[Steel] Black Haired Swordsman, Pink Haired Princess

[Charuen]

CHARUEN

945 WORDS	TAGS: Steel
HP: 100%	MP: 100%

WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS

"Ah, it's gotten chilly..."

Charuen shivered slightly as she stepped out of the warm confines of the inn that she had been staying in for the past two weeks. Round grey eyes swept across the street, taking in all the details of bustling street. Despite having been stuck in the wrld of Elder Tale for a substantial amount of time, the young woman had yet to grow accustomed to the new universe in which she found herself. A series of unfortunate events had befell on Charuen from the moment she had decided to log in to Elder Tale after a three year hiatus; firstly, she found out shortly afterwards that she had somehow been transported into the game, and could not log out. To make matters worse, she just so happened to come across this vital piece of information while training in a forest near Londonnium that was home to some rather challenging monsters. That of course did not end well -- the realization caught her off guard, and she ended up in Westminister Abbey faster than one could say "God bless the Queen".

But of course, her misfortunes did not stop there. Upon being resurrected, Charuen fell into some sort of pseudo-flu (She referred to it as pseudo because the idea of getting sick in a game sounded preposterous to her.) and was bedridden for two weeks. As a result, she was unable to level up with everyone else, or take part in any organization that took place between adventururers during the first couple days of the Catastrophe. Indeed, the only news that she got was from the innkeeper -- a person of the land. But even from her, Charuen did not learn anything she didn't already know: Everyone who was logged in was in the same situation as her, and that people were trying to live their lives as normally as one can in a game until they found a way home.

Nonetheless, she was feeling quite better, and finally ready to get to know the world that she was now stuck in. As Charuen walked down the cobblestone street in all her grace, she couldn't help but feel a sense of homesickness overcome her. Glancing at the buildings, the adventurer felt traces of familiarity of the city she once inhabited. Yet at the same time, it was so alien to her. This new world drew conflicting emotions inside of Charuen, for it both unsettled and fascinated the cleric. Long had she desired to live in a world similar to Elder Tale, where adventure awaited around every corner, where magic ran deep, and the lore was rich. But what if she was stuck here forever? What about her schooling? Her family?

A shaky breath escaped her lips, and she made a right turn as she reached the end of the street. There was nothing she could do at the moment except make the best of her situation. First off, she had to increase her levels. Being a firm believer of the saying "When life gives you lemons, make lemonade", Charuen supposed that she might as well enjoy her time in the world of Elder Tale while searching for a way home. That being said, to explore the world she would need to become stronger so she could withstand the stronger monsters that she would come to encounter, and staying put in town was most definitely not the way to reach her goal. What she needed to do was train.

A light breeze picked up, and Charuen's long pink locks flowed in the wind as she made her way to the market at St.Pancras Station. Although training was vital, having proper equipment was also important. The cleric lacked gold at the moment, but she decided that a visit to the market to assess potential equipment was a good idea. Her current equipment consisted of a long albeit plain wooden staff, and a set of plate armor covered her upper body. She wore a purple skirt that most definitely turned some heads, but otherwise did little to protect her legs.

Charuen had heard about the buzz of activity that took place in the heart of St. Pancras as adventurers swarmed the market to hire its crafters, but the buildings on the outskirt of the station remained run down. The pink haired beauty walked swiftly yet gracefully through this area, an air of determination around her. However, as the old train station came into sight, Charuen heard a sharp whistle, which was then quickly followed by a "Yohoo! Darling!" Against her better judgement, Charuen turned around to locate the source of the noise, only to find an older man walking towards her with a sly smile.

"Well hello there, pretty thing. You look lost. Do you need any help?"

The cleric sighed inwardly, but otherwise managed to give the young man a polite shake of her head. "No thank you," she said, replying with a surprising amount of cvility. "I am very well aware of where I have to go, but I appreciate your kindness!"

The man frowned, and took a step closer. His hand struck out and grabbed hold of Charuen's arm tightly before pushing her up against a wall in a nearby alleyway. "Are you sure?" he asked, his eyes narrowing. "You really seem lost to me..."

Charuen looked at the man with uncertainty, trying to assess her situation. Was this worth screaming over? Could she take him by surprise, attack him, and then make a run for it? Would the Royal Guards be summoned over her violent actions? The adventurer pursed her lips together in a thin line, once again cursing her bad luck.

