Flash Mob [Closed/Maia]

[Hirosame]

Walking around the town yet again, Hiro had found himself. He was busy trying to find something to do for a bit, since nothing else was planned. The monk had today off from all his other duties and things he needed to do, which was almost always very low or a very small list, and just decided to go off and have a bit of relaxation time to himself. Nothing in mind to do, in particular, and just waltz around the town for a little while, seeing what there was to see. Maybe come up with an idea to make for research later on at some point, but nothing really fantastic. He hadn't had any inspiration to make a massive project any time soon, since the trains were the latest thing he had worked on, and even that was a few months old by now. He did need to work on something other than his own main class level. Maybe something Idol related? He wasn't sure at all, and just kept thinking about things he could do today, but that would also help him out in the long run. He shook his head of the thought, though, since he couldn't think up anything that would work in such a manner.

Instead, he just kept walking around the town. Admittedly, it was a little warmer than it had been these past few weeks. The sun was out, but there were still a good number of clouds in the sky, covering it up every so often. The air wasn't too cold, but still around maybe 7 degrees Celsius. Warm enough, for sure, since winter was still around. It likely would be for a bit longer, but hey, stuff happens. It was still cool enough for Hiro to be wearing his black trench coat over his normal clothing, just to keep from being overly cold. Eventually, if he moved around enough, it would turn into being too warm for him to wear it, so he'd take it off, but then put it back on. This weather was the perfect temperature to make you wear a jacket, make you question why you wore the jacket, then make you remember why you had it 10 minutes later, and the cycle repeats after that. He chuckled at the thought of such a silly thing, and how true it actually was to life. But, the feeling of the coat was lovely to him, since his inner clothing wasn't very thick. So it was light enough that he could wear the trench coat without many problems. Plus, coat pockets are awesome.

He looked around himself, and noticed that there was a lot of people there in the streets today. Maybe something was going on. Maybe there was a sale, or a new building had opened up, or there was a gathering happening, but there sure were a lot of people on the streets today. Almost enough to make him actually legitimately wonder what was going on. He let it slide, though, and just kept his mind about himself. If anything happened around him, he'd react, but until then, he only worried about what he was going to try and do. Hiro continued to walk through the streets, looking through shop windows at random goods in the stores that he passed, and every so often he took a look at the stalls that were set up to try and sell some random items that players had found on their adventures, or heirlooms that Landers wanted to sell to make a bit of money. It's kind of a bad thing when Landers have to give up things that are very precious to them, in order to sell to players. Then again, most adventurers were only in the market for rare or one-of-a-kind things, so it's understandable that heirlooms from the Landers would be valuable. All things considered, though, the plaza where Hiro stopped was fairly busy, but he found himself needing to take a little break. Walking over to an open bench, Hiro sat down, and started to watch all the people around him, still thinking about what he could do to kill some time.

[695 Words]
Tag: Maia

[Maia]

Londonium seemed more crowded than usual. People gathered at every corner. Maybe the warmer weather drew them out. Maybe there was some sort of event going on. Or maybe, just maybe, this was fate’s way of telling Maia it was time to start a new chapter in her Elder Tales career. Carrying her head high, she picked her way through the lively streets, taking care not to touch any of the riff raff that passed her by. Surrounded by activity and shops, she felt quite at home. Fabulous cities like these suited her far better than the dull Scottish town she grew up in… or the Windsor Greatwood, for that matter.

Since the Apocalypse, the charismatic assassin had spent her days attempting to make a name for herself the old fashioned way. She talked to important people. She showed off. She made her awfully plain starter gear come off as stylish and elegant. None of it worked. Despite her best efforts, all she accomplished was staying as a nameless, fameless level one newbie.

Finally, she had conceded that she needed to advance in those silly classes of hers to actually compete with others. She had never played a videogame before and had no sense for MMORPG mechanics. No matter! Someone as talented as her, who could ace any test in the real world, would have no trouble catching up to a bunch of nerds. Once she had might and skills to back up her awesomeness, no one would ever be able to overlook her again.

