Another Day Of Life In A Videogame

    Mizuki walks through Alne in something of a daze. Almost like an NPC, walking to common destinations like vendors or the inn, snapping out of it, then walking somewhere else. Lost in thought, except she's still too mentally tired to think much after last night. Eventually she stops to eat something; rezzing some food from her inventory. She takes a bite and no, no, she just *cannot* handle soggy crackers right now. She rezzes some meat dropped by a monster earlier, ripping off bites with sharp were fang teeth. At least it has flavor...!

A Spriggan hums a syncopated upbeat tune to herself as she approaches, her pace quiet but occasionally skipping in sync with the offbeat rhythm of the melody, which causes the small brown burlap bag (containing something) tightly held in one hand to swing about. When she passes by Mizuki, she abruptly pivots and sits down on the curb next to her. "Hello, fellow adventurer, mind if I sit here?", she asks, /after/ having sit down already. Bag placed in her lap, she begins fiddling with the string that holds it closed.

    Mizuki's ears perk up at the melody. And then suddenly someone is sitting next to her. Some kind of... battle nurse, by the outfit. Mizuki blinks at her, and quickly puts the half-eaten meat back in her inventory.

    'Fellow adventurer?' "I'm Mizuki. What's your name?" She smiles awkwardly, although having a muzzle kind of distorts her expression. "God. I sound like a little kid." She does extend a hand to shake though.

Uta finally manages to untie the whole bag, revealing its contents: a small number of assorted vegetables. a few carrots, a tomato, zucchini, a couple of onions, an eggplant and, lo! A whole cabbage! "Uta. Pleased to meet you, Mizuki!", exclaimes the battle nurse. "Don't worry, don't worry, please continue with your meal. I was about to start myself."

    "...carrot?", she says, offering one of the orange vegetables with her left hand, while the right one is still extended to either be shaken, or waiting for a handshake.

    Mizuki looks at the contents of the bag. "Are you making a salad? That's a really good idea... I wonder what raw stuff would work as dressing..." She shakes the hand and takes the offered carrot, although she has to shift back from were fang to eat it. As a human she's caucasian with a slightly thin, oval face. She peels the carrot with a knife, then takes a bite. "I don't think I've had one of these in weeks..."R
    She glances back at Uta. "You're awfully nice, offering food to random strangers you just met. I wonder why some people are like you and others are... meaner."

Uta shudders. "I'm not even /trying/ to make a salad. Last thing I need is more soggy crackers. Which... I don't mind, actually, it's just the disconnection between the sight, the texture, and the flavour. Yeuck." She does make a face at the last comment. "No, no, I'm playing it safe and eating the vegetables one by one. Safer that way." She blinks at Mizuki. "But if you want to take the risk upon yourself, hey, feel free to. I'll trade you my vegetables for any other kind of raw food." She leans back and thinks, looking into the distance. "Oh, uhm, I guess I'm... just trying to be a decent human being? I mean, I'm lucky to have found this Lander who seems to have his house PERPETUALLY invaded by moles with increasingly sophisticated musical taste every passing day... but anyway, there's this Lander, I show up at his house, he asks me to rid his vegetable garden from moles, I spend half the morning going all xylophonist on their heads with my magical musical stick, and lo! Before I know it, I'm rewareded with some numbers I don't quite understand and a bag of vegetables." She lifts the burlap bag a bit from her lap, to show it to Mizuki, still looking away in the distance. "While it last, I do not have to worry about starving."

    She turns to Mizuki, looking at her in the eyes, suddenly going all serious. "But not everyone is this lucky. There are people who risk death and starvation out there. They're under a ridiculous amount of pressure." She leans forward and lowers her voice a bit, looking at Mizuki straight in the eyes. "...be kind to them."

    She keeps silent for a moment, and then, all of a sudden, she asks, "...wait, weren't you a cat a moment ago?"

    'I'll trade my vegetables for any other kind of raw food.' Mizuki rezzes another piece of monster meat. "You sure about that?"

    She just looks... confused at the tale of musical whack-a-mole. She's never encountered that quest. But she looks pleased at the 'trying to be a decent human being' comment. And blinks at the sudden intensity. "I try..."

    She blinks more at the question. "I'm a were fang." Holding the carrot in her teeth, she pulls her hair aside with one hand and taps the brand on the back of her neck with the other. "Did you not... read the race choices?"

    Mizuki's eyes widen. "Did you go into this game entirely blind right before we all got stuck? Have you just been doing the same thing every day and not talking with people??"

