A Shadow and a Light [Closed]

[Steel]

Like usual, Steel was looking around for some monsters to fight so he could level up faster. The rate that he’s been leveling up at was a fast one because of diligently going to fight in the fields almost every day for hours on end. Once, he went out hunting for about 12 hours with barely any breaks. I guess I’ve become a bit too obsessed with fighting. Steel thought to himself with a slightly sheepish smile. My main class has already left my subclasses in the dust in terms of level raising rate. That just shows how much I’ve fought ever since I came to this world. After thinking these thoughts, he shook his head to refocus himself before he began to rush forward to try to find more monsters.

Along the way, he saw a few other Adventurers fighting other monsters but out of gamer etiquette as it was called, he decided against joining in the fight or else he would be essentially “stealing their kill”. Besides, he wanted to fight monsters that were a higher level than the ones they were fighting on his own. After about 5 minutes, he couldn’t find any to the Swashbuckler’s displeasure. “Why is it that whenever I actually try to find a monster, I can never find one?” Steel said to himself with a bit of annoyance. Not long after that, he heard a buzzing noise. Apparently, the monsters found him. When he turned around, he saw 2 Hornet Soldier rushing towards him. They were all level 20. "Looks like I'm going to have to fight more of these stupid bugs" Steel said to himself when he saw them. Recently, Steel has had to fight many of these Hornet based monsters. They were known for being quite annoying in battle since they wouldn’t sit still and they were hard to hit. Oh well. He thought with resignment as he charged in to fight them off. He jumped into the air and slashed one of the bees, dealing it some damage. While known more for their attack and speed, the wasps didn’t have that high a defense. I get the feeling that this is going to be a pain in the butt. He thought to himself as saw the large stingers. He was thinking this both literally and metaphorically. He then got ready and got into a fighting stance.

With the aggro now shifted towards Steel, the bees charged at him with their rear ends, complete with stingers of course, facing towards him. It was pretty easy for them to dodge Steel’s sword swing because of their speed and immediately afterwards, they hurt him with their stingers. Darn, these bugs are fast! Steel thought to himself as he tried to forget the pain he was just dealt. They definitely hurt more than the bees in the real world, probably because the stingers they wielded were much larger. "Well, it's time I fight back!" Steel exclaimed before charging in. With great speed, he used Mirage Dealer to slash at one of the bees before teleporting behind them. He then attacked the other with Viper Raise. He wanted to at least slow down one of them. Unfortunately, the bleeding debuff didn’t do anything to cause the bee to hesitate and they charged at him again. And here they come again. Steel thought knowing that the bees would be pissed as heck. He dodged one but he couldn't dodge the others, taking a bit more damage. I'm really starting to hate these stingers. He thought to himself in annoyance as he rubbed the spot he got stung at.

“Terra Orbital Kick!” Steel exclaimed before activating a skill which honestly would have fit a person of the monk class more but Steel was still able to obtain it. He already had a plan in mind to take care of these annoying bugs. He stamped the ground powerfully, unearthing multiple large chunks of earth before proceeding to kick them at the flying foes. One of the Hornets was able to dodge but the other was not so lucky and it got hit by a heavy boulder. In order to dodge the attack, the Hornet Soldier that got away had to fly upward, something that Steel took advantage of as he swapped his left handed sword and the gun at his left hip at a rapid pace before he aimed his gun at the insect monster. “Magnum Shot!” He exclaimed activating a projectile skill which shot an enhanced bullet that hit the Hornet Soldier dead on. The effect of Magnum Shot activated and the Hornet Soldier was propelled a good distance away, giving Steel some time to focus on the one that got hit by his earlier attack and now was much slower in charging at Steel. Steel charged at the Hornet Soldier and swung at it in a shape like an arc, almost as if a tidal wave was coming at the insect monster. Unfortunately, Steel missed with his attack and the Hornet Soldier turned its head and stinger towards Steel's exposed back, wanting to take advantage of the situation and to strike at him. Steel could just smile as he said. "Kofuna Shizen Ryu: Nisenami. (the technique name is Fake Wave)" Missing the Hornet Soldier was actually on purpose to create his own opening. Steel used his right foot as a pivot point and spun around to face the Hornet soldier once more and got his sword ready for the Hornet's next attack.

