Three sighed, knowing that she needed to get her anger in check. Everything he said felt like a jab at her, but from his words-blatantly telling her that he wasn't trying to insult them-is what made her calm down.
It took her a few moments, she had never been that angry before in her life. Three had listened to his words and felt like he was trying to be a nice guy, he was just wrapped in a patronizing coating. That being realized, Three knew she couldn't let his words bother her too much and if she really wanted to understand what he was trying to say, she was going to have to focus on what was said, not how.
Three let herself relaxe and a small smile came to her face and she raisee her eyebrow. "Princess?" She asked jokingly, shaking her head. Three wasn't one to stay angry or hold grudges and was way too willing to forgive. Especially with this guy, he seemed like he would make a good asset.

Topaz Stood outside the entrance to Lupa's den just ahead were about 5 wolfs guarding not just ordinary wolfs either they were high level 10 wolfs. (let's say she's like level 18)

Mihoko stared at the two squabling over something so simplistic and stupid, his ears pricking upwards at the sound of a derogatory word. Once they had sorted things out, and Three had calmed down, he couldn't help but laugh, bringing his sword from the dirt and stabbing it into one of the boars which had been charging at him from behind. He didn't even have to turn around to kill it - most of the time he'd been more concentrated on the sounds around him - waiting until the boars respawned.

Mihoko went back into a fighting stance and smiled, "You guys finished?" He laughed once again as his eyes narrowed forward, "We have some monsters to kill."

"Rnngh. Mrml. Rr-huh?" Stoutfat's eyes crept open as a torrent of people walked by, either unconcerned or afraid of the bear of a man that lay before them. "WhermI" he drawled as he slowly propped himself up from the sun-warmed cobblestone. He loosed a gaping yawn that tensed his jaw and locked out all sound but the pressure rushing through his ears. After resisting the impulse for a few more hours and rubbing most of the sleep from his eyes, he saw that he was in fact, in the middle of the street. A street anyway, but which one?

Stoutfat swiveled around to see a door. Wait, was it? Yeah, definately a door. "Meybe derssm'thin inere" he grumbled without much in the way of second thoughts or enunciation. With that burning motivation, Stoutfat stumbled to his feet and staggered into the building. He stood there in the doorway blearily staring at the NPC behind the counter. "Welcome to my shop! how may I help you?" asked the young woman with the bandana. Stoutfat blundered back outside and saw the hanging wooden sign that clearly identified this place as a shop. He walked back in to the same welcome. "Ah'd like s'm pancakes, please."

"Dolgernsit. What kiner shop dudn't even have pancakes. Immer 'bout as hungry hungry as a hipper." Stoutfat fumed to himself as he lumbered through the city looking for a restaurant. About two blocks down, he happened upon a small brick building with a number of people sitting at delicate metal tables, under the shade of an expansive green and white-striped awning. Stoutfat slumped down at an empty table and waited for service. A young man in a pressed white shirt was quick to respond. "Hello there sir, what can I get you today?" he asked with a warm smile. "S'm pancakes. N' coffee." Stoutfat grumbled for the second and hopefully last time today. "I'm sorry sir, but we don't have pancakes here, athough we do have crepes." the waiter informed. Stoutfat jerked his head to the side, loudly cracking his neck, and stared at the waiter. "They're like uh, little pancakes, filled with fruit and whipped cream, stuff like that, y'know." the young man stammered as he nervously gripped his fingers. "..Better make m' order a double on such case."

His hunger dulled and awareness restored, Stoutfat set off toward his original goal of- "Hammer. Where's m' hammer?" It occured to Stoutfat that he hadn't seen his hammer since before he nodded off. "Well ain't thissa bread n' butter pickle". He stood in the street, hands at his hips, for a good twenty seconds letting the absurdity of his little misadventure wash over him. "Alrighty, most likely than not, it ought be at the shop what I started at." he punctuated his proposed actions with sweeping hand motions. "All I art to do is retrace m' steps n' boom, hammer. Worse case scnario, ah sold it, in which case- With a downward stroke of his arms, Stoutfat's menu opened and he immediately noted a familiar sight in his inventory. "..That works too." He selected his hammer and set off to finish setting off, rejoined with the comfortable weight on his shoulder.