First, in her infinite wisdom, Maia had decided to try learning combat basics. Getting started had been pretty rough, especially when that vulgar red headed sorcerer had interfered. Still, she got used to it. In a single day, she had slain so many boars that porcine kind would fear her blade forever! Well, at least they should have. Those soulless beasts never remembered her after they respawned. Fighting them was monotonous and unrewarding. She did not feel much like she was making much progress.

To change things up, she planned to use civilization as her training grounds instead. She had an entirely different set of abilities to practice. Full of confidence, she placed her hands on her hips and scanned the area. Her grey eyes soon fell on the the perfect stage for her perfect performance. A few dozen individuals had collected around a booth selling vanity baubles. The wares were just a little too cheap for her tastes, but it they would do for now.

Purposefully, she started towards her target. Since she was far too important to waste her time working manually for gold, she could not actually afford anything. That would soon change. Without hesitation, she marched straight up to the vendor. Cutting in front of everyone, she smiled at him and activated Allure.

”Today’s your lucky day,” Maia began. ”Your wares have caught my eye. They look wonderful, and they’d look even better on me.” She completely believed every word. ”Since I’m feeling generous, I’ll take the best piece you’ve got.” Her tone made it clear she expected it as a gift, not a purchase. ”Just think of the advertising potential! People will fight to give you their money so they can look more like me…” It was not stealing. She was legitimately doing him a favor.

Unimpressed, the Lander responded with an impatient glare. “Back of the line, miss,” he insisted. Before she had a chance to object, an onlooker behind her shoved her out of the way. Maia practically fumed. Loudly, she called out, ”How dare you be so rude to a lady. I’ll never shop here again!” Had she done something wrong? It never occurred to her that she might have severely overestimated the extent of her power as a Courtesan.

Clearly distressed, she plopped down roughly on a nearby bench. She had not been paying attention and almost landed on some poor adventurer who had already been sitting there. Not even sparing him a glance, she crossed her arms, pouting with all her might. ”Of all the nerve! I swear, I’ll never understand Landers…”

[699 Words]
Tag: Hirosame

[Hirosame]

Not too long after he had sat down, Hiro heard a little bit of a commotion nearby. One of the vendors and, possibly, one of his customers, were having a bit of a dispute. The vendor didn't seem all that impressed by the girl he was talking to at all, and the girl seemed a little bit too offended to actually take seriously right now. But, his thought of this girl changed immediately when she stormed right on over to where he was sitting. Taking the hint, Hiro scooted over on the bench just in the nick of time, as the girl had planted herself right next to him on the bench, and crossed her arms in frustration. A perplexed expression formed on his face at the girl, and he just let things go without too much trouble. A few moments passed where he kept looking at this girl with a strange expression, but that soon ended as he turned his confusion into an idea. Perhaps this girl wanted to buy something, but just didn't have enough money for it. Which was surprising, since the item in question was rather cheap. Hiro stood up, and moved a few steps away from the bench, placing a hat down on the ground from his inventory.

Hiro took in a deep breath, and pointed his hand over his head. A bright spotlight shined down on him, as he activated the skill Showtime! from the Idol skill list. He let the light hover over his head for a few more seconds, before another deep breath. A few people stopped and looked at him weirdly, but after another moment, Hiro let out the first line of a song. Hiro's voice rang out brightly in the crowded area, as more and more people began to stop and listen to his song. The song from his childhood, the one that he remembered most fondly flowed out of his mouth and into the air. As people stopped to listen to the song, a few of them threw a few coins into the hat that he had placed down. Smiling to the ones who did this, and pointing to them during the song, he followed with a nod to them, as thanks. As the guitar part of the song came around, he opened his inventory and pulled out the guitar that a friend had loaned him for this song. He switched back to singing very shortly afterwards, and let his voice ring out louder as the last verse of the song came around. As the song ended, Hiro began to take a bow to the audience that had gathered around him.