With one more hit to the stinger, the Hornet Soldier lost its balance once more. At this point, Steel was already getting into motion for another attack without using a skill. He first swung his sword in a horizontal swing from left to right, followed by another horizontal swing from right to left as he began to move around the giant insect monster. At this point, Steel then spun his body in a full circle and unleashed a third horizontal strike from right to left. Finally, after the third swing was complete, the sword suddenly sprung right and up for one more strike. The whole thing had the fluidity of a dance but it made no effort as to hide the killing intent from his blades. While he has participated in kendo competitions and trained for them, the kendo he was taught wasn't for aesthetic purposes or for sport. He was taught how to wield a blade so he could defeat the enemy. Because of this, he was able to fight like this in this world. He had now redirected all of the attention towards himself once more. Steel looked at the enemy's health bar. It was now in the red. By then, the Hornet Soldier that got hit away was coming back. Steel looked towards the one he had damaged heavily, it was stunned so he didn’t really have to worry about that one for now. As the diving Hornet Soldier got closer to Steel, the Swashbuckler activated another skill, the skill High Roller which made him do a spin attack with his blades, cutting the Hornet Soldier and dealing it damage. He followed it up Mirage Dealer to finish it off. As he landed, his blade cut into the remaining one and defeated that one too. “Well, at least that’s over with. I guess I’ll go look around the area. I tend to find something all the time this way anyway.” Steel said before jumping into the trees.


Elsewhere…

“What was that you *****!?!” A man in samurai armor exclaimed to a young woman with reddish hair. Apparently, something had happened that had led up to this point where there’d be conflict but Steel just arrived so he didn’t really know what happened. The swashbuckler began to examine the current situation from the tree he was in. Due to his lack of presence, nobody was able to notice him somehow. There was one level 1 sorcerer, the woman with reddish hair, who was facing off against three male adventurers, one level 15 Assassin, one level 11 summoner, and their leader, a level 16 Samurai. “That’s it, we’re going to give you two choices, come with us and listen to whatever we say or we’ll send you to the cathedral after we’ve dealt you a lot of pain and suffering.” As the Samurai said this, the summoner began to summon a golem but all of a sudden, it was cancelled to the men’s surprise.

“I’ll choose C, neither of the above.” Steel said, having used the skill Razor Edged Draw to cancel the summoning. To everyone else, it would be as if he appeared out of nowhere, something that happened due to his usual lack of presence all of a sudden being undone. In response, the three men jumped back in shock. Such a reaction was expected. Steel was practically right in front of them yet they didn’t notice until he spoke up.

“When the hell did you get here!?!” The Assassin exclaimed as he pointed at Steel, not even trying to hide the surprise in his voice.

“I’ve been here for a while actually.” Steel nonchalantly, further increasing the shock of the three men as they didn’t notice him at all and hearing the news that he’s been there for a while already was strange. “Anyway, I’m sure that both sides are at fault here but would you kindly leave? I wouldn’t want to PK anyone here.” As he said this, he motioned to look at the summoner’s health bar. The other two along with the summoner himself were in shock at how much health he lost from that one attack. They then looked at Steel’s status bar and their eyes widened for there was a huge difference in their levels. “Now then, I will be giving you three your own two choices. Either run away now or fight me.” He said this with a small smile as he put a hand on one of the swords on his back. Needless to say, it was obvious as to what they would choose and they fled.

Steel then turned around to face the woman behind him. From appearances, it seemed that she was about the same age as him. “You okay over there?” He said with a friendly smile. “Man, that was rough, how did that get started in the first place anyway?” He then remembered he forgot to introduce himself. “Where are my manners? The name’s Steel, nice to meet you.”

Words: 1750

Eris

[Eris]

     ERIS:              

           

                 sorcerer/dancer/tailor

   ~ "Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand."

     She couldn't say that wandering aimlessly was getting her very far.

     Although Natalie had left Londinium with the best intentions, as usual, she'd ended up with a grand total of nothing that she'd set out to find. Experience and Wynn eluded her, though the latter was more her concern. Thoughts of levels and spells were always far from the young dancers mind on these expeditions, and perhaps that was why she was as far behind as, well - as she was. Death had followed her since the realization that it was not permanent, lead by a reckless disregard for her own personal well-being that hinged upon unhealthy. Respawning didn't matter, not to Natalie - not until she could find her friend.

     She frequently reminded herself of how pointless this search was, more often than not in the spare moments that pain flooded her 'senses' and she waited to be carried back to the cathedral by whatever forces continued to lead her body there. She didn't know what Wynn looked like, never mind what her username actually was. They'd agreed upon ones based out of myth, for Natalie's amusement, but there were thousands of Greek gods and her friend could have named herself after any one of them. Much to Natalie's frequent ire, they hadn't even arranged a meeting place - they hadn't had the chance. Distractions and life had separated her from her phone and her IMs, seeming more important than a silly game at the time.

     Oh, how she regretted her priorities now.

     She was not one to let such things hold her back, though, and it was with a single minded stubbornness that Natalie left the city each day. Inevitably she returned on the steps of the cathedral, though, and she was growing weary of it all. What if she never found Wynn? What if she was the first player to discover how many deaths would lead to permanent death? It wasn't as if she died a lot, but... it was enough. Enough to make her tired of it, and more than enough to make her doubt that she would ever reunite with Wynn.

    Honestly... She had no guarantee that Wynn was even trapped here. It had been a year, after all - a year since she'd seen a familiar face, or heard a familiar voice. There were constants in this life, of course, but they lacked a distinct comfort of 'home' that Natalie's soul ached for. 