"Twernt long afore Stoutfat made his way to th' grand gateway outter town. He conferdently strolled inter th' field what he'd toured not s'long ago now, seekin' a challentch worthy a' his new stature. Boar skulls're too soft at this juntcher, twere time t' climb a peg higher n' the food chain. Gotsta smush me sm' critchers a' the lupine persuasion. Maybe make a fancy hat. Already got a fancy hat though. A cape then." Stoutfat knocked the rim of his helmet, causing it to jostle to and fro for a moment like a miniature churchbell. Miniachurchbell? No, too long. Stoutfat fell out of his monologue for a short while as he crested a small hill, noticing a group of adventurers pacing about the shade of a mighty tree, swinging their swords in a heated display. "Prob'ly argerin' 'bout who get's t' keep the +1 shortsword what dropped from a fairy moth. Heheh, No matter how big er fancy they make a game, ther's always sm' consternts". Stoutfat resumed his merry narration and trudged down the hill, in search of a more peaceful hunting ground.

She charged. Slicing through the one wolf as the others surrounded her she killed them one by one as they lunged.

Three quickly swiped her hand and brought out her sword. It was a long sword, with a single sharp edge. It felt like the extension of her arm, making the other two swords in her inventory useless now.
"I suppose so." She said to Mihoko, turning to see a boar right behind her. She quickly jumped for it was almost upon her and flipped around, using the sword to cut though the boar's back as she did this. Three landed on her feet as the pixels flew out behind her. Looks like those years in gymnastic is really paying off. She smiled, enjoying fighting, especially because she wasn't that bad at it.
Three boar came into the field and they all looked similar. They were all looking at Three with a look of hatred in their eyes. They all snorted before charging. This is what I get for killing their mother, I guess. She easily dodged the first one on her and stabbed the second one that went by, changing it to pixels. The third one is the one that landed its blow in her. Not the brute of it, but enough to make Three stumble back and her health to go down some.
The two boar looked at the pixels floating into the sky and then turned to Three, a snarl on their lips and loud squeals emanating from them.

Atlin smiled as Three finally let up, for real this time. She made a remark about his calling her Princess, he answered with a shrug as he closed one of the apps in his menu, opening another one. He had been recording his conversations, not that they could read what he was doing in his menu, but it was for a good reason.

When and if they ever got out of SAO, Atlin intended on having a proper record of the events that transpired. Using the voice message app, he could do so. There was a time limit on the recordings, but as long as he sent himself the messages, he had an infinite amount of space to keep his records in. As he fiddled with his menu, Mihoko brought up a fine point, killing a boar. Three followed suit until she was hit. Atlin closed his menu and held his sword out behind him, an azure glow consuming the blade.

Activating the Sword Skill, Rage Spike, Atlin lept at one of the boars, taking it out with an upward slash. The glow faded for just a moment before it returned and he Sonic Leap, a Sword Skill that had him dash toward the remaining boar and deal it a downward blow. He felt the two skills combo’d well, and enjoyed the chance to use them.

“Now, when I said watch who you guard against, I only meant people.”

He joked as he looked back at her. In doing so he spotted someone taking the hill beyond them. A large man with a beard and...

“Pink armor?”

He had to be seeing things. A more than Dwarven looking man with pink armor and a war hammer. He had to find out who the stranger was.

“If you’ll excuse me, there’s a Dwarf I need to introduce myself to. Kid, watch The Princess. Princess, watch the Kid, I’ll be back in a minute.”

With that he darted off. He couldn’t wait to find out who would be wearing, or wielding such things. It took him a minute to get up the hill, and only slightly longer to stop watching the stranger and approach him.

“Yo.”

[@Atlin@FallChild@Anorak@Elbeck]

Mihoko gave Atlin a slight wave as he slashed at another one of the boars, looking away as the bright pixels exploded from the destroyed animal. His sword twirled through the air but instantly came down to block another boar, holding two tusks in the blade. "You're an ugly animal." Mihoko said as he slashed outward and the boar went stumbling away, roaring. With one last swipe of the light weight sword, the pixels exploded from the animal and a yellow substance headed toward Mihoko.

"Aaand... Levelled up." He said, a smile of accomplishment reaching his face as he was accomplished by a crisp, white screen congratulating him. He dismissed the notification and withdrew his sword, looking back at Three.

Inside the den, bones were littered on the floor.
was it this unpleasantness last time? Bones crunched under her leather booted feet.
"Come on Lupa! Show yourself!" Topaz shouted into the darkness.
The growling of a great beast greeted her. Pulling a touch from her inventory she threw it in the direction of the noise. there was a soft thump followed by a flare of orange light. Lupa howled as her fur burnt.
"Let's dance Lupa" The beta said as she charged.

"And I dudn't even know where'stabout such a service might be found. Nontherless, It'd be a good idear to keep em' about, lest I find m'self all regretful-like later. "Stoutfat spoke aloud to himself as he made his merry way amongst the verdant fields of..wherever this was. 