Gwen has been out shopping for materials various things for food. However, the biggest thing is a bunch of various materials Uta and Mizuki might see her finishing a deal with a Lancer merchant take a rather large bag and banishes into her inventory before she heads off once more. She catches sight of Mizuki and Uta for a moment pausing with interest as she sees Mizuki shit back to a human form.

She strides towards pair looking them over for a moment and speaks up.

"Afternoon, and ... that's why guilds like mine are important. There's a lot of people who need to learn how to survive here."

Uta extends her hand at the monster meat. "...Deal!", she says, extending the bag of vegetables.

    "Uhm...", she goes, when Mizuki asks about race choices. "...I might actually have skipped that part and..." her voice lowers to a mumble, but Mizuki (and almost certainly Gwen) can definitely make out, "...and all the other parts and... and... just let the random generator pick everything."

    She clears her throat abruptly, as if for resuming a discussion, which is exactly what she segues into. "...Yes. Yes, that's exactly what I've been doing," she finally owns up to.

    Gwen's words do get her attention. "...surviving. I'm very interested in that activity. Please tell me more about it."

    Mizuki goes to continue peeling the carrot and it shatters into polygons in her hands. She looks at the bag of vegetables. "...Are you sure you want raw meat?" as she tries to imagine eating the veggies without doing anything to them. Eh, it'd still add some variety to the meat... She'll trade if Uta's sure, though.

    She offers Gwen a smile and "Hi!" as she arrives, but at the moment her concern for Uta is more pressing.

    "So... you've been out of the loop on everything going on? How Ezzo's all glitched out and many of us worked to rescue people from it, the formation of the Alliances, how there's a serial PKer -- err, a serial killer here in town?"

Gwen says "I'm with Crescent Moon we tended to run events and teach people the basics of playing at least before we ended up here full time. We're more focusing on helping and teaching people at this point. Are you looking to learn? Oh, I'm Gwen Pendragon."

She notes before she carries on.

"Sounds like you need to get some updates on what's been going on. Yeah someone who pulled off a kill in town isn't something to take lightly. Though if this was a root town? The killer would have been pasted by the Royal Guard."

    Uta nods to confirm her intention to get raw meat. "This is safe to eat like this, right?" is the first thing she asks upon receiving the monster bits in exchange, poking at it for good measure. She winces in anticipation just a moment before Mizuki's carrot shatters into polygons, as if she was expecting it.

    "...Oh, I've heard that Ezzo was in trouble and we needed to save people from there," she says, still with a hint of embarrassment in her voice. "I helped with that. Not... sure about the exact details. No idea about the Alliances. I..." she thinks for a moment. "I had heard about /one/ player being killed. I did not know there were /more/. Do we know who the killer is? Is it, like, one? Is it... more people?" She turns to Gwen, "I am definitely looking to learn. I, uh, was telling Mizuki right here that I'm... pretty much... not up to speed with how this world works." She looks down, hands under her thighs. "Sorry, as... you might have noticed, I might be a bit absent minded at times. I... tend to miss pretty obvious and important tuff."

    This is safe to eat, right? Mizuki shrugs. "I dunno, I was desperate to taste something, and also a were fang. No one else has been willing to try it, so I don't know if species matters. But, people eat sashimi and steak tartar, right? Raw meat is unsafe in the real world because of parasites and microbes. Why would they put parasites in the game? And microbes make things go rotten pretty quickly... but these items stay good in my inventory forever. If it doesn't work, at least we know, and you can probably get any sickness status effect cured by an Acolyte."

    Mizuki continues to dispense information: "The killer left a calling card that matched that of a known serial PKer active before the Apocalypse. Maybe it's a copycat, maybe it's the same person, who knows? But it's the calling card that was recognized, some symbol they put on the gravestone, we don't like, know their actual identity. Fortunately, it turns out people still respawn, though it takes 24 hours now."

    And more! "The Scale Emblem Alliance is working to find a way out of the game; they train newbies in the Aincrad Liberation Front guild, but it's run kinda like a military. If you're good at economics or politics or something the Divine Dragons might be more your speed though, they support the escape effort that way."

    Mizuki continues, "I already know how to play the game so I was able to join as a Knight instead of dealing with the pseudo-military side. The other Alliances want to stay here and make this world a nicer place to live in permanently, I guess. I'm not too clear on the difference between Olympus and New World, though..."

Gwen says "We're still sending ships to pull people out at this rate who knows how long it will take. Not much to go on about it, we're waiting for them to ... return but we're going to be waiting a bit longer there to find out what the victim knows. From what little I know? Just one killer, but who knows at this point."