     It wasn't as if she wanted Wynn to be trapped in this... this place - but at the same time, she carried the insidious hope that she was. Because then, she thought, she wouldn't be alone.

     It was a horrible hope to hold, and she hated herself for it, but Eris wasn't sure how much longer she could handle being alone in this place.

     She'd been in a terrible mood, admittedly, when she'd left the city, avoiding monsters and other players that seemed unlikely to be her friend as she wove her way through the wilderness. Some she knew to be not-Wynn thanks to previous investigation, while others she just... She couldn't imagine them to be her best friend, not even in this eerie situation. 

     As she wandered, her thoughts consumed her, distracting her from the world around her - dangerous enough in the real world, but here? It was often deadly, and as she realized how far she had wandered, she cursed herself. She was an idiot, an imbecile, a silly, stupid little girl - who got lost by thinking too hard? Nobody, she answered herself. Nobody with any lick of sense, which, sadly, seemed not to include her.

     She didn't recognize the area she'd ended up in, slowing her wanderings and hoping that a touch of stealth would keep any stronger monsters from noticing her before she noticed them. She had little idea where she was, after all, and though she wasn't very good at this whole 'adventurer' thing she at least understood that some areas were more dangerous than others. With her luck, though, she would have managed to wander into somewhere exceptionally deadly. Sigh. 

     As she moved through the shadows of the trees, Eris's slender fingers found the orbs that were secured against her hips. A deft twist of each wrist released them from their holsters, and she carried them lightly in her fingers, ready to set them flying if need be. She wasn't sure how effective they would be against whichever creatures thrived here, but perhaps they would help keep her from dying - she was used to doing so, yes, but she didn't enjoy it. Who would? It was painful, not to mention inconvenient. If she could avoid it, then by all means, she would.

     She didn't know how long it was until she finally spotted humanoid figures in the distance, and couldn't help the thrill of excitement at seeing the broad backs of people - perhaps not what she could fully consider 'real' people, but it was better than a fanged beast eager to rip her face off. 

     Hurrying forward, she tried not to startle them as she moved, slipping her orbs back where they'd come from and calling out a quiet greeting that, she hoped, wouldn't draw the attention of anything ferocious. They turned at the sound of her voice, and thankfully, it seemed as if nothing else had done the same.

     "Hey-" She greeted them with a smile, coming to a stop a few feet away from the three figures that had lifted her hopes. "I know you're busy, but I was wondering if you could maybe help me out..? I just have two questions, and I promise they're easy." 

        The way they looked at her, and then at one another, though, she didn't hold high hopes that any of them were Wynn. Even if her friend's avatar wasn't a familiar appearance, hers was. Anyone who knew her would recognize her to see her, and there was no flash of happy recognition in any of their eyes. In fact, there was very little happiness at all - mostly contempt and annoyance, and at the sight of their reluctance, she sighed. 

     Perhaps it was her mounting misery that egged on her foul mood, or perhaps she had taken offence to the way their eyes raked disapprovingly over her form. The truth would be hard for anyone, Natalie included, to decipher. Her demeanor did not stay pleasant and kind, however, and that was that.

      "If two questions is too much for you, I could cut it down to one." Her voice did well to convey her displeasure, a notably flat tone mixing with the slightest twist of a frown at her pink lips. Then, as they scoffed, her words turned sickly sweet - undercut, of course, by venom.
                                              "I'll even use small words."

     And that was how it started, as most things did - with Natalie's mouth. Insults hurled back and forth between the group and the diminutive sorceress, gaining fire and temper with every syllable. It was inevitable that it would explode, and soon enough, it did. A fierce sort of triumph spread across her face at the thought that she'd managed to irk him as much as she had. She'd always had a way with words, and the man's decision to turn to swords was victory enough for her. 

      "The cathedral doesn't scare me." She hissed back at him, well and sure that she was outmatched as they reached for their weapons - she wasn't about to back down, though, and she certainly wasn't about to go with them. Pride and fury fueled her now, and neither would simmer until long after she respawned. No, Natalie's rage was long lasting, and it was unlikely that she would forget any of them.

     In the moment that seemed like the world was holding it's breath, waiting for what would happen there, Natalie committed them to memory. Every hair, every marking, every line of their clothing. From the colour of their eyes to the shade of their teeth, she filed them away for future reference. Assassin, level fifteen. Summoner, level eleven. Samurai, level sixteen. They might have had levels and strength on her, but that wasn't for forever.

     One death, in exchange for future vengeance? She could deal with that. Perhaps, she thought, this was motivation to strengthen herself in this unnatural place. She could hardly wreak vengeance and havoc when she lagged behind them by more than ten levels. Perhaps, when she respawned, she could find herself a mentor. Someone who would help her to surpass them - though not someone to muddy her revenge. No, that would be her own task, and hers alone. It was much less fun, after all, when you had to share. 