"Yo." came a voice from behind. Stoutfat turned about to find a young man with a cocksure smile, but a broody haircut. Strange one, this..Atlin, he thought with a quick glance above the newcomer's head. "Yo ho, yerself, feller." Stoutfat said with a short wave. "M'name's Stoutfat Beafbrave as I'm sure you kin tell from m' hat mat". He pointed overhead to his tag to exemplify the point. "Y'kin just call me Stoutfat though. I do."

Stoutfat quizzically stroked his beard as a thought rose to mind. "Say ain't you?..". He looked back a ways toward the great tree and found there to be but two children playing with the boars. "Yeah, seems to be. You'n yer lil' buddies settle yer differnces then? That's good. That there youthful excubrence'll gitcha in o'er yer head if'n's y' don't watch it." Stoutfat continued to ramble with surprising lung capacity of a man in such shape. 

"So then Atlin, m'boy, what compels a hepcat like yerself to chat up an ol' hermit sich as myself? I'll bit it were a reccermendation fer a resternt, weren't it? I git that a lot." Stoutfat laughed heartily, patting his belly as it jiggled like a bowl full of poor lifestyle choices. "Hoo, ooh hoo hooooo boy, been a while since I's last laughed so hard as I did." he said as he reached under the rim of his helmet, presumably to wipe a tear from his obscured eyes. 

"I'll tell ya though, I actch'ly would reccermend a lil' place back'n town. Has these lil' silver dollar flappies, bout yay big." Stoutfat explained as he made a small loop with his forefingers and thumbs. "An they got all sorts a fixins up in there like a lil' pie, dern near. They were prob'ly 'bout the tastiest thing I ate since I got here, but they were on the small side as I demernstrated previous-like, so I'd reccermend y' order a double stack if'n's y' got much in the way of an appertite. Can't 'member the name a' the place. Y'll know it when y' see it though, got a big ol' green n' white sunshade. Real stately-like".

@Elbeck @Atlin

Atlin stared in amazement as the man went on about restaurants, and pancakes. It was amazing. He felt like he had encountered a true native to the world of SAO. he almost failed to respond as he smiled, chuckling at the man’s accent every so often. He regained himself an wiped a small tear from his eye as he spoke.

“Oooh, we’re gonna get along famously, you an’ me.”

Atlin took a second to think, or tried to think. He couldn’t get the image of Stoutfat sizing up the pancakes out of his head. He knew right then he’d found a brother in arms. He realized a moment later that the man had addressed his squabble with Three.

“Right, right, the girl. I was trying to give her some advice, and she jumped me. My own fault, really. probably looked like some noobs raging about who got a crappy drop weapon from up here though.”

Atlin commented with a smile. He was sure he’d made friends in Mihoko and Three both, but had no plans of sticking with them. He had so many plans of how he would go about the game. How he would save up and buy a house, open a shop for when he wasn’t fighting on the front lines, when he wasn’t trying to progress the floors of Aincrad in search of the end. He had it all planned out so perfectly...

“And then along came a Beafbrave.”

He said aloud as he put his right hand on his hip, his left on his face, and smiling behind it. He wasn’t sure where Stoutfat was from, but he knew the minute he opened his mouth he’d be sticking with the Dwarf until he left the game, or better yet, died.

[@Atlin@Elbeck]

Three rubbed her side, a small scowl on her face for not being able to finish off those boar on her own. But that would have been selfish of her to take all the fun.
Atlin left, telling them to wait for him and to watch each other. This made Three snort in derision, she can take care of herself. She didn't mind the help, but wanted to be seen as strong and capable. Three sighed, maybe it was better to be viewed as weak, that way no one expected her strength.
As she thought this, Mihoko finished off the last one to level up and she smiled at him. "Congratulations."

Mihoko looked back, "Thanks." His eyes then stared at the man in the pink armour and couldn't help but let out slight laughter. "I have never seen a man like that, wearing pink armour." He shook his head as his eyes set on the gargantuan world Sword Art Online - the spire which reminded him of the inside of a watch, hung in the air, never failing to strike him with awe every time he looked at it.

"Hey, did you want to go back to the village and leave dearest Atlin here with the pink warrior?" He asked, his smile broadening as his eyes fell back to Three.

Sasuke lifted a hand to her head. "What the...?" How long had she been missing from the game? It had felt like ages. Maybe more than a day. Either way, her shift was over a very long time ago. She didn't recognise anyone in the inn but there weren't many people, just as usual. She staggered to her room upstairs and packed her stuff. She had to head back to the house that she had rented. She was going to be evicted if she didn't pay soon and she knew it.

Pulling the satchel over her shoulder, she stalked out of the room and made her way through alleys and deserted streets to her house. Sliding the key into the door, she pushed her way through the house and made sure everything was in its place. Thank god it was.