NOTES: sorry for the wait! i hope this is an okay first post haha

THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE    THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE

HAYANA OF CAUTION 2.0

[Steel]

"I spent enough time working on my subclass stuff, it's time to go hunting!" Steel said as he walked around town. The day had already turned into afternoon but Steel thought he still had some time to hunt. He took out the map he had made a week or two ago and began searching for the gate leading into the woods. I'm glad I made this map. I still have trouble finding my way around town. It also helps me chart out new areas I haven't explored yet. Steel thought to himself. He was feeling glad for having chosen the scribe subclass. The Courtesan subclass however was another story. He hasn't found too much of a use yet and hasn't really used it much, on purpose anyway. Once in a while, it activated the skill 'Allure' on its own as if it were a running gag from some manga or anime, attracting other's, mainly of the opposite gender, attention despite his simple attire. Attracting so much attention was unnerving to Steel from time to time which is why he immediately turned it off when he noticed that it was activated. Even though he couldn't see any use for it, Steel was stubborn and refused to change subclasses until he found a practical use for it. The reason being that an acquaintance of his from the Japanese server had told him that there was potential for every subclass. As he was just about to leave the area, he heard a noise come from a nearby alleyway. Steel put away his map back into his inventory after the sound. When he reached the alleyway, he saw what appeared to be a man sexually assaulting a girl. Okay, it was pretty clear to Steel that it was indeed the case based off of how the girl was reacting, having a distressed face. It seems that they haven't noticed me yet, I'll use this to my advantage. Steel thought to himself as he sneaked up to where they were. "You know, it's really pitiful how you have to act like that you old man." Steel said as he grabbed onto the man's shoulder in a firm grip. In one swift motion, he forced the old man to release the girl before performing a judo throw on him, slamming him into the ground. Afterwards, he held the old man's arm behind his back. "It appears something like that doesn't count to the Royal Guards." He said as he released the old man and pushed him outside the alleyway. "Get out of here." He said as the old man began to retreat.

"I'll remember this!" The old man said in response before running away.

"Well, that's over, are you okay?" Steel said as he turned around to face the girl who had been previously attacked. As he did so, romantic sparkles came out from him, giving him an attention drawing aura of sorts. Immediately after noticing it, Steel turned it off out of annoyance, snapping the girl out of whatever trance she was in because of it. "Geez, the system must be acting up or something. Sorry about that. You okay?"

OOC: The whole Allure thing activating on its own is a running gag I've created. And yes I got the notification. A lot of words for one post.

Charuen

Words: 525

[Charuen]

CHARUEN

508 WORDS	TAGS: Steel
HP: 100%	MP: 100%

WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS

"You know, it's really pitiful how you have to act like that you old man.""



Charuen tore her attention away from the man who held her grip, and began searching for the owner of the voice she had just heard. Her eyes fell upon a young man with jet black hair, but before she could take note of anything other features, she felt the man's grip on her loosen. Next thing she knew, her assailant was on the ground with his arm held behind by the newcomer. The cleric watched with both shock and wonder as the black haired man calmly commented on what the Royal Guards considered violence within the safe zones. Then, to Charuen's relief, he pushed the attacker out of the alleyway,

The pink haired adventurer let out a shaky breath as she realized that she had been holding her breath the entire time the events were transpiring. Her eyes shifted from the retreating figure of her attacker, to the young man who had saved her. He looked like he was about her age, perhaps a few years younger, although she had never been very good at judging ages. Moreover, she quickly reminded herself to not to put too much emphasis on people's appearances in this world. After all, she had heard of the many cases of players being different genders, ages, and heights than their characters. After brushing back a loose strand of velvety hair behind her ear, the young woman turned to face the young man with an expression of genuine gratitude. However, as the stranger began to ask her a question, she found herself being unable to pay attention.

Sparkles were emitting from the man, and no matter how hard she tried, Charuen could not look away. All she could do was notice how heroic he looked in her eyes. The sparkles seemed to enhance his facial features, and the cleric found her breath being taken away. However, the infatuation that she felt dropped as suddenly as it had came. Charuen was left feeling slightly disorientated as the man finally turned off whatever effect he had on. A frown pulled at the adventurer's lips as she tried to make sense of what happened. However, Charuen was not given much time to ponder over it, for the man spoke up once again.


"Ah, yes. I'm alright now." she said in reply to his question. Nonetheless, her voice remained slightly unsteady. She offered him one of his usual smiles before tilting her head slightly as a sign of gratitude. "Thank you for saving me back there. I don't think the situation would have ended very well had you not showed up." 