     She didn't get the chance to face the consequences of her idiocy, though, salvation coming in the form of a shadow from the trees. She was tempted to whip her attention to him when he appeared, but instead she kept her eyes on her 'opponents' - how much damage could she do, she wondered, before they fled? She wasn't very powerful, but then again, the summoner didn't have much health left... Her hands itched to try and summon the magic that she was still so clumsy at wielding, but before her impulse could make the decision for her, the trio ran away.

     Just as well, snarked her conscience, an oft ignored little voice. As usual, though, it's words passed right through her. Her attention was instead upon her saviour - whoever he was. 

      She wasn't exactly easy in his presence, but he was a definite upgrade from the men she'd been with before. Cocking her head to the side with a playful, thankful smile, she watched his eyes as she spoke. Unsurprisingly, she found no familiarity there, but... that was no reason to be rude. 

      "Manners." She answered, dragging one hand through her fiery hair in an attempt to release some of her tension. "Rather, the lack thereof. All I wanted was directions back to town, but..." She shrugged, unlikely to elaborate past that. If she did, she knew she would lie, minimizing her own role in the altercation. As far as she was concerned, they'd been rude from the start. How else was she supposed to act in return.

     Returning his smile, she straightened her head, offering a hand in his direction. "My name is N... Eris." 
    Eris, Eris - here, her name was Eris. It was what people saw when they viewed her stats, and introducing herself as anything else only caused confusion. That, she knew from experience. 

     "Thanks for stepping in. I don't enjoy respawning..." A touch of shame passed over her face in the form of a frown and a sideways glance, a slight pink tinge colouring her cheeks. "No matter how often it happens."

     Unwilling to sit and mope in her personal pity party, she shook off her pouting and let herself hope for some good luck - hopefully, not something that would be a mistake.

      "You wouldn't happen to know a safe way back to the city, would you? Something tells me I wouldn't be able to handle this area..." 

  
HP: 100  MANA: 100                                                             WORDS: 1851    

               

notes:  I, uh. Don't often have an issue with length, lmao. This is hardly my first rodeo, haha. 

tags:  Steel

  lolly

[Steel]

“It was just manners huh?” Steel said in response. In all honesty, he couldn’t really buy that as the complete story. As they say, you can’t have a fight or an argument without both sides ‘throwing punches’ and it was pretty obvious from earlier that it was about to turn into a fight. Steel’s tone subtly showed that he didn’t really believe it but he wouldn’t try to question the person in front of him any more about it. It seemed that she wouldn’t take to that very well.

As the woman held out her hand for a handshake, she began to introduce herself. Strangely enough, she stopped her introduction after saying the first syllable of her name before introducing herself with another name. So she was about to introduce herself with her real name but then switched to her in game name huh? Steel thought to himself having picked up on it. As the Swashbuckler began to feel a sense of familiarity from this person, he temporarily shook the thought out of his mind, not physically, as he returned the sentiment and shook Eris’s hand.

Eris seemed to show actual shame in what happened earlier as she thanked him for stepping in to prevent her probable death which Steel was able to see from the slight blush appearing on her face. “Don’t worry about it too much, I just did what any decent guy would do. I saw that you were in danger so I just decided to bring it to a halt.” Steel said humbly in response to her thanks. “Although I think that what just happened followed the whole Knight in Shining Armor coming out of nowhere and coming to the rescue cliché a bit too much. Well, except I don’t wear armor and I don’t have as much of a presence as a knight would.” He said this in a moderately carefree expression.
“I think everyone wouldn’t enjoy dying and then respawning like that, including myself. Just because it happens so often doesn’t mean there aren’t any consequences that come from it. And I’m not just talking about the experience points penalty.” He said afterwards regarding the whole respawn issue.

Upon being asked about knowing a safe way back to the city, Steel was able to answer almost immediately. “Yes, I know the way back to Londonium. I even have a map I made a while ago to show the way if I ever get lost.” He replied simply. “If you want, I can make you your own map later.” He offered, wanting to make sure that she wouldn’t get lost so easily in the future.

“And yes, I would agree that I don’t think you’d be able to handle the monsters in this area. Almost all of them are at least level 15 and a majority of them travel in groups which increases the difficulty even further. How did you stray this far from the hunting grounds designated for beginners in the first place?” He said this in a moderately blunt tone but this was how he talked sometimes. After a sigh that indicated that he wouldn’t delve too deep into it, he continued. “Anyway, it’ll take about half an hour to get back to the city and there’s a route that doesn’t have too many monsters. If I’m there to protect you, I guess it’ll be fine.” He said before beginning to walk in the direction of the pathway.