A small group clapped for him, as he picked up the hat and nodded to them all again. "Thank you!" He said, and walked back over to the bench. He sat back down, and held the hat out to the girl, a smile on his face. "Here, use this." He leaned forward, looking at her softly. "Whatever item you wanted to buy, you can probably go ahead and get it now. All I ask is that you bring the hat back." He winked to the girl, smiling even wider. "It's my favorite hat." He put the hat down onto the bench, and started to look around the plaza once again, at all the other stalls that were around, but not taking notice of anything major. If all went well, though, the girl would take the hat, buy the item she wanted to buy, and then come right back. She'd give him his hat back, he'd take it, and they'd both go about their days. Feeling good after doing something as nice as this, Hiro nodded to himself this time. It felt nice, doing something for others, especially those who haven't had quite as much experience as he had. He stopped himself with that thought, though, as it definitely felt like he was being way too overconfident about himself. The good feeling from helping the girl out very quickly faded, and he found himself feeling stupid for thinking so highly of himself. It's not like him to be praising himself over something as simple as what he had just done, since it was in all actuality, very simple. Feeling a bit upset at himself now, he just hoped that the girl could get the item she wanted with the money. That would make things better.

[736 Words]
Tag: Maia

[Maia]

Completely caught up in her self righteous fuming, Maia did not notice the poor adventurer sitting next to her until he stood up. Surprised by the sudden movement, she momentarily went silent. She eyed the hat that he had dropped warily. What? Was that supposed to mean something to her? People who played MMORPGS like Elder Tales were a little strange. This would not be the first time some subtle attempt at communication went over her head.

As it turned out, his hat drop had nothing to do with her. Instead, it had been preparation for a performance. He pointed at the sky, activating a mysterious spotlight from nowhere that could only be the result of some strange skill. Then he began to sing. Maia could not believe this was actually happening. People did not break into music for no reason. She had just failed to use her own role play subclass in front of him. The only explanation was that he was trying to upstage her… and he was succeeding. With every passing verse, more and more onlookers gathered in awe of his talent. He even pulled out a guitar!

White hot indignation swelled in her chest. That insufferable shopkeeper had been pretty bad, but this was absolutely absurd. This must be what being KSed felt like. Now she understood why gamers raged so much when a jerk appeared out of nowhere and took their silly experience points. It was not about the levels. It was about wounding someone’s pride. Well, she had pride to spare. He would not defeat her so easily.

When the song ended, he bowed professionally. At this point, Maia was willing to let him go. She could be the better person. She would not stoop to his level and pick a fight. Unfortunately, he apparently was not done with her. As if intentionally adding insult to injury, he offered her the hat full of money. Oh god, he even nodded to himself smugly. That wink and smile made her blood boil. He thought he was doing her a favor! She snapped. ”Do I look like a beggar to you?” she asked sharply, glaring at him with all of her might. ”You can keep your hat.” Who did he think he was, looking down on her like that? Sure, he was stronger. Sure, he had nicer gear. That was no excuse to bully her.

Barely restraining the impulse to hit him, the assassin rose to her feet. She prodded him in the chest. ”I don’t remember asking for your help, so next time, kindly mind your own business,” she asserted. Huffing, she crossed her arms. “Honestly, taking advantage of newer players is the absolute worst.” It never crossed her mind that his intentions might have been pure. He just wanted to make her look bad because he could. She would not let him get away with it. ”Thanks to your showing off, I will have to find somewhere else to practice my abilities,” she complained. Everyone who was anyone knew that working the same crowd twice in a row was too difficult to be worth the effort.

”You messed up my training! So how are you going to make it up to me?”

[553 Words]
Tag:Hirosame

[Hirosame]

...Huh? What? Hiro's eyes opened slightly, in amazement. The monk looked slowly over to the girl whom he apparently just insulted, and wondered how or why this girl had suddenly snapped at him. Having actually believed that he was doing something good for someone else, he didn't expect such a powerful reaction from the girl. His mouth, eyes, and eyebrows never moved as he watched the girl erupt with rage over apparently nothing. Hiro had no idea what he had, or hadn't, done, and just figured that he was doing something nice. Instead, it was as if he had taken this girl's underwear and flew it over the high school building on the flag pole, early on a Friday morning. Confusion continued to sweep over him, as the girl ranted on about how he should mind his own business from now on, and that he was basically just in her way now. The monk found himself getting just a tad bit angry with the girl, who could have just left it alone after basically bitching him out for what he did. But, instead, she decided to take it a few steps further with a few more lovely choice words.

