Nero's hands rested inside of his coat pockets as he approached the small group gathered around Luna - her friends. He looked to each of them as the excitement from battle left his face, leaving a rather placid expression behind. He nodded, looking to Fitch, "Nice reaction time. You were right on Heathcliffe's tail with that block; definitely a big help," He mentioned before turning his gaze to Kenshin. "Impressive speed, keep it up, you took out a lot of those imps on your own." Next came a look to Suto, "That was really brave of you, moving to the aide of your friend quickly like that - we could use more like you. Everybody else, you did a great job," He said, looking to them each before pausing, looking to the stairs, and then simply walking away. Heathcliffe was speaking and there was some cheering as Nero approached, but the red-armoured man started up the staircase first in order to open the next floor.

Fitch sheathed his blade and placed his shield on his back as Yari darted for Luna at the end of the battle. His steps, however, were slow and deliberate as he knelt down beside her, a small smile on his face. "Glad you're okay. Yari, give her some space," He said calmly, looking to the blue-haired girl with a small laugh. She blushed and nodded, falling back onto her heels. The two of them thanked Nero as he left and Fitch looked over to Suto, "He's right, you know. Your quick-thinking was pretty admirable," He said before climbing to his feet. He put a hand on Yari's shoulder. She looked up and nodded, rising to her feet. "Alright, guys, let's get up to the next floor. The party's bound to start up soon, we're gonna wanna find a place to wind down before they start."

Yari put her hands on her hips, "Yup, he's right, c'mon guys," She said brightly, offering Luna a hand to help get up and heading for the stairs. The group moved to the next floor and shortly after they'd calmed down and gotten a moment to relax, the flood from the lower floors began. The party was amazing, as usual, and Fitch had no doubt that Suto had spent nearly all of his spoils from the boss battle indulging on anything and everything of the party. The group sat around a single table at a very run-of-the-mill bar, clinking glasses and laughing.

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[i]Floor 21, Aincrad, 5 months into the game[/i]

"Happy birthday!" The group rang out in unison. Yari blushed brightly, staring down at her lap with a bright smile on her face. She had made it to her birthday with all of her closest friends. No, she didn't get to see her parents today or anything as such, but she was still with people she considered to be family. She was finally eighteen - in real life, she would be getting ready for entrance exams in her senior year. But instead, she was spending every day on an adventure and helping everybody get one step closer to escaping Aincrad.

Nero had even decided to attend. He had become renown as the wealthiest player in all of Aincrad rather quickly, as he worked tirelessly for priceless materials and countless hours to gain his status. He did not wear his blade on his hip or have any kind of protection on, merely opting for a nice, white-with-red trim jacket over a black shirt for the occasion. Beside him was a girl who was called Yuna, his well-known girlfriend who had been able to build up her own seam shop and bakery without too much investment from him. She had a multi-layered dress of a nearly transparent hue of azure, made from a unique silk that came from one of Nero's first unique monster hunts. Her hair was short and brown, framing her small face rather cutely. She and Nero were both younger than all of the present company, but only by about a year, and at this point age was but a number.

There weren't gifts from every single person, but when she was given her gift it was a lovely white gown-like dress, which they said was made from a high-leveled arachnid beast's silk on the twentieth floor. It wasn't unique by any means, though, it was more the skill put into it that made it as nice as it was. After insistance from the entire group, she finally put it on and ran a hand through her hair, grabbing one of her arms with a hand in embarrassment. Fitch's jaw nearly hit the floor, but he had to hide his surprise and smiled.

"You look wonderful, Yari," He said with a smile. Their small party had amassed enough money to get her a bracelet which would boost her DEX attribute rather significantly. It was jeweled and just stunning with a ruby-like mineral dotting around her wrist. Her favourite, however, had come from Fitch. However, she hadn't been able to show it off yet. In fact, the two of them weren't sure when they would be telling the others that on her left hand was not some skill-based ring, but one which signaled their marriage in the game. He had asked her just earlier that day, but the rest of the group didn't even know they had been a couple, so it may complicate things to say anything about it. However, they knew they would be able to eventually, the others would understand.