide eyed. She couldn't help but let out a small whoop of joy at finally being in the world she'd waited anxiously for ever since it had first been announced. She remember how she'd burned with envy when those lucky one thousand had been chosen for the beta and she'd missed out. But now she was here too and she couldn't wait to get started.

Getting used to being a different height took her a moment, as she'd chosen an avatar that looked like a mature young dark haired woman. [url=http://media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/2c/af/15/2caf1553abcd4a8b6af0210226d8ae3c.jpg]Tall and cool looking[/url]. As she wandered around the Town of Beginnings she caught her reflection in a shop window and grinned. She stopped at the basic merchant and picked up a starting dagger and a free guide book. She flipped through the book and got a general idea on how combat worked and how to level up, before storing the guide book in her inventory and moving on. Just as she was about to leave the town she noticed a garment merchant that was selling a cheap by nice looking black scarf, which she stopped to buy. When she equipped the scarf it wrapped nicely around her neck and even covered the lower half of her face when she pulled it up.

Four hours later Haname was just dispatching another Frenzy Boar. She gained some nice experience from the mobs and picked up some Col too. After stopping back in town to change her starting armor for something more suited to her tastes and pick up a basic set of Throwing Knives, she had returned to kill more Boars. She'd gotten the hang of combat now and was thinking of moving on to some tougher enemies, maybe even taking a quest, when she was interrupted by the tolling of a bell and the Forced Teleport brought her back to where she had started.

Kayaba Akihiko's announcement left Hanabe shaken as the full implication of what it meant sunk it. She'd been angry at having been turned into her real appearance by that damned mirror, but now that annoyance was out of her mind. She looked around at the other players around, seeing scared faces of children. The teleport had actually lumped her in with all the other kids. The looked helpless, some on the verge of tears, well damned if she was going to stand around crying. She felt defiance replace her fear. She wanted to beat this game just so she could rub it in Kayaba Akihiko's big stupid face. She left the children and the milling crowd of players behind, running out from the town to look for a challenge. It seemed reckless considering the threat of death, but a part of her still didn't quite believe in that.

Hanabe paused when she heard the sound of fighting and turned to head towards it. She ran with her arms held back, the ends of her scarf trailing out behind her, she thought she probably looked pretty cool. She arrived at the fight, a group of players fighting some Little Nepents, though there wasn't much about them that was little. They were like big plants with huge mouths. Hanabe took their strange appearance in her stride and lept into the fray, drawing back her dagger, which pulsed with purple light, and unleashing her Rapid Bite sword skill. She slash, as she dashed in and attacked one of the monsters, left a red gash across it's front and, as it turned it's attention to her, she leapt back and brought up her left hand, clutching a small throwing knife and cast it at the Nepent with Single Shot.

Having gotten herself into the fight, Hanabe put some distance between herself and her opponent and thought about her next move. The creature was much bigger than her, even more so the usual considering her petite stature, so she would have to play things smart. She stood on the balls of her feet, dagger held in front of her in a backhand grip, ready to dodge or attack as needed.

Then before she knew it the fight was over. She'd barely done anything and hadn't taken a single hit. Hanabe stood away from the other players as they regrouped. They hadn't even noticed her yet and she considered leaving before they did.