[center][h2]Aster[/h2][/center]
The sudden attention caught Aster off guard, and she nearly jumped at the arrival of the red-haired young man. For whatever reason, it seemed that she was easier to sneak up on in this world than in the real-no, the [i]other[/i]-world. It was almost as though her sense of hearing was too occupied with all the frantic players to notice the arrival. She put such thoughts away for the moment, choosing instead to focus on interacting with this person who, for whatever reason, seemed to see her as a reasonable choice of traveling companion. She didn't have much experience with video games herself, but the clothes and staff of the boy matched the descriptions of mages in the books she'd read. Maybe it would be a good idea to work with this guy. He seemed honest enough, and if what he said was true, teaming up with him would give her a pretty significant edge up on surviving for a bit longer.

This consideration took but a moment, and she began to answer the eager-seeming boy (Well, man, really. He looked about her age, maybe a hair older), only to have another player arrive, this one impressively brash and bold, outfitted with a larger sword, a shield, and clothes that were about the same as those worn by all the other players. Apparently she was one of the few to use her precious coins on higher-quality clothes and shoes. Whatever the case, she was accustomed to a certain level of comfort, and had no intention of wearing cheap clothes just because they were cheap. Who needs to sleep inside anyway?

Her musings were cut off as a mini-menu popped up, requesting that she join the two men in a party. It only made sense to accept, she supposed. [i]Was there any advantage to playing solo?[/i] Well, other than freedom of choices and a better chance at dying, she couldn't think of anything, though a more experienced gamer might have been able to come up with more compelling reasoning. Her only thoughts at the moment were for surviving long enough to figure this whole mess out. With that thought in the forefront of her mind, she jabbed at the hovering display, perhaps a bit too hard, selecting "accept". Hopefully her over-eager acceptance wouldn't be seen as such, or reveal her relative inexperience with the medium.

"I'd... I'd be happy to join you both. I'm Aster, a swordsman." [i]Swordswoman? Did it matter? C'mon, girl, keep a handle on yourself.[/i] "Kajin Najin? Do you have a nickname, maybe something a bit shorter? Kajin, or just Kaj? And you, Mr. Davidson, do you prefer to just go by Dirk?" Her voice was soft, quiet, but sure, with no unnecessary words. She hadn't taken speech classes for nothing, and her surety almost made up for her naturally hushed-sounding voice.

"I-I'll be honest with you both. As much as I'd love to be in a party with you, I'm not actually very experienced with games like this. I plan to improve, so that I can survive, but as it stands now, I've never even fought a monster or player before." Her posture was confident, despite the unsurety of her situation. It was not her intent to list her faults to scare off the two men, but rather to have all, or at least, [i]most[/i] of her cards on the table from the outset of their alliance. She had accepted the request, but what came next would be up to the other two.


[@Duoya] [@Achronum]