With a well practiced motion, Charuen extended her hand for the adventurer to shake. With her nerves finally starting to settle, her good manners began to kick in.  "My name is Charuen. What is yours, if you don't mind me asking?"  It was only polite for her to learn the name of the young man who saved her, and thank him properly. 

NOTES: sorry for the wait! i hope this is an okay first post haha

THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE    THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE

HAYANA OF CAUTION 2.0

[Steel]

"There's no need to thank me, I only did what any decent guy would have done." Steel said modestly in response to the pink haired girl's words of gratitude. "I'm just glad you're all right. The old pervert didn't hurt you too much did he?" He asked as he looked her down for any scratches and any other possible such things. As he did so, Steel got a feeling that this girl was around his age. At the very least, they were most likely of the same generation. Since Elder Tale was originally an MMO, a lot of people had played as characters with appearances that were different from their age, height, and even gender sometimes. Steel himself kept his appearance practically the same as his real world self because of how he'd feel uncomfortable if his character looked different than his actual appearance and that's why he was able to adjust quickly to this world since he didn't have any height or weight issues he had to get used to. It doesn't hurt to also be used to combat as well. Deciding to look like oneself was rare for MMOs though. However, Steel always had an idea of the age of a person based on instinct. About a week or two ago, he met a girl who looked more like a middle schooler but Steel still had the sense that she was older than that. Another thing that Steel noticed about her that he hadn't noticed at all while he was subduing the old man was that she was extremely beautiful. "Kirei" He said without thinking which happened a lot due to his Asperger's Syndrome, causing him to become slightly red in the face, though not very visible, and looked slightly away out of embarrassment. While his face continued to maintain a calm expression, inside his mind, he was thinking to himself in embarrassment, Please don't let her know Japanese, Please don't let her know Japanese. The reason why he had this thought in mind was because what he said meant 'pretty' or 'beautiful' in Japanese, the language he grew up with. It seemed that there was actually quite a good deal of people on the England server who could speak the language or even just know fragments of it. It was even possible for people to just guess the meaning of the words from the tone of voice and there was a possibility that the pinkette in front of him could do any of those as well. Regardless of whether or not she knew or figured out what he said, the girl extended her hand for a handshake and introduced herself as Chauren, also asking for his name. This in turn brought Steel back to his normal emotional state as he saw the outreached hand. "It's a pleasure to meet you Chauren, my name is Steel." He said with a smile as he took the hand and shook it gently. He mentally took note of how soft her hand felt.

Words: 502

[Charuen]

CHARUEN

251 WORDS	TAGS: Steel
HP: 100%	MP: 100%

WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS

Upon hearing the adventurer's question, a small yet reassuring smile appeared on Charuen's face. "I am fine," she replied with a slight shake of her head. "Other than holding my wrists too tightly, he did not do much." The cleric's smile widened in an attempt to reaffirm her point, and then she fell into a silence. She was waiting for a reply from the young man to her previous question. Her head tilted slightly as he said something that sounded like "Kirei". Was that his name? Kirei?  That being said, the tone of his voice made it seem otherwise. Charuen blinked in confused, yet before she could ask for clarification, the black haired player shook her outstretched hand and introduced himself as Steel. A delighted smile appeared on Charuen's lips, and she decided to overlook his previous statement for the moment. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Steel." she said, shaking the young man's hand. "Once again, thank you for saving me."  

Charuen moved out of the alleyway and back onto the main road before turning to look at Steel.  "I'm afraid I'm not a very skilled player, but is there some way I can repay you for what you did for me?" Her steely grey eyes met his briefly before she turned away to look down the street. "Perhaps I can treat you to lunch?" The cleric wished she had an item or gold to gift him with, but she simply did not have the resources to do so.

NOTES: i apologize for the short length of the post. just not feeling it. :c

THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE

HAYANA OF CAUTION 2.0

 

[Steel]

“Well, that’s good, you’re unharmed for the most part.” Steel said with a smile as he stopped looking for any potential injuries, seeing how she didn’t seem to have any. As the two of them shook hands, the girl in front of him known as Charuen once again thanked him for helping her out with pervert from earlier. How many times is she going to thank me? Steel thought to himself with a bit of a sweat drop. This was the first time he had ever been thanked so much for doing something that was to him, not that big of a deal due to having been in fights like that before in the real world and he was somewhat put off by it but he didn’t try to show it on his face since he didn’t want to make Charuen feel uncomfortable being around him.