After taking a few steps, Steel stopped and turned around after realizing something. “Sorry, but I’ll have to retract an earlier statement.” Steel said with a slight sheepish smile. “It’s not ‘Nice to meet you’. We’ve met before in the past. You’re Natalie Arrington right? I realized it just now. It seems you’ve kept the same appearance as you did in the real world just like me. Even the situation just now was practically the same as back then. Considering you didn’t know how to speak Japanese properly, I can assume that you were in Tokyo that day on trip whether it was a vacation or a business one. Because you didn’t know the language, you got lost in the city and almost got into a fight which was something I also had to stop before helping you get around the city. You probably don’t remember me though because I have such a low presence. Whether you remember me or not, I think it’d be rude if I knew your name and you didn’t know mine. My real name is Takeshi Kurogane.”

Words: 757

Eris

OCC: I'll just post it like this for now. If you don't want the part about the past, I'll erase it.

[Eris]

     ERIS:              

           

                 sorcerer/dancer/tailor

   ~ "Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand."

     Natalie's smile didn't falter as he challenged her explanation, ever so slightly, as he expressed his mild disbelief. 

      "A lack thereof." She clarified for him, though refrained from specifying which side of the argument had actually lacked said manners. He didn't seem to be questioning her, though, which was just as well. He was right in thinking that she wouldn't react well, and it was better for both of them if she managed to keep her temper as often as possible. Her temper, and her mouth, had already gotten her into enough trouble as it was. 

     His offer of a map went neither unnoticed nor unappreciated by the inexperienced sorceress. She had no access to any such equipment (that was the right word, right? Equipment? Tools? Whatever.) and any gift of aid was welcome. She didn't know what it would cost, though, immediately suspicious of a gift from a stranger. He had to want something... right? All men wanted something in return. Hell, all people wanted something from someone, but currently, she wasn't above stereotyping.

     "A map?" She let her desire bleed into her words, even as she touched them with a hint of reluctance. "I wouldn't want to make you go to that sort of trouble..." But, she hoped her attitude conveyed, she did want it. Having a map was something that would make moving around, and possibly finding Wynn, that much easier. Honestly, she didn't know why she hadn't thought of it before. Probably because she hadn't known it existed, which was a problem in and of itself.  

     She was useless, here, aggravatingly so. Learning things on your own seemed essentially impossible, and she had struggled with her pride for so long over actually approaching someone for help. It was only after a year, a long, long year, that she was even able to speak to someone in this way. She'd failed so much, there was no longer any fear of anything worse happening if she lowered herself to asking for help. 

    She was admittedly surprised at how far into danger she'd actually let herself wander. If the monsters here were so high leveled, and if they roved around in packs, how had she managed to get this far safely? For a moment, she entertained a small fantasy that it was luck; then, of course, she remembered that at some point in her life, she'd pissed off Tyche. Fortuna, Hotei, God Himself - whichever god or goddess you believed in, Natalie was sure that she was not in their good books as far as luck was concerned. 

     This guy didn't seem to care about how she'd gotten there, though, not enough to hear her answer. When he sighed, she took it as a sign that it didn't matter, and chose not to respond past an unsure shrug. Honestly, she didn't have any better response for him. 'I wasn't paying attention' didn't seem like a legitimate answer, and worse, it made her sound stupid. She hated to sound, or to feel, or to seem - stupid. 

     As the stranger started walking, Natalie wasted little time in following, stretching her legs to keep up with his smooth and sure gait. This guy had a whole foot on her, and her shorter strides made for added steps as she caught up to him. It was hardly new for her, though - short of younger children (and even some of those needed to have their legs shortened at the knee) most people towered over her five foot form.
  
     She was, however, surprised when he stopped. It was sudden, and the words that followed didn't bring any good thoughts about why he'd done so. What earlier statement was he going to retract? The one about showing her where she needed to go? About keeping her safe? Neither were encouraging, and determination blazed in her eyes as she watched him, carefully. He was obviously much stronger than she was - she didn't need to look at his level or anything to learn that. If he'd decided to attack her, she was screwed, and not in any fun sense of the word. Perhaps, though, she'd at least get a chance to introduce her foot to his family jewels. If nothing else, it would bring a sense of satisfaction to her thus far miserable day.

     What came next was surprisingly... not bad, though. Confusion blinked across her pale face as he claimed to have met her before, followed by distinct shock at the sound of her name - her real name, not the one she'd registered in the game with. 

     How did he know that? How could he? A thousand thoughts and possibilities raced through her mind, and as he said he'd kept his real appearance, she struggled to place him. Usually she was good, very good, at remembering people - he, however, remained a mystery to her. There was no memory for her to match to his face, and she couldn't help but wonder if perhaps they hadn't actually met.
     She wasn't exactly a celebrity, but that didn't mean she was a normal person, either. Her father, Zak, was a well known medical scientist and doctor, excelling in his field. She'd been featured in more than a few articles about his personal life. Then, there was her mother. Iona came from a rich and influential family, originally from Scotland. She'd appeared in a few movies, and tv shows - small ones, short ones, and long before Natalie had actually been adopted by either of them. Then, she'd turned to charity, her name growing in fame and recognition through her work with that.