Uta nods at both, and goes silent. After giving the topic much thought, she finally replies, "I /definitely/ want to leave this game, but... let's say I'm not militaristic or anything. I prefer the... uh... easy laid back approach, if you know what I mean." She looks around, even if there is nothing special to look at. "Granted, I suppose we have not much choice but be ready and face... dangers, right now. But... hm." She thinks more. "Let us just say that I am an independent thinker, and I do not mesh well with blindly following orders based merely on rank and not respect one has earned."

    Once again, something resurfaces from the past. She looks down at herself, then back at Mizuki. "I think I look medical. Think I could cure myself if the raw meat causes me issues?"

    "I hear that, but given we're all starting from nothing here, I suppose everyone would've had to earn their ranks..." Mizuki hmms. She also changes back to cat form for now. "I dunno if the ALF is actually _that_ military, anyway. I'll ask later."

    Mizuki shrugs at the later question. "Depends on what skills you have. Do any of them say they remove negative status effects? Which ones?" Blink. "Do... you even know how to use your skills? Okay. If you go into the menu you can find your skills, and they'll say how to activate them. Physical skills, or 'sword artes' usually require you to take a certain stance and position your weapon a certain way, while magic skills or 'wave artes' usually require you to say an incantation... There's some exceptions though, stuff like elemental physical skills that don't require an incant, or skills that activate through a series of hand positions, but mostly it's one of those two things."

Gwen looks Uta over for a moment seeming tosize her up. "I have some skill with it, myself but my spec doesn't get it's more useful healing down the line." Mizuki handles the basic lesson as Gewn is seen opening her mouth. Then she closes it as Mizuki explains what she was going to.

"Need to keep track of your HP as well given well it's not really a game anymore I find. Also an indpendent thinker huh?"

Uta goes uuuuuuhhh....

    ...and opens her menu for Mizuki to take a look at. "...this should be the starting point?" she says. From the Menu, Mizuki can see that Uta is a Godhand/Bard (Aerialist) with the Doctor profession. She stands ready to look up more information at Mizuki's command. "I... am told I'm supposed to keep things at bay with my stick while other people go do the hard work?" She turns to Gwen. "Oh yes. The HP thing is one I've been told very early on. VERY important."

Uta nods at Gwen. "I think a lot. I read a lot. I- oh, which reminds me. Do you happen to know where the library is?"

Gwen says "Tanks like me exist to keep the enemy focused on us over the rest of the party. I haven't had a chance to see if there is one but the Hunter's Guild has a lot of records from their jobs they give out. They likely have archives of some sort. I admit I just used to check things online rather than in the game. I really should look into that, however, I have some projects to focus on at the moment. Crafting related if you are wondering."

She will offer Uta a friend invite then note.

"I have to get back to it but if you have questions or want to talk give me a ring."

    Mizuki recognizes the gestures Uta's making. "We can't see eachother's menus." Uta describes what she's been told, Mizuki will ask her to read off her class. "Hmm. The Doctor profession doesn't actually give you healing magic, but it does allow you to craft medicines and improves your chance to use ingredients successfully." She rezzes some Green Herbs from her inventory and hands them over. "Here, if you buy some empty bottles you can use these to craft potions that will cure a number of status effects, including poison. They're easy to find, they're an uncommon drop from the beginner monsters just outside town."

    "As for Godhand/Bard... hmm. Basically, you're probably going to want to start combat with a song to buff your whole party, then leap in with the front-liners and punch things with barehanded sword artes. Although... I think you technically have access some magic and even healing spells, so if you prefer to be a back line caster you can build for that too."

    She nods to Gwen. "You're not a particularly tough class, so make sure the tank's got the enemy's attention before you engage, and if an enemy turns on you, stop attacking it and focus on dodging until they can get its attention again."

    Mizuki scratches her chin. "You've got a lot of options. You can do some of basically everything BUT tanking; DPS, support, control... See what you like doing and focus on that, or learn all of them and take advantage of your flexibility, I guess."

Uta nods at Gewn and, after accpeting her friend request, sends one back (and one to Mizuki). "...Hunter's Guild. Will have to keep that in mind. Thanks, and see you. I am /definitely/ interested in surviving."

    Mizuki's lessons are listened to with undivided, focused attention. "...you really /do/ know this game. I might need... explanations for some of those technical terms, but I believe I get the gist of it. I am forever indebted to you."

    "So, wait, wait. I have to... sing? Literally... /sing/? Is it a technical term or am I, like, the squad's opening theme?"

And suddenly, a Nevarri just happened to time her exit out of the Hunter's guild right into this conversation, having spotted Mizuki from afar and begun her approach. "Hiiiyoo Mizuki-chaan!" She playfully greets with a wave, before her bright blue eyes catch sight of the spriggan, and she arches an eyebrow, "Ah, you're one newbie! I remember you from day one, I think. I don't think I we properly met..."

