Tybalt Capulet

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

560

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

Aster

Aster mentally cursed herself for her vanity. In choosing the nicer clothing, she had both left herself under-defended, and revealed her extreme inexperience with the finer points of the game. It was a small thing, but it forced her to make a decision which she wouldn't have even considered in a less mortally-threatening situation. She would simply have to put her faith in these two relative strangers, and allow herself to be a bit vulnerable with them, at least until she figured out the ins and outs of the game. It was ver much against her natural instincts, but this was no normal situation, not by a long shot. There was no way that she was going to die for her pride, especially as her vanity had already proven dangerous.

“So Aster, the game can be taught. We all have to level anyway so we’ll do some grinding to get you in shape! However, there is a minor issue that occurred to me. Really it’s trivial but its best to cover all our bases. Now see this here? We call this armor. When you take damage, it reduces the amount taken depending on several variables. Useful in a death game, I’m sure you could imagine. I can’t help but notice you aren’t wearing any but you are wearing nicer clothes than most. You wouldn’t happen to have some floating around in your inventory no? Maybe some Renn to purchase some? Because if not, I’ll need to make some for you because I’m not taking anyone out that doesn’t have some form of protection."

"I... Um. I don't have any other clothing, just these and the quality shoes. I figured there had to be some benefit to using nicer items, so I... may have used all of my Renn." She looked away, flushing slightly with shame at her ignorant choice. After half a moment, she met his eyes once more. "If you'd be willing to make me some armor of some kind, I'd be very grateful, but I don't have any cloth or sewing tools. I don't really have any practical skills to pay you back with, either. I put my points towards health, combat, and..." Her voice became much softer, almost as though she didn't want either of the other two to hear her. "And dancing." She looked up, blushing furiously, eyes narrowed, daring either of them to comment on her admittedly unusual choice of skill.

"Have no fear, Aster! I promise to keep everyone in the party safe from harm, so you can learn from me and Kajin."

"B-but don't worry about not knowing much about the game. You two just gotta think about it like a regular MMO - only difference is it's a lot more immersive. Graphics are better than normal, that kind of stuff. Just focus less on the details, and it'll feel way more natural."

"But the armor issue... Well, just avoid drawing too much attention. I got a spell that draws aggro, so you just have to make sure to deal some damage, and stop for a bit when the enemy starts to get angry at you. Besides, you're a tough gal - You got 1000 HP! I doubt many monsters could 1-shot you on this floor, and I'll be able to draw aggro while you get healed up by Kajin. Hell, if you're worried, take him up on his offer to make you armor - he probably has a crafting skill in something."

"I got a pretty good understanding of the skill system so far though. But enough of that - We should start doing something, grind a little while all the good spots are empty. I'd recommend searching for a quest before hand - we'll be able to use some of the Renn to buy armor for Aster or something."

Aster's face had by now returned to its natural porcelain tone, all traces of her vividly red embarrassment vanished entirely, a fresh facade of feigned competence and confidence having replaced it. "I think that I agree with Dirk. The best thing to do for now would probably be to get some experience and, with help from you two, figure out how this game works. You're right, I do have quite a bit of health. If you're willing to try it, I'd like to attempt a basic quest, and maybe see about getting ahead of the other players."

Though she didn't say so, and though she would deny such thoughts if questioned, Aster was reluctant to expand their little party any larger than it was now. In the real world, she'd never had many friends, and as much as she liked these two, she rather disliked the idea of opening up to any others. Her rational mind knew that she hadn't shared much yet, and that it was really a matter of survival more than anything else- safety in numbers and all that- but even so, she preferred to imagine that it was possible for their surprisingly-balanced little group to survive on its own. If she was going to keep the group together as it was, she'd have to prove herself capable, and certainly not share the reality of her life back home.

_{Interacting with:
@Duoya@Achronum}

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

558

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

554

Alphabet Game

Bob (Bob's Burgers)

Men vs. Women Race to 1000

552

Alphabet Game

Zero Hour

Alphabet Game

Vikings

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

Aster

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 other-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. Was there any advantage to playing solo? 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." Swordswoman? Did it matter? C'mon, girl, keep a handle on yourself. "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, most 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

✧ Talrae ✧ (LOOKING FOR CO-GM)

I'll wait on demonspade, then.