Meeting the Tester

The city of Breg Epona has been slowly filling with Adventurers, drawn by the prospect of competition in the upcoming tournament. Others are there to cheer on the combatants. Still others are taking advantage of the situation by selling their goods or busking for coin. It gives the city a sense of fullness, with more people than would usually be packed into the streets.

For that reason, Mikage has taken to the rooftops, watching from her vantage point above. A hood keeps the worst of the sun off of her, casting her face into shadows. It also serves to hide her Were Fang mark, which isn't exactly seen positively in these parts, despite her work to protect the kingdom from the recent calamity.

She sits, legs dangling over the edge of a building, munching on a sandwich. Every now and again, she pulls a bit of meat out and offers it to a small lynx that is perched at her side. Apparently, they are having lunch while people-watching.

    Merek was preparing for the tournament, while he takes the time to look at his wardrobe. Of course, he keeps that all in his inventory, no player housing means little storage. The man keeps with him two blades upon his back, a matching set while he wears what looks like a pair of cargo pants with cargo shirt, in its design. The belt which he wears keeps alchemical potions, while he keeps a hood up, beltcape about the waist while golden eyes watch the people.
    He would be making his way up into one of the establishments that sells lodging with a contract in hand, nodding a bit to people.

The Were Fang continues to sweep her eyes over people, eventually settling on Merek. Though the two weren't exactly familiar with one another, she'd seen him a time or two during various conflicts. In fact, they'd both faced the sandworm recently. "What do you think?" She asks, seemingly talking to the lynx, who is all but ignoring her as he chews on a bit of meat. "Hmm."

Popping the last bite of her sandwich into her mouth, Miki hops down from the rooftop, landing on a nearby set of crates. "Most of the lodging is full up around here. Unless you've got one of those deals with the Scale Emblem people, or you arrived early." She explains, looking curious.

    Merek looks to the sound of crates, then he notices that Miki was speaking to him. The man thinks about it a moment, while he takes a moment to shuffle the weapons back to inventory, then he lifts up the contract, "I am participating in the tournament, I have lodging." The man places that contract back into his scrollbook, the hood watching the woman.

"Ahh." Mikage chuckles to herself. "Good. Camping in the desert isn't exactly comfortable. Trust me, I've tried." She smirks, "At least until the temperatures get a bit warmer at night, it's best to have someplace to stay. Though I'm betting a lot of these people don't." Her gaze shifts, looking around at the others moving through the streets.

Then, her blue eyes come back to him. "So, you're the infamous ETO tester, aren't you?" She asks, seemingly out of the blue. "I've heard you talk about it on the chimlink, though I'm not sure we've met, officially."

    Merek lifts up a brow to Miki, then nods a bit, "I'm Merek, it's a pleasure," he mentions, while he offers a look to the woman, inspecting. Then he files that away into a folder of knowledge. "I prefer quieter lodging, though this will manage well enough for going to a tournament." He then looks to the building, while he begins walking into it, "I don't think I will win the tournament, though I would like to at least try it."

"Mikage Yurei." The white-haired Were Fang offers her name in return. "I'm not here to ask a million questions, I promise. I'm sure you've gotten your fair share. So have I." She rolls her eyes. "Luckily, that has died down a bit. People have started to realize that those of us with connections to the company don't have the answers they're looking for."

As he starts heading inside, she trails behind, seemingly curious enough to trail him for a while. Her lynx stays outside, however, the little creature scouting amongst the various people for an easy mark - someone who might be able to provide him food.

"Is it your first tournament in ETO?" She asks. "I played my fair share of Angelic Layer tournaments, but I've never really gotten much into PVP here." Says the woman who has two kills to her name.

    "Ah, I think you seem familiar," Merek mentions, though maybe imagining that, the man then would take a moment to look to Miki while he looks around, finding a nice place to settle in, and begins ordering food. He makes requests with a little extra coin for anyone willing to make it in the way that will make it worth actually eating. "Pleasure, anyway. I don't get as many questions, generally. People just follow me into fighting." The man nods a bit.