      Paris Hilton may have been the name on everyone's lips when they thought of a famous heiress, but somewhere in the top ten, Natalie's name could be found. In the seconds that it took for this guy to tell his story, Natalie had fully considered that her family's status had something to do with how this guy supposedly 'knew' her. What if he was some sort of stalker? Good god, what had she gotten herself into? She knew it, knew it - being found by him was no surprising addition of good luck into her life. 

     Then, things became clearer, though hardly crystalline. His story had some merit, as she certainly did not know Japanese. Not well enough to add it to her list of known languages, anyways. She could say hello, ask for basic directions, thank you - the necessities for travelling through the city. She could hardly communicate, though, and the mention of Tokyo began to needle at a tiny seed of memory inside of her. 

     "Takeshi..." She frowned, eyebrows furrowing amid her brow, lining her face with confusion and focus. His name wasn't familiar, but the situation was ringing some faint bells in the back of her mind. At first, she was distracted by the memory of what had just happened to her - then, like puzzle pieces finally clicking into place, a memory surfaced.  

     She'd been in Japan with Zak, loathe to stay at home on her own while Iona was off in Malaysia - something about logging, though the details of her trip were still vague in Natalie's mind. Regardless, Natalie had joined her father on his trip, but had quickly grown bored. It had been a combination of teenage recklessness and rebellion that had lead her to the subway, a mistake that had produced regret too tangible to forget, even now. She'd only wanted to look around, to explore, and to perhaps shop somewhere. What she hadn't wanted was to be hit on by strange men and coaxed into a situation that was less than savoury. Her rudimentary language skills hadn't helped her, then, and had only served to aggravate the men who couldn't seem to take a basic no for an answer.
     Something about them had seemed as if they could have done this to a lot of tourists, and though she hadn't been able to understand exactly what they were saying, she'd known enough not to go with them. Hotel, photography - did they think she was stupid?

     Perhaps it was paranoia on her part. Perhaps they had been legitimate in their interests. She would never know - things had escalated into a loud argument, and she'd tried to escape them by returning to the streets. It hadn't worked, though, which was when someone had stepped in. Not only had they diffused the situation, but they'd also helped her to get back to Zak. Her shopping trip had seemed woefully unimportant after that, and she hadn't wanted to take the subway again. 

     This guy, it seemed, was one and the same. Her eyes widened in recognition, though his face was still unfamiliar, and the name didn't ring any bells. How else could he have known about that? The only other person who knew was Zak, and even if this was a game, she knew that this man was not her father. 

     The similarities in the situation were startling, almost unbelievable. How could she have ended up in nearly the exact same spot as she'd been then, and come upon at random by the same person? It was uncanny, it was weird - if it hadn't been so outlandish, she would perhaps have thought it creepy. As it was, she was simply amazed, struggling at the magnitude of this coincidence. 

     "Wow. I guess that means we have to stop meeting like this." She chuckled quietly, amusement replacing her amazement as she shook her head ever so slightly. "I remember that happening, I just..." 
     With a shrug, her hand lifted to run through the hair at the back of her head, tugging through the vibrant tangles as she tried to find words that were diplomatic. Kind. Uninsulting. When she found none, she tossed him a wry smile, letting her hand fall away.
     "I guess I did forget about you. Talk about embarrassing." 

     She shook her head again and offered him another smile, this one more genuine and warm than any others she'd given before. 
     "Do you always play the knight in inconspicuous leather, or am I just lucky?" The joke was punctuated with the lightest of laughs and a slight shake of her head that sent the fire of her hair flying through the light that filtered down from above the trees. Luck. That was funny.

     "I guess I really owe you, now, but I doubt there's anything I can do for you that you can't do for yourself. Not in this place, anyways." Raising her hands, palms to the sky, she shrugged and sighed.

     "I'm afraid I'm as useless here as I was in Tokyo. I don't know how to do  thing. It's... actually pathetic." She wrinkled her nose and waved one hand dismissively, as if she could wave away her own shame and lack of knowledge with one flick of her slender wrist. 

     "As neat as that is, though, if you're right about the monsters here..." She rubbed her arm, glancing quickly around. "Well, I don't think we should hang around. Maybe we could discuss it somewhere safer - like, say, the city?" She wasn't sure that wandering around out here distracted by a trip down memory lane would be worth the pain of dying. Maybe it wasn't as great a danger for him, but it was for her, and she didn't want to go through that today...