How was he the worst for helping someone else of a lower level out? And, what abilities did this girl have? She's level 1, in all regards, and therefore had barely anything to get herself going in the streets. As much as he wanted to keep his cool about things, the moment she asked for him to repay her he lost a bit of his sanity. His eyes finally widening to the point of complete shock and amazement, he looked back to the ground, sighed, and closed his eyes. "Sheesh, such a tsundere." Hiro muttered underneath his breath, hopefully quiet enough for the girl to not hear him at all. He stood up, and looked at the considerably shorter girl, an unpleasant look in his eyes. "Look, I'm sorry about whatever happened with the clerk over there, but I was just trying to help you out a little bit." He began. "Whatever offense I caused you, I apologize for that, too. But, I was just trying to help you out a little bit. That's all." He kept his voice at the same calm level as much as he could, which honestly wasn't too hard for him to do. Getting angry at the girl right now would do nothing but fuel her lust for revenge even further, so it's best to keep things calm and peaceful.

As much as possible, anyways. Hiro wasn't a fan of it, but he could more than definitely start a shouting-fest with this girl, if that's what she really wanted. But, he needed to avoid that. Any bad publicity reflected on the guild as much as it did to him. He needed to be a leader to others outside of his guild, as much as inside. Sighing once again, placing his hands into his pockets, he looked at the girl, Maia, once again. "Alright, I'll pay you back somehow. Is there anything you need done? Any little chores or something that you wouldn't want to do yourself?" Probably something else that the assassin would get on his case for, he figured, but it doesn't hurt to offer such things. He didn't don a smile for this encounter, though, as would have been his usual routine, but he more than definitely wouldn't do whatever task she assigned him begrudgingly. By some method of reality, Hiro had insulted this girl to a point where she demanded recompense for his action, so he figured he might as well do something to make it better, in her world. It was then that he realized that this girl has her own little world, revolving constantly around herself. But, a lot of people are like that in the world. Some of them have a silver lining, where they make up for it all with a secret charity fund or something that they constantly donate to. Some of them change their ways, or they have a change of heart because of some little kid that looked up to them. Maybe this girl had a thing like that, too. So, he'd be as patient as he can be, and just try to get things over with.

[721 Words]
Tag: Maia

[Maia]

This moron clearly did not get it. The look of amazement in his expression only made Maia angrier. Did he honestly think she would be thankful for such a flashy, self-indulgent display? Impossible! He was like one of those rich boys back at Oxford who liked to drive around campus in their expensive foreign sports cars. You were supposed to be grateful just for the privilege of their company. Then, they would buy you a nice meal and expect you to worship them for their generosity, even after you already offered to pay for it yourself. She did not know whether he was loaded or not, but she could tell he was an above average player. His in game success had made him dense in the worst possible way. She would fix that!

He closed his eyes and sighed, muttering under his breath. The assassin could not quite make out what he was saying. She assumed that it was something absurd and unpleasant. Finally, he did the right thing by apologizing and explaining himself. He followed up by offering to do something as penance. She seriously doubted his sincerity. It was almost like he was just trying to appease her to get rid of her. She would not let him off so easily. He needed to understand what he had done wrong. ”Your intentions do not matter, Monk. It’s your actions that we all have to live with,” she started, clearly still on a self righteous trip. She was only getting started.

“I am not sure how showing off qualifies as ‘helping me out’, but did it ever occur to you I might not want to be helped?” Maia retorted derisively. “Assuming that I needed you in the first place was really condescending.” Seriously. There was nothing in either world she hated more than being underestimated. “Just because I am level one does not mean I am some weak, defenseless person who can’t learn how to do things on my own.” She valued her independence above all else. She would rather visit the Cathedral a dozen times then rely on anyone else, especially a total stranger.