"We've been in a few battles together, including against the sandworm. Though I was fighting alongside Amalthea for the most part. I think you ended up with those down below dealing with that strange woman." Mikage seems familiar enough with Glass, despite not having fought her directly. "She seems linked to the calamities somehow, but I haven't a clue as to how that all works."

As he settles down, she asks, "Can I join you?" SHe obviously doesn't want to overstep any boundaries. "I work for Piffle Corp." Which he may know as a subsidiary to CCCorp. "A co-worker named Ogata and I ended up getting a lot of questions on the technology of the headsets, at least early on."

    Merek nods a bit to Miki, "You may," he states, while he takes a moment to look to the drink and food which is offered. It looks like a bread along with milk, then he looks to the woman, "Ah, well interesting. And, I talked to the woman, she seems to think Adventurers must be kept from... Well, I don't know, she just thinks she has to stop them."

At the permission, Mikage takes a seat. She doesn't seem to have the easy trace some women might have, her movements almost tomboyish. "I don't know much about her, myself. I ran into her during the last calamity. She was skulking about, seemingly working with the Orc Sorcerer who came with it. Then when he was destroyed, she seemed to vanish along with the portals."

She leans back a little, idlely tapping her fingers on the edge of the table. "Unfortunately, I don't know much about the inner workings of the game. We encouraged our subjects to participate in ETO as it helped them to learn the dive interface when they weren't at our facility but..." In that instant, she sounds like a scientist, rather than the Druid that sits before him. "It was all largely aimed at retraining areas of the brain to get around damanged neurons. Or at least to form a strong new pathway that could be fed into prosthetics. Though that was still a ways down the pipeline."

    "Well, most of the people in the world now seem to have full range of function," Merek admits, nodding a bit to Miki, "It's all curious." The man leans back while he seems to think about it, "I don't know a lot myself, I'm just trying to learn what I can to assist people." He takes a sip from the milk, "At the moment, I'm content with training and working to assist in the Tower climb, while trying to protect the people of the Land with keeping safe."

"Generally, yes." Mikage confirms with a nod. "From what our research shows, if a person had use of a body part prior to an injury, then their brain waves can still be picked up by the headset to allow full functionality within a VRMMO. For those who never had function, there simply isn't anything there to map. Though we theorized that they could learn to do so, but it would likely be more difficult." She hrms to herself. "Closer to how people learn to move Angels in Angelic Layer. Holding the image and idea of motion in their mind." She taps the side of her head.

There were many potential applications there, but people who were proficiently skilled in Angelic Layer to rise to high levels were rare. For most, they were simply dolls. "I've been staying away from the tower, for the most part. Not that I have any problem with people pushing the levels, but I'd rather see more of the world while we're here." She explains, "I have a theory that our holographic friend, when he said that we needed to find the Key of Twilight, that it might not be up the tower. It might be out here somewhere."

    Merek nods a bit to Miki, while he seems to think about it. "Well, I've spoken to a few people, I think there's a lot to learn, though I will need to do a little research. I know Balmung seems to know a fair bit from the days back in Fragment, and Kite seems to be involved, as well as the Tri-Edge. Though, I'm not looking to find anyone that can erase memories of the people."

"I don't know much about Fragment." She admits, "I wasn't really involved in VRMMOs back then. Elder Tale was the first one I really experimented with, and that was the offline version." Thus, not really having the same social experience as others.

"There's definitely something going on from those days, though. It seems like most of the people with the deeper knowledge are all the players from Fragment." Mikage shrugs, looking uncertain. "Best I can figure, some aspects of that game seem to exist here as well. It's as if this world has bits and pieces from a lot of different games, actually. Probably CC Corp reusing assets." Her brows furrow.

"I haven't heard anything about Tri-Edge since what happened in Alne. I wonder if the tournament might bring him out of hiding."

