Looming Doom

Dooom de doom doom doom.

Nureha
Alne - Main Square

There has been too much today. It has been too loud, too busy, too..

Alne is a balm to those wounds. The quiet, eerie as it can sometimes be, makes for a pleasant environment. In unremarkable starter gear while everyone else has begun to branch out, she doesn't stand out. People walk past her on their way to anywhere.

Like the beginning, she is invisible. Today.. and only for a short time.. she embraces that invisibility. No guild affiliation. No prominent title or gear. Different hairstyle, different clothes. It's easy enough to see this all on Inspection, but most people either find such things rude or don't bother at all.

Every few paces she rubs one hand with the other, touching the ring on her left hand and staring into the middle distance, not really seeing or caring where she was walking. This place is no safe zone. She should always be prepared. Always be ready. Always be.. something.

Just a walk. Just a short walk before going back.
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

He wishes he'd paid more attention.

But back then, this was 'fun,' and fun was not necessary, not important. You didn't study for fun. And the people he associated with only barely kept up on the 'lore' of the silly mmo.

Karoshi trudges, he moves with purpose through the area..

He'd been outside, outside to kill things. Apparently killing was his profession in here. To heap bodies on piles and gain "experience," which he would need to climb his way out..

His metal foot falls are not quiet, and he makes no attempt to hide his passage..

Despite himself, his trod is weary, and his own gaze is dull, merely observing the world...a world he wants no parts of..

Still, he spies a familiar shape..

Networking is something important, especially in unfamiliar areas.

He recognizes the woman from when they wandered through the streets, and sought for 'ghosts.'

He makes use of the INSPECT command and makes his way towards her.

"Hello, Miss. Do you have time to speak? I am Shiro Watanabe, Executive Assistant, Furukawa Transportation."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

She wants no part of this almost immediately.

Nureha raises her eyes, ears flat against her skull and tail twitching with irritation. It doesn't show on her face however. She narrows her eyes briefly, inspecting him in turn before looking back and forth along the street. Paranoia perhaps?

Nureha gives him a wan smile, structuring her reply with a reflexive mirroring of what she heard from her scouts. "Hello, Mr. Watanabe. I am Touko Hagio, Assistant Producer and Programmer of Valifor Entertainment. How may I help you?"
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

That earns a slight smile.

He's not wearing his helmet today it seems, or rather not at the moment..

A proper introduction. This is more like the real world.

"Miss Hagio. I am pleased to make your acquaintance again. I was with the patrol the other night. I had felt that since our numbers are limited, that it would be a good business practice to network with those who I can. I'm still learning this..I'm still learning how things work in this madhouse, and despite what I may be in the real world, here I am a veritable babe in the woods. I understand that you have more experience."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

That was the button to push.

Mr.Watanabe had inadvertantly said the one thing that didn't lead to a polite but firm dismissal during this, a rare window of opportunity to be alone with her thoughts. Like Anchor Howl, she would pay for turing away from a young, inexperienced player. After all.. wasn't that what she wanted for herself, when it had been that time. For someone to help her?

Nureha takes a moment to structure her reply, head tilting slightly to the side. "Thank you for your kind words, but there are many more knowledgeable and skilled than I. However.." she gestures down the street to where a stand of trees, a bench and a light nearby gives a cold white sphere of illumination as the night begins to fall, the sun having already sunk behind the horizon and it's dying rays already blocked by the high walls.

"What little experience I have is a gift I will share gladly. Please. Let us sit and talk about what we can to aid your understanding."
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

He stands there, polite, impassive..

His eyes have that strange hollowness, but also a firmness to them. He does occasionally glance at the tower as the response is structured..

As she speaks, he nods, "Thank you. That is most appreciated. I do not wish to become a burden to my coworkers."

He moves as directed, and he does pause for a moment as he takes in the bench.. Sitting..

He hasn't done that in a while..

He slowly moves into the seat, but keeps himself polite, and at-attention.. He feels the weariness aching up his legs and body, but this is not a real body. Its an illusion.

"If you might please forgive my obvious ignorance, firstly.. Where do we find the tanks? Someone had made mention that we would need experts of tanks when we moved against the tower. I'm unsure if my particular skill set revolves around that.. I thought this was a fantasy game..."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

"No." Nureha listens to his question, but it's not the right place to start. Following him down this thread would unspool an endless tangle of questions that hoenstly, she didn't have the energy to unravel. Instead, she used the scissors.