The red haired Salamander, now sporting a more touch-stylish dress than the starting gear she'd been dropped down to when this all happened, strikes a pose, pointing her fingers to her eyes and then back to Uta, "Your explorer's guide to Yamato is here to help! Name's is Nevarri! Nice to meet you."

    "I'm just trying to help! We're all in this together." Mizuki smiles, then looks thoughtful and strokes her chin. "Hmm. I wasn't originally planning on playing a musical character, but before the apocalypse I found this hidden musical puzzle, and when I solved it it gave me a tattoo and unlocked Song abilities." The player hasn't decided where the tattoo is yet. "It's... the only thing I didn't lose in the reset, come to think of it. Anyway, each song you have access to has a distinctive musical intro you can hear in the menu. Sing it, hum it, play it on an instrument, that'll start it up... from there you can do anything musical and it'll extend it."

    "I happen to know how to sing RL, so I was able to do that, but I never learned any instruments. I suppose you could try humming or whistling or maybe get a kazoo or something if you don't know how to sing or play an instrument..."

    Here comes Nevarri who is also adding a suffix to Mizuki's name. Life is an anime. "That's right! Nevarri knows a lot about the game too! I know a lot about the system, but nothing about local geography or many of the monsters besides what I've seen so far, except the ones they ported from Ragnarok Online. She'd know more about that!"

    Uta says, "Hi, name's Uta. Pleased to see you again, Nevarri! And yes, I'm a newbie and can use all the... wait, wait, wait, explorer's guide?" She looks between Mizuki and Nevarri. "Geography?"

    Silence.

    "...do you know where the library is?"

    "I could hold a tune before being stuck here. And, as I've told you earlier, that Lander keeps making me play mole xylophone, more and more difficult every day, so... uh..."

    She goes lost in thought, staring into the void. "...I wonder if it's some sort of training specific to people like me..."

Nevarri giggles and plants her hands at her hips, "Yep! Before the Apocalypse I was making video guides for exploring the whole Yamato area. I'd thought about giving the other nations a go in the future after the expansion dropped, but--" She shrugs.

There's then a pause at the question of the library, and she points to the Hunter's Guild Hall, "Um... They have a Library in the hunter's guild... I guess?"

She glances between the pair and asks, "So how're you both holding up? Things have been supier crazy, I know... But at least the Guilds are starting to doing things... Have you joined up somewhere yet?" Nevarri's character profile happens to indicate that she's in the Silver Sword Guild.

    Mole xylophone? "That... /sounds/ pretty weird? I'd say you just got some weird random event, but... who knows, after the Apocalypse? Maybe the game actually is trying to help newbies. Perhaps we should ask more of them if they've had similar experiences."

    She looks to Neva. How's she holding up? At that she looks down at the ground, ears and tail drooping. Last night was... rough, but she doesn't answer. Neva moves right on into guilds, and she brightens up slightly at that. "Yeah. The Odysseia Knights. Looking for a way out, but I don't want to join a military and I'm no good at politics and stuff."

Uta point at Mizukis. "That's exactly me. I'll need to find something like that. Getting out, not joining military, not doing politics. Stayin' alive."

    It takes all of her willpower not to disco. Bard instincts kicking in? Nah, probably just Uta's player being Uta's player.

    Uta sighs. "Yeah, don't tell me. I wanted to visit the European server. Meet players there. And do the thing that most people, I believe, connect to this game for: engaging in lengthy cultural discussions about topical subjects, in my case, it would be European Renaissance and Romantic poetry. Clearly, this game would have been the perfect vehicle for engaging in that kind of conversation?" She sighs. "Such a disappointment that this did not happen..."

    Mizuki blinks. "Well... Maybe you could join the Knights with a little more practice? I mean... we all got our levels reset in the Apocalypse so it's not like they expect people to be at the level cap."

    That's what Uta joined for? "Umm... while there's a lot you can do in this game, and everyone probably gets slightly different things out of it, I think we're mostly here for a mix of social interaction and the fantasy of being able to do stuff that /matters/. What do most people do in real life? Stand behind a counter, sit in an office, doing repetitive stuff for a paycheck. Maybe you even get to know whose day you just improved by speeding up their computer or whatever, but... You look at the world and it feels like you never do anything BIG, right?"

    "In here, the quests give you the fantasy of saving lives and being a hero and stuff, and some of the later ones may have you turning the tide of wars against evil and stuff. And by playing together with your friends, your unique combination of abilities helps them out, and that feels nice. Even if you're not great at first, it's a videogame, so you can improve fast... and there's always some incremental but measurable improvement you can quickly make."