  
HP: 100  MANA: 100                                                             WORDS: 1888    

               

notes:  No, the history is fine! C: I think it's kind of neat, actually. Let's keep it. 

tags:  Steel

  lolly

[Steel]

Steel’s suspicions about Natalie/Eris being a factor in the resulting fight that almost happened were confirmed by how she decided to ‘clarify’ to him that it was just a lack of manners. Does she think I’m an idiot or something? Steel thought to himself without letting his thoughts show on his face or through his expressions. He had decided not to question any further but the woman in front of him wasn’t helping with that. You’re not making things any better by trying to bring the subject back up you know!?! Steel exclaimed in his mind. He was wondering how he’s been able to hold in his remarks in his mind without even so much as a twitch in his facial expression. Well, at least that meant he was able to keep up a poker face for long periods of time.

At his offer of a map, Steel could hear the red haired woman’s desire for such an object. Yet at the same time, she had an undertone of reluctance as if she felt bad about asking for it which was further enforced by her saying that the Swashbuckler shouldn’t have to go through such trouble to make the map. To figure out how to answer correctly, he then began to go into a form of concentration mode which was combined with his observation skills and knowledge.

It’s pretty obvious that she wants a map to help herself get around easier but something is holding her back. I sense a lot of different emotions conflicting within her right now but what I can mainly feel from her are feelings of suspicion and pride. First off, it’s no wonder she’s suspicious towards me. We’re practically strangers and here I am offering to do something that would give her great convenience in terms of navigation. If I was in her position, I’d wonder what the catch was too. The other thing is her pride. I’ve seen the type before, people that don’t want help because they don’t want to look or feel weak. Then again, I’ve been like that too. Anyway, she must have wrestled with her pride quite a bit just to imply that she wanted. Well, I know what to say now. Steel thought to himself with a mental smile within the span of about 2-3 seconds in reality. In the real world, doing this sort of thing, analyzing another person at fast speeds was essential in his kendo matches so he could exploit an opening in his opponent in the fast paced matches where you barely had any time to think when you were crossing swords with your opponent. Thankfully, this skill that was not part of the system carried over to his avatar which made sense since it was the same person anyway controlling the avatar with the same level of analytical skill. Except this time, this little talent wasn’t just used for combat but it was also used for social interactions.

“Don’t worry about it, it’s no trouble at all.” Steel said with a friendly smile. “And don’t worry too much about the cost or anything like that. It’s not like I’m going to make the highest quality map possible, my subclass level for scribe isn’t even all that high, so it’s not like it’s going to cost much to make it in the first place. Besides, I think it’s more important that you can get around more easily and safely.” He said this in a tone that showed that he really didn’t mind doing all this and that he prioritized the safety of others first. Times like these that reminded Steel of that made him wonder sometimes why he didn’t choose a main class that could tank but then he would remember that he chose the Swashbuckler class so that he could be like Kyousuke.

At first when Steel mentioned the sorcerer’s real name, Eris/Natalie just looked confused. Well, that was to be expected since no normal person would ever expect whom they would consider a stranger to know them especially in this world where everyone’s face could be different than their real life self so of course there was an even less likely chance of that happening. Even though Steel had said that they both used their real appearance for their avatar’s appearances, the red haired young woman couldn’t recognize or remember him. Steel couldn’t really blame her for that as she wasn’t the first one. In the past and even currently sometimes, people forgot Steel/Takeshi was there or they couldn’t remember him due to his lack of presence. Eris/Natalie now seemed to be thinking, trying to recall the event that Steel had mentioned as well as his name Takeshi. Her eyebrows were furrowed and she seemed to be quite focused yet slightly confused. After a brief period of time, it seemed that she began to recall the event that Steel mentioned, even if it was only somewhat.

He remembered the day clearly. It was during the winter time and a qualification tournament was taking place. Besides being on the kendo team, Takeshi also enjoyed playing basketball and was even the sixth man on the school team, someone who had just as much if not more playing time as the starters. It was the fourth quarter and the score was 63 to 62, Takeshi’s team was losing and there was only about 10 seconds left in the game. During these last few seconds, the opposing team had the ball in their possession and they were planning to stall for time and to let the clock run out. What they did not expect was someone coming out of nowhere to steal the ball. The person who did that was Takeshi who hit the ball out of the opposing team member’s hands, causing them to have a look on their face that said ‘Where did he come from!?!’ Although Takeshi got the ball, the members of the opposing team were able to catch up to him easily. This is when he threw the ball as hard as he could to the other side of the court. By some miracle, it somehow got in like that. Oh how Takeshi wished he’d be able to do something cool like that. Instead, a teammate was already there to catch the ball and score, causing them to win the game. Takeshi and his teammates just burst out into cheers since they’d be able to advance to the even larger tournament, the Winter Cup. (Which is an actual thing btw)

“Hey, where’s Kurogane?” The team captain asked once the team had finished changing and were ready to leave. As usual, after a game, they would go back to the school and analyze today’s game so the team would know what mistakes to fix. However, Takeshi wasn’t anywhere to be found.

“I’m right here.” Takeshi said from their midst causing the rest of the team to look at where he was before jumping back and shouting out in surprise.