"My apologies, but I would suggest that isn't the right question to start with. May I suggest one, Mr. Watanbe, without being too forward? I would like to know what brought you here in the first place. What did you want from Elder Tale Online?"
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

"Ah, forgive me for my forwardness. There is much to learn."

Her question takes him a bit by surprise.

"..what..did I want from this game, Miss Hagio?"

He shakes his head, "Nothing. I have no interest in this sort of nonsense. My coworkers chose to pursue this as our socialization. And it is important that you spend time with you coworkers, they should be akin to family. I admit to not being interested that much in games. I prefer productive enterprises. Its why I was in the office playing the game when the Apocalypse occurred. I had to help to resolve some of the guild's issues and perform some 'grinding' to acquire resources for one of my coworkers."

He looks up at the sky, "I honestly cannot understand why anyone would waste hours of their life on this. It doesn't help to put food on the table. It doesn't help to restore the nation's economy."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

It's nostalgic.

Nureha tilts her head to the other side, hair brushes across her shoulders like dry leaves rustling in the wind. She's heard this line of logic before, or what passes for it. No matter how desperate it got back home, some thought the best answer was to put their heads down, work harder, and somehow it would work out. The world could burn.. and still, it would be their fault for not trying hard enough.

"I see. So, any knowledge you gain here would purely be used in the pursuit of getting back to the real world. Where your actions have meaning. Where your family is waiting for you."
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

Karoshi frowns.

"Where my job and responsibilities are. I have no 'family,' Miss Hagio. I have a responsibility to Furukawa Transportation. We all have those responsibilities. There are mothers, sons, daughters, brothers, and other dependents waiting for everyone out there."

He looks at his hands and frowns, "While we're trapped in this..this farce, the real world is still out there, deprived of what we could be doing."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

First contradiction.

Hmm. Nureha raises an eyebrow slightly, but doesn't comment on it. She simply adapts. "Of course. My apologies, Mr. Watanbe for making such assumptions. You take your responsibilities very seriously, and I can respect that. But.." she raises a finger.

"The first thing I can teach you is not to disrespect the situation you are currently embedded in. Not only does it disrespect the actions of hundreds or maybe thousands of fellow Japanese, but it clouds your judgement. If you continue along this path, I will still answer whatever questions you pose, but you will still lack a fundamental understanding that may impede your progress towards your ultimate goal. Do you understand?"
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

He maintains a level expression as he's chided. He's received this before. Previously at the hand of tumultuous probably-NEETs and likely-otaku.

However, Miss Hagio is a Producer. She's been trusted with something, and likely knows more about management of a situation than a middle manager.

"This situation we've been thrown into appears quite.. strange and dire. We have no clear indication of where to go. Based on what we heard the first night, we may all be comatose and dying.."

He frowns, "I have reason to doubt that theory. I was in the office. I doubt that they would know how to move individuals like me easily, and I am certain that the office would not be shut down, or continue with me...laying there like a potato."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

Interesting. Pushback without disagreement.

It had been awhile she had to navigate such waters. Especially ones seeming to swirl in only one direction, repeatedly bashing the user against the rocks. It must be as unpleasant to be the source as the recipient.

Nureha settled back to regard him for several moments, planning her course as she would King Gilgamesh or the Round Table Alliances. "There are a great deal of unknowns about our situation. Yes. So.. instead of attempting to address them, we provide the knowledge we have." She ticks them off on her fingers.

"You are alive. You must be to be concerned about your responsibilities. Wherever your body is and in whatever state it is, this is still true. Death is an unknown and so discounted from the experiment because if this is Hell, then it is a personal one for each of us and I cannot help you then. So.. given that I can help you and that you are alive, the next thing is.. what can you do about it? You can do EXACTLY three things. You can improve yourself. You can create and you can destroy. Same as with the world back home."
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

"Four things. We can return home. This however requires that some people improve ourselves. I imagine should we succeed in mounting the tower, we will be able to bring everyone home again, although it may only be for those who succeed.."

He looks troubled, "I'll need to talk to my confederates about that.."

He does look back to her, "And yes, improvement is necessary. I am rankly unskilled here. The irony is not lost on me that the otaku, and NEETs I used to try desperately to avoid becoming, are masters here, and I am the one unprepared."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

"It must be very isolating to find yourself in such a position. Surrounded by people you don't understand."