Once they had finished shaking hands, Charuen walked back into the main street before turning back to look at Steel, their eyes briefly meeting before she turned away to look down at the street. She began talking about how she wanted to repay him. It was pretty obvious to Steel from her facial expression that she seemed really worried about this whole thing. “You don’t have to worry about it, you don’t owe me anything. Sometimes, idiots like me just charge in to help those who need help. That’s all there is to it.” He said this in a somewhat nonchalant tone as it was true, both here and in the real world, he always rushed in to help someone in trouble without thinking the slightest bit about his own safety, something that both his parents and teachers scolded him for. Thankfully, the man from earlier couldn’t really do anything so Steel was fine. However, it seemed that he wouldn’t be able to drop the issue so easily so he thought of another way to get her spirits up. “Well, if you’re that intent on paying me back, why don’t you go on an adventure with me?” He suggested with a smile as he pulled out his map and pointed at a section of it which was mostly left blank. “I was planning on exploring this area of the forest which I haven’t been through yet, we can go there. Besides, it’s a lot more fun to adventure with others than by yourself right?”


Charuen

OOC: It's fine, everyone has those off days

[Charuen]

CHARUEN

410 WORDS	TAGS: Steel
HP: 100%	MP: 100%

WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS WE'LL CROSS THROUGH ALL THESE NIGHTS

Steel's comment came as a surprise to the cleric, although she did not let that show. Instead, a smile tugged at her lips, and she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Well, that is very kind of you." She said in response to him claiming that she did not owe him anything. Her eyes softened as she considered the latter part of his comment. "Also," she added, "I don't think you are an idiot for charging in to help people... That is better than being a bystander and doing nothing to make the situation better, right?" Char looked at Steel with an expectant expression on her face. "Besides, had you not jumped right in, that man might have had the opportunity to attack me..." The pinkette wrinkled her nose at the thought, but gave the swashbuckler another encouraging smile before allowing a light laugh to escape her lips. "But I suppose it would be better to think of yourself first. One can't really help others if one is injured..." She added as an afterthought. Charuen always tried to help out those in need, but she did so after thoughtful consideration over what she could do to help, rather than jump right into the situation.

The male adventurer's next words were also a surprise Charuen. She tilted her head at his words, a look of wonder appearing on her face. An adventure? That most certainly piqued her interest. "Well now," she began, another laugh escaping her lips. "I can never say no to an adventure." The pink haired adventurer brushed a loose strand of hair behind her ear before nodding in confirmation. A look of delight appeared on her face as he pulled out a map to show her of the area he had yet to explore. Back in the real world, she was an urban planner, and thus had a particular fondness for maps. Her eyes twinkled with excitement as she turned to look at Steel once more. "It would be an honour to go exploring the forest with you. I agree, adventures are always more fun when with a...friend." Were they friends? They had only just met. But she wasn't sure what else to call him.

"So, shall we get going then?" she asked, and turned to face the direction of the gates of Londinium. Although the pink haired beauty looked perfectly at ease, she was actually quite excited. After all, this would be her first time out of the city.

NOTES:

THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE    THAT IS THE PROMISE OF OUR FUTURE

HAYANA OF CAUTION 2.0

ahh

[Steel]

“Yeah, I don’t think I could sit well with being a bystander, doing nothing when there’s someone in front of me that needs help, especially if they’re being attacked by perverts like that guy.” Steel said, confirming what Charuen said. He then laughed nervously for a short period of time when she added the afterthought regarding thinking before charging in. “Thinking before acting isn’t one of my strong suits I’m afraid.” Steel said with a small carefree smile. “I’m the sort of guy that would put himself in harm’s way to protect someone without thinking about myself at all. When I saw that guy trying to do what appeared to be sexual assault to you, my body just couldn’t help but rush in to want to protect you from any further harm.” He said this as he scratched the back of his head out of nervousness. “I didn’t really care whether or not I would get hurt though. I know that was pretty dumb of me to do but old habits die hard I guess.”