“Where did you come from!?!” A teammate asked while still in shock.

“I was here the whole time.” Takeshi said in response, furthering the team’s shock. They began to wonder how Takeshi’s presence still escaped them. It’s not like he was smaller than the rest of them. In fact, Takeshi was on the tall side of the spectrum for an Asian. “Anyway, you’ll have to excuse me for today, I have some errands to run before going home. I have the coach’s permission.” He bowed lightly before going on a different path than his teammates who were headed back.

He had just finished his errands and he was just about ready to go home. It was then he saw some people that looked like photographers speaking in broken English to what seemed to be a foreign girl. Due to learning a good deal of English, he was able to speak the language fine and he was able to understand what the photographers wanted to do. The foreign girl wasn’t so pleasant with them either. Takeshi could tell that this was going to get ugly so he decided to step in as he pulled out his shinai, something he carried with him everywhere. Just as one of the photographers was about to hit the girl, he felt something at his nose before feeling a slight pain, forcing him to jump back to see Takeshi who appeared out of nowhere spinning a basketball on one finger, the friction from it was the cause of what happened to the guy’s nose earlier.

“Where the hell did you come from!?!” One of the photographers said in Japanese.

“I have no reason to answer you.” Takeshi said in response also using Japanese before pointing the tip of his shinai at their leader’s throat. “What were you doing here?” They didn’t really have an answer as they actually seemed scared. Takeshi was able to emit a sort of aura that practically told them that they’d get really hurt if they decided to continue so they ran away. “You okay?” He said as he turned around to face the foreign girl. After that, they had introduced each other and Takeshi helped her get around the city and eventually get back to where her father was. Such an event was hard for Steel to forget because it was unique and interesting.

It seemed that the young woman in front of him was also reminiscing…. sort of. If you could call trying to recall something that you had trouble remembering that. Eris/Natalie then began to look amused and laughed a little at the huge coincidence of how similar the situations were. She had remembered the event and Steel could already tell that she forgot him but was trying to say it in a way that didn’t sound mean as she ran her hands through her hair. She gave up on that apparently as she gave him a wry smile before admitting that she couldn’t remember him. “Don’t worry, I’ve gotten used to it.” Steel said in response with a sheepish chuckle. “You see, back in the real world, I was a regular on my school’s basketball team and I was the vice-captain of my school’s kendo team. Both teams had enough skill to attract enough attention that magazines came to interview us. Although I was included in the team photos, they forgot all about me for the individual interviews although I was a regular and the vice-captain.” He mentioned this example, albeit feeling slight irritation at the memory, so that Eris/Natalie wouldn’t feel bad about it too much. “See? It’s pretty normal for me so you don’t have to worry about it too much. Just don’t go forgetting about me 5 minutes after you’ve seen me.”

Eris/Natalie gave Steel another smile which he noted to be from the heart meaning it felt more genuine and warm. It made Steel wonder why she had didn’t act like that from the beginning. However, Steel decided to drop the issue until he got more information on the subject. Then again, the human heart is a lot more difficult to understand. Steel thought to himself. It was then she began to joke with him a little as she asked whether Steel always acted as the knight coming to the rescue. “Well, I think it’s sort of both. Wherever I seem to go, there’s always somebody that needs saving. At the same time, it was lucky for me to find you before that fight would have started. You are the only one I’ve had to save from a group of people trying to get you though.” He answered honestly with a light tone of voice as he laughed along with the red haired young woman.

“No need to worry about owing me.” Steel said once again. “As I said earlier, I just did what any decent guy would do. It’s the same for the situation from about 10 minutes ago and what happened a year or two ago. It’s not like I did that much. If I see someone in danger, I just protect them.” As usual, he was trying to be humble here.

Steel then smiled at the sorcerer girl in front of him as she kept saying how useless she was. “Everyone has to start somewhere so don’t be ashamed of where you are right now. We’re all going to get stronger and learn more day by day anyway. Just don’t call yourself pathetic or useless. You’re anything but that. Knowing and acknowledging where you’re lacking takes a lot of true strength and courage and if you got that step down, you’re already halfway there.” He said in reassurance. “I’ll even help you get a little more stronger and knowledgeable today as we’re traveling back to the city.” Eris/Natalie then reminded Steel of the dangers in this area to which he nodded. “Okay then, let’s get going.” He said before he began to follow the path he had made on his map. As they continued to walk on, Takeshi turned his head towards his current travel companion. “By the way, what do you want me to call you by? You have two names to use right? Eris, your in game name and Natalie, your real name. Would you rather I call you by your in game name or your real name?” He asked out of consideration. Also, he didn’t want to get confused with which name to use if he ever had to call out to her.

Words: 2251

Eris

OOC: I have no idea what I was doing with that basketball scene. I think I've been reading too much Kuroko no Basket and Slam Dunk