Nureha says without disagreeing with him. "And it's not literal. A Tank is someone who shields other players from unneccessary damage. They stay in the front lines and occupy the enemy's attention while those with ranged skills or magic are free to strategize without interruption."
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

He nods, "Quite. I am used to...a more structured situation. One where one's responsibilities are clearer. Also, I have no shared experiences with most of these people."

He hrms, "I see. I had partially hoped for the other sort.. It seemed to increase our chances of success.."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

Nureha laughs, but not unkindly. "Perhaps. But it is just as likely to be a hinderance." She smiles and says casually. "Tell me. What does Ms. Takayama have you doing? You are obviously Scale Alliance. I would have thought they followed a more structured approach to such things."
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

Karoshi hmms and looks up at that, "At the moment, increasing our strength. Which is a reason why I am speaking to you. Unlike the others, I do not know how this world operates. Fortunately, a sword is a sword.. Slaying the monsters and creatures seems...simple enough, but until "Proteus" told me about the inspect command, I had no clue it existed. As I said, there seems to be a...culture, that assumes I will have asked, or looked for certain things when I would have seen no reason to. Elder Tale is my first "video game.""

He shakes his head and looks skyward, "I used to just tag along with my coworkers."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

She seemed to vaguely remember something about that, but of course it would be Proteus.

Nureha nods, her expression wistful and melancholic. Just another approach to the same problem. She HAD to learn. She had to learn or she would be left behind. She had to be useful.

"In my business, it's called 'Game Literacy' and it's one of the major problems with most VRMMO systems. They ask for an implicit level of knowledge based on the assumption that you have played other games. So first.. if you'll allow me, let's go through your menu and I'll explain the important bits. Later, you'll know where to look yourself but it must seem very daunting right now."
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

Karoshi nods, "Quite..."

He blinks, and pauses for a moment, "My menu? Ah right.. That thing that everything seems to be tied to.."

He wiggles his fingers in the air, "..alright... menu...menu..."

He asides, "Its strange in a way. Someone said they tried to use attacks from their menu and it didn't work. I've just been using the sword and haven't had a problem."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

"That is because you understand something that many people still do not." Nureha tells him somewhat crypticly. "Sometimes a sword.. is just a sword." She goes through every function in the Menu, slowly and patiently, but rather than talk about the MENU doing something, she instead only refers to the 'Action' that is to be completed.

"Sword Artes depend on movement to function. Magical Artes require customizable key phrases or, in the case of Enchanters, Hymns -- long memorized phrases that define the constraints of the effect you wish to see."

She introduces him to the codex system, an in-game library of information publicly available on the various aspects of the world.
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

Karoshi rather happily absorbs the information..
Codex..
Combat instructions..

He hrms and nods.. "This will take some actual experience.."

He glances over at her, "This is monstrously complicated.. It mystifies me that people can learn this, but can't learn a profession.."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

Nureha's expression doesn't change because she's used to this kind of treatment. It was actually kind of charming because it reminded her of the people who weren't here. And since it wasn't directed, she treated it like a summer squall or a sudden chill in the air. Inevitable.

"I understand your confusion. Why don't you take some time and look it over?" she introduces him to the Friend List, and adds him to it. "If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask."
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

He nods slowly, as he tries to access the codex..

He also blinks as he adds his first friend, well aside from his coworkers...

"Thank you, this is very much appreciated Miss Hagio."

He nods, "And yes, I will have to take some time to absorb all of this information.. Its..considerable.."
Nureha
Alne - Main Square

Nureha gets up from the chair, collecting her staff and offering to help him up with the other hand. "Time is something you have. But unfortunately.." she checks the time. "something that I have run out of. There are several things I have to take care of before tomorrow's weekly meeting. Can I escort you somewhere, Mr. Watanbe? Has Ms.Takayama made any plans as to where she plans to put her guild headquarters yet?"
Karoshi
Alne - Main Square

Karoshi seems lost in the codicies for the moment.. As he's offered the hand, he does take it, and moves his weary body back to standing.

"No. I'll find my way back to somewhere. This body can take a lot of punishment, and it will have to in order to get us back home.."

He shakes his head, "I haven't heard anything about a 'guild headquarters,' sadly."