    "The game, even pre-world, was pretty well built, I'm pretty sure that the new assets are probably built from things like that," Merek admits, while he nods a bit to Miki, then he scratches at the thick stubble on his cheek, "Well, we'll learn when we need to learn."

"Well, I don't plan on waiting for information to come to me." Mikage explains, shaking her head, "I plan on going out, seeing what I can see, experiencing what I can experience." She motions back towards the door, where many people are still moving about on the streets. "If this could all end tomorrow, then I want to at least have lived as much if it as I can. And maybe I'll find answers the more I stick my nose into things."

She offers a smile then, "If nothing else, this tournament will be a good way to see who some of the strongest players are." Then, a smirk forms, quicking her lip upward slightly, "If I was a gambler, I'd put my money on certain fighters. I'm just playing for fun. If I do well, great, if I don't, no worries on my part."

    "I have little waiting back in the real world, besides my job with CC as a Tester, which... Well, they didn't tell me about this, so I don't know if they're involved or what they're doing to people," Merek admits, nodding a bit to Miki, while he seems to think about it. "Anyway, there are a lot of things to find in the Tower. I'm planning to pick up my own Peko, that way I can travel easier. My job with Grandeur is of course important, I try to protect players, I don't trust people being killed, still too many unknowns with that."

This isn't the first time that Mikage has heard someone tell her that there is little for them in the real world. Her expression softens ever so slightly, offering an understanding look. "Don't get me wrong, I can totally understand where that feeling can come from. People with physical challenges, emotional challenges. The real world sucks." Miki sighs, lightly propping her head on one hand.

"But I would take the real world, for all of it's pain and trials, a hundred times, over nothing. I would choose life regardless of where it ends up being. But... being here is certainly a fair bit better than my fate in the real world, too."

When he mentions a Peko, she hrms, "Well, you might want to travel up towards Ninetails Dominion after the tournament if you're looking for a Peko. They seem to have a monopoly on the sale of them." She looks thoughtful. "You might find one for sale elsewhere, but there's no telling what you'll get."

    "There's a place to find wild in the Tower," Merek mentions, then he looks to the place they are in for a little bit, then nods back to Miki. "Well, I quite like the world, it's like being in an old fantasy adventure, anyway. I look way nicer as well," he admits.

"You'd probably need to hire someone to help you capture one, then. If you don't have the skills, yourself." Mikage's blue eyes look at him appraisingly, "You look more like you took the Alchemist profession rather than Animal Trainer." She hrms to herself, thoughtful. "I can train animals, but I don't have much skill with capturing them. I'm sure you wouldn't have too many problems finding someone who can do it, though."

She smiles then, "Trust me, I like this world, too. There are... things I can do here that I can't in the real world." That look of understanding returns, "But, I'd still take that world over nothing. A long time ago, I decided to live whatever life I have to the best of my ability. Because it's all I've got."

    Merek takes a drink from the milk, while he seems to think about it, "I don't know that I have any fancy words about it all. I just know that I'm willing to see what the world's like, if we're going to be kept here, I would like it to feel a little bit normal, at least." He then nods a bit, "Anyway, when we unlock a few more travel methods, we'll do better."

"I don't care so much about normal. I could have normal in the real world. I enjoy experiecing ETO as it is." Mikage shrugs again in answer, leaning herself back from the table. "If people want to help make it better, more power to them. If people want to try to get out, all good." She smirks, "I want to run, explore, fight... anything and everything life has to offer."

Then, after a pause she adds, "Ahh, I've heard people looking into the Chaos gates. Not my area of expertise. My party mostly gets around by ship and peko cart."

    Merek nods a bit to Miki, then he offers a look to the woman, "In any case, it's nice to relax a bit from the world."

Mikage's head tilts ever so slightly, "Hrm, I guess so. I suppose I should let you get back to your relaxation." The Were Fang pushes herself to her feet. "I should go scout out some more of the competition. See what sorts we've got signed up. Should be... interesting."