Placing her hands on her hips, she continued, "You stole everyone’s attention while I was trying to practice my subclass skills on them.” That was pretty bad by itself. As a gamer, he should have known better than stealing someone else’s farming spot. ”But your real crime is much more serious. You insulted my pride in public.” Her mind worked quickly to come up with a suitable punishment for such a dire offense. While she considered several options, her gaze fell on his hat. That gave her a perfect idea.

“So if you really intend to pay me back…” Her tone warned that whatever she had in mind would not be something nearly as simple as a chore. “Let me embarrass you in return!” Looking smug, she pointed at the gold he had just offered her. “Take that money of yours and buy yourself a nice, frilly dress to wear around town today.” Maia figured that he probably was not man enough to stick to his word and accept her ridiculous challenge. She was simply giving him a chance to prove her wrong. “Maybe then you’ll understand what it feels like to be looked down on.”

[578 Words]
[Tag: Hirosame]
[OOC: Again, sorry for my character. Q___Q ]

[Hirosame]

Is this girl for real? Like, seriously. Something about this character seemed to make no sense, yet her idea of revenge was something that Hiro wasn't so sure that he would qualify as "revenge" at all. Making him wear a dress? While he'd never done such a thing before in his life, nor did he necessarily want to, it would still be something to try out. So, he shrugged a bit, and recalled how much this girl liked to rant and rave about things. He still wasn't sure how he had insulted this girl's pride in public. Or had insulted her at all. Then again, ego is a very powerful thing that causes people to lose sight of everything by the flick of a switch. After trying for so long not to obtain one, Hiro found that life is more enjoyable when you just considered yourself as another person, among a sea of people. One of the rest. But, being who you are inside, and acting how you do outside, is what makes you stand out. Ideas, ideals, hopes, dreams, stuff like that, people don't necessarily understand unless you show them that you're willing to give it your all when it comes to doing what you believe in.

So, maybe it was a test that this girl was giving him. Maybe she wanted him to prove that he'd repay her however she wanted him to. So, Hiro stood up, and started to walk over to the shop that the girl had pointed to. The dress, right there in the front of the store, looked somewhat expensive, but Hiro still walked in and bought the dress. He went into the changing room, put the dress on, took off his hat, and put his hair up into a small ponytail. The pink, frilly dress flowed around him, as he walked back over to the counter to buy a wide brimmed summer hat. Hiro walked back out into the crowd, and looked over to the girl, making his way back over to her. "There, happy?" He asked in the lightest voice he could. Hiro's female voice had been one of his most favorite voices, thanks to the internet being a very anonymous environment. He wanted to do something to help this girl's revenge go along a bit further. He walked back out into the crowd, and pointed up into the air, calling Showtime! down onto him once more. The crowd slowed to a stop around him, as his song started to play in his mind, then out into the area.

The song he began to sang was one that he had practiced before with his normal voice, but by mixing this new voice into the problem, he thought that it might be a bit more convincing. Although the song itself did not fit the tone of how he was dressed, he still sang it out as best as he could. Letting the notes flow from his mind, passing through his heart, and then out his mouth, Hiro's voice had never hit this pitch before. Being a bit embarrassed by the dress and how he looked presently seemed to help out a good bit, as it caused his voice to hit new heights that he'd never gotten to before. As the song came to an end, Hiro let out a soft breath, looked up at the people, and smiled as childishly as he could. Thanks to the anime-esque theme of this game, he probably looked like a convincing girl here. Hiro walked back into the store, went into the changing room, put his normal clothing back on, took his hair down, and put his hat on again, before returning the dress. Hiro walked back out of the store, and went back to the girl with a large and grand embarrassed blush on his face. Sitting back down on the bench, he turned to her a little bit, while crossing his arms. He didn't say anything. He just sat there, waiting for whatever kind of punishment he'd get from the girl after that performance.

[679 Words]
Tag: Maia
((OOC: Sorry for such a late post. >.<;))