    Mizuki stretches her arms over her head. "Plus, after a long day when you just want to veg? You can mindlessly kill any monsters that are easy for you, and you'll get items and character levels that will help you out doing the other stuff."

"Uh..." Nevarri is not entirely sure how serious Uta is being about her expected activities on the European server, so she just laughs awkwardly... "Eheh I suppose some expectations can't be met.."

At the mention fo politics and military with regards to the guilds, the redhead blinks in confusion, "Umm.. I know a certain amount of organization is going to be had, but I didn't think we were getting military grade organization...."

She then shakes her head, "The way I see it though, rushing the tower is just going to be a pain... We could probably get more done exploring the game world." She then points to herself, "That's why I'm with Silver Sword. They don't have any interest in throwing themselves at Aincrad."

    Uta takes in everthing Mizuki says. Silent. Attentive.

    She remains in silence, meditating on those words further.

    And finally, she slaps her face. "Oh, great. Just... /great/. See... I... I guess it's obvious by now that I'm more into literature and narrative. Which has served as the primary vehicle of escapism since the dawn of man. But I can see how this particular incarnation, incorporating game mechanics into it, provides further engagement and sense of accomplishment. I have read something about this in a monography about the modern directions of storytelling... Gary Gygax was the name of the guy, right? Anyway..."

    She shakes her head and laughs nervously. "This... you know, this is a textbook case of a geek fantasy come true, where skills with usually little market value in the real world suddenly become extremely valuable. I find myself in this once-in-a-lifetime situation, and guess what? I'm the /wrong kind of geek/!" She shakes her fist at the heavens. "Why couldn't this have been a narrative-driven text-based game? Then people would have stopped mocking me for picking literature in college! But no, NO. It had to be a fully immersive videog-"

    She suddenly stops, and her posture shifts from furious to self-conscious. "...I ...I am sorry, I was just... you know... getting genre-technical there. I hope I have not offended anyone with my little outburst."

    Mizuki blinks at something Neva said. "Wait, there's a library in the hunter's guild? Checking out those books might actually tell us some stuff about the game..." She scratches the back of her head. "I still don't understand the difference between The Olympus Alliance and the New World Alliance... I need to learn about all the other guilds sometime." She doesn't seem put off about lack of interest in Aincrad. She's pretty sure noone thinks it's the ONLY way out.

    Mizuki listens attentively to Uta. "No, that's really interesting! I studied computers, not literature, but I read a lot so maybe we can talk about stuff sometime! As long as you're not one of the ones that dismisses 'genre fiction'."

    "Heh, well... it's funny. Several months ago I had no aspirations of career advancement and this woulda been a dream come true. But just as I was starting to get my shit together... Also, I uh... was not intending to play this character that much. Now I'm stuck as a catgirl for possibly years." She grins nervously. "As someone else said... we all have our own issues to deal with in this place."

"The difference seems to be ideological really..." Nevarri comments about the alliances.

To Uta's little rant, Nevarri is somewhat quiet, plucking her glasses of silently and taking some time to clean it, keeping her eyes averted, "Y-yeah... Literary escapism... Books... Reading..." It's not that she doesn't see the value, but given her own conditions. "Yeah, I used to be interested in exploring worlds in books... But you know..." She trails off a bit there.

She pushes the glasses back onto her face, "We'll see how things go."

    Uta smiles quietly at Nevarri. "I don't really know, to be honest, but... as you very eloquently put it, we'll see how things go. Everyone is different, and that's what makes this world worth experiencing."

    Turning to Mizuki, "Why would I dismiss 'genre fiction'? Plenty of today's "classics" started out as Genre fiction, heck, some of the most celebrated masterpieces of world literature were nothing but thinly veiled- Wait, wait, we're stuck for /possibly years/?" She goes pale at the thought. "...please no," she almost-squeaks.

    Well now Mizuki feels more awkward, talking about books around Neva. "Well... at least you get to explore this world..."

    She looks down at the ground, then back at Uta. "Frankly, we just don't know. Hopefully, we'll find another way out first, but if clearing Aincrad is indeed a path to escape, it's going to take a long time. Um, you okay...?"

Uta stands up and walks backwards, nervously "...yes, yes, I... uh... have left my oven in the oven. It's... er... a smaller oven. Inside a bigger oven. That's how you make them." She trips and stumbles backwards. "Nononono. Everything okay. Really. Now excuse me, gotta go before the smaller oven gets burnt!"

Nevarri blinks in confusion as Uta blurts out the weirdest of excuses to leave, before shrugging a little, "We're in for some interesting times."