Three nodded, needing time to regain her health. She knew that Atlin knew what he was doing, but she would learn in time and didn't want someone telling her what she needed to learn. It was less effective that way.
"I'm up for it." She said, keeping her sword out just in case she needed it.
Three didn't mind hanging out Mihoko, he was closer to her level of experience. She didn't feel the overwhelming need to be better than him, which was good if she wanted to work with him in the long run.
Three started back toward the village, "Want to grab a bite to eat? I'll buy."

Mihoko smiled, "Yeah - that'd be nice - Atlin's lectures got me starving." He said, adding a half-hearted chuckle before swiping his hand through the air. The grey skin was summoned and he flipped to his friend list - which only had Three's name on it. He was lucky he had someone like Three - he worried he'd be alone through the whole game. He then typed in Atlin's name and sent him a friend request before closing the machine with the reverse swipe.

Sasuke lept onto her bed, her hands interlocked under her head, and rested on her bed. How long had she been out for? Was there a glitch in the game or was she simply hacked? She didn't know. There was something strange hanging in the air; something that wasn't right.

Three did the same, realizing it was a good idea to have someone with knowledge in her friend's list. She sent the request and began on her way to the town. With every step, things seemed more daunting, like something was coming. Finally she stopped, getting her sword out. "Something seems off." She said, looking around suspiciously.
Then, off to their left, Three heard rustling. She looked at Mihoko, a questioning look on her face. She made a hand gesture to move forward and she crouched behind a bush.
It appeared to be a bunch of players, ones with lots of experience based on their level. They had weapons, shields, and armor on. Three tilted her head to the side, speaking so only Mihoko could hear. "I think those are beta testers, all going to, I don't know, face a boss?" Then her eyes grew wide, that has to be what they are doing.
Three looked at Mihoko, debating the option. She couldn't come of a conclusion herself so she asked him. "Should we follow them?" It sounded stupid and reckless, but if they could do it, it would be legendary.
At this very second, Three wasn't thinking about how she was going to get out of here or the other people. She was just wanting to play the game and enjoy herself a little, and she cringed at how that sounded in her head. They shouldn't do it, it would get them killed.
But the words still hung in the air, awaiting an answer from Mihoko.

Mihoko hesitated, taking a step back as he inhaled quietly, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword. "Well..." He moved his hand to his chin and thought for a while, weighing about the advantages and disadvantages of following the cluster of adolescents. He then looked up and nodded, "For a while - I'm slightly curious to see what they're doing." He said in a hushed tone.

Sasuke looked out her bedroom window, her eyes growing dark as the sky became grey. She sighed and hauled herself off the bed. The initial rush for points would be over by now. She would head for the fields and try to gain a level. It would calm her down.
She gathered what she would need, which was herself really, and started to lock everything away. She wouldn't be making the same mistake twice.

Three nodded, letting her other feelings fall away. They could follow them for a while, there was no harm in that. She moved to follow, staying hidden so they would not see her level and know she was not one of them.
The beta testers moved quickly, seeming extremely optimistic. There was only about seven of them, running toward a boss and they were laughing and joking. Three thought that they were being cocky with their abilities and knowledge. They may have played this before but that does not mean everything in the game was going to be like it was before.
"They are going to get themselves killed acting like that." Three said to Mihoko. She was tempted to stop them, but they were already approaching an entrance to what appeared to be a cave. They were still laughing and completely at ease when they went in. Three stared in horror. "We can't let them do this, they're going to get themselves killed." She jumped up and ran to the entrance herself. If she was underestimating the beta's ability, that's fine, but if they were going to get themselves killed and Three didn't do anything to stop it, she would not be able to live with herself. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she had to do something.

(can I skip the Topaz/ Lupa fight seen?)

Mihoko raised a hand, the tips of his fingers passed against Three's shirt. "No!" He exclaimed as he came from his cover and rushed forward, shaking his head several times as he stopped walking as something brushed along his back. A shudder ran along his spine and his mouth and opened and closed, his attempt at sounding a warning failing as fear ceased him. He finally gained enough courage to whisper Three's name before two red eyes illuminated the shadows, a heat being summoned behind him. The two massive, sandstone doors closed behind them, engulfing them all in darkness.

The beta testers sheathed their swords, "Looks like we've been followed." A high pitched voice said, a taint of disgust being carried with each word, "We'll kill them after this one." A snigger was heard in the darkness, interrupted by a deafening howl and then scratching along a wall - like claws being scraped along a blackboard. Then another sound was summoned - rhythmic thudding which increased in sound. Something was coming. Fast.

(hello? @Anorak can I skip the Topaz/ Lupa fight seen?)

JustTopaz wrote:

(hello? @Anorak can I skip the Topaz/ Lupa fight seen?)

(If you wish, it's your decision.)