“Looks like it’s settled then.” Steel said with a smile towards Charuen’s apparent excitement towards the proposal. He then saw her delighted reaction towards the map he pulled out. “Do you like maps or something?” He asked out of curiosity towards the pinkette’s reaction. “Or is it you like exploring new places? Maybe it’s both?” At this point, he was just taking guesses but he was glad that his new acquaintance was excited by the idea. He was surprised however about Charuen saying that they were friends when they had only just met, thus taking him aback a little. This was a first for Steel. It had always been hard for him to socialize with others in the real world, let alone make friends. Thankfully, it was much easier on him to interact with people in the game but even then, it took a while to really think of other people as friends. When the Apocalypse happened, Steel had primarily kept his social ability of his online self but as usual, never had someone think of him as a friend right off the bat. Luckily, he managed to regain his composure soon after before it would have caused worry to come from the pink haired woman. “Yeah, let’s get this adventure started!” Steel said with a grin before sending a party request to Charuen. After she accepted, he began to lead the pinkette towards the gates leading to outside the city.

Getting to the gate from where they were required walking through a majority of the district that was primarily used for crafting purposes. As they walked through the area, Steel could notice the turning of heads and sometimes even stares from the people they passed by, a majority of them being male. “You sure are popular, have a fan club already?” Steel asked in a teasing/joking tone tone after figuring out that all of the stares and head turns were directed towards the pink haired beauty. “And as usual, I’m not noticed at all like a shadow.” He noted observing the lines of sight of the people around them. They were all directed towards Charuen and it was as if Steel wasn’t there at all. “And no, I’m not a ghost that only you can see, I just have a low presence similar to that of a background character nobody pays attention to.” Steel said afterward to explain why people weren’t noticing him now. “Well, I guess that’s for the best. If the people around us were able to notice me walking next to a pretty woman like you, I’m pretty sure any of the stares directed towards me would be of killer intent.” He said this in a carefree tone that showed little to no worry despite what he just said about stares of killer intent. To Steel, as long as it wasn’t happening in the first place, he didn’t feel the need to worry about it.

It didn’t take the two of them too long to reach the gate and they walked through it without hesitation, probably due to the excitement from the upcoming adventure. At first, they were walking down the common path that most people would take but Steel decided to stop for a bit as he took out his map again. After looking at it for a bit, he looked up and pointed towards a pathway to the side. “That’s the path that I haven’t explored yet, let’s go that way then. If we continued to follow the main path, we probably would have been attacked by one of the field bosses in the area. I had to fight one of those last week and that took a while because a majority of the time, I had to keep dodging that stupid rabbit’s club.” He said this in an annoyed tone after remembering the event before leading his new companion through the new pathway. The dirt covered pathway was quite spacious and wider compared to the width of its entrance which could only fit in two people at a time. Tree branches were overhead, blocking the sun for the most part but there was still some sunlight that leaked through, truly giving this area a forest feel unlike most of the main road which felt as if something plowed through it. Then again, this was supposed to be some sort of civilization so of course there’d be roads connecting cities. Steel liked the more natural areas more though and preferred to venture though paths that were away from the main road like this one. “Hope you don’t mind but I prefer to explore areas like these more than the usual places on the road.” He said to Charuen, not knowing whether or not she was a nature person or not.

A few minutes later, Steel began to feel something akin to killer intent. Even with all of the skills and other such in this world, there were some skills outside of the system that were from the player’s experiences from the real world and this one. Being a practitioner of a sport that originated from the idea of two people trying to kill each other with swords, Steel had picked up on the ability to sense the killer intent of his opponent(s). And right now, he had the gut feeling that something was going to attack the pink haired woman. Luckily, the said woman was only 2-3 feet away from him so he would be able block the attack on time. “Charuen, watch out!” He exclaimed as he let his instincts move his body to where he felt the attack would come from. At the same time, a large snake came out of nowhere with its sharp teeth bared at Charuen. Steel had no time to draw either of his swords as he got in between the snake and the pinkette so he just used his left arm which was bitten by the snake. He winced in pain as his health dropped somewhat and he became poisoned due to its bite. However, he continued to stand tall as he drew a sword with his right hand. “Kofuna Shizen Ryu: Hibana!” He exclaimed before swinging his sword at the snake using a sword technique from the real world, hitting it away. Two more snakes then came onto the scene, joining the first one and set their sights on the two adventurers. “Charuen, stay behind me.” Steel said simply, not really paying attention to his health or that he was poisoned as he drew his other sword and got into a stance that seemed natural to him. “Even if I’m not a tank, I’ll make sure to protect you.” He said before turning back to the snakes. “Bring it on you bunch of reptilian freaks!” Steel exclaimed to the monsters facing them.

Words: 1311

OCC: I have no idea what happened. I just kept writing and I got to this

Charuen