PLEASE ENTER NAME : LEVEL 12
DAY 253 : E-DAY, FOURTHWEEK, HORUS, YEAR 1
CLUBHOUSE 3 : LOUNGE 2 : WEEBS
Simon is eating cereal as I reorganize my armor sets for optimal defense and bonuses on each one in turn. That way, the next time I have to pilot multiple vehicles, I will do so with the individually strongest pilots I can make.
Simon is clearly fascinated. Not so much in the process itself, as in how I look as I do it.
Once more, my next unoptimized armor set appears around my relative lack of a body.
Over the next several minutes, each piece switches out too fast for the unassisted eye to track as I arrange all seven non-helm armor slots, into each potential non-allocated combination. Or in other words, I’m shifting through all my options to combine them with each other in every possible way.
After the optimal synergy is formed, the entire process starts over without those newly allocated pieces in the pool.
At any given time, I don’t keep track of more than a single combination. That’s the only way any of this works. I’ve tried doing all of them at once. In theory, it should save an exponential amount of time over the long way, but the result always ends up sub-optimal. So I’ve resolved to just take the extra time and not risk getting any of it wrong.
Simon has commentary, of course. But mostly, he’s just eating cereal while watching every part of me get traded out with every other part, at a speed he once described through a full mouth of cereal as ‘inhuman’. And I’ve only gotten faster since then.
I’m midway through the twelfth cycle when I get the message.
[ GUILD / TYRONE: EVERYONE ASSEMBLE IN THE LOUNGE NOW. PRIORITY 2 ]
Confirming that I’m already there, I Nod. “What does ‘priority 2’ mean?”
In answer, Simon gestures to the room as a whole.
I don’t have to turn around for my Sonar to detect most of the guild arriving near-simultaneously. Two come through the main entrance, and the rest through the single door to each of their instantiated personal spaces.
After a few seconds of struggle to be the first to fit through, Kirito inevitably wins through sheer willpower, grit, and willingness to injure himself.
Seeing the bloody victor with one arm dangling by a thread, the rest pause before politely proceeding one at a time, wanting no further part in what just happened.
Tyrone brings up the rear, waiting for everyone else before gingerly sidestepping through the same doorway that can barely fit his frame.
The only ones who don’t use that door are Zack and David.
Belatedly, I realize they aren’t in the main entrance doorway either. Instead, it’s… Her name was Yuki. And she’s with… Someone.
[ HERO TARGETED: JESSIE - THE CRIMSON BITCH ]
Around the time I recognize the same right glove I’ve always seen Oneshot wearing, Yuki recognizes Kirito, injuries and all, still standing exactly where he’d jumped through the other door.
Yuki doesn’t talk, but her ears seem to droop somehow.
The room at large is just as silent as she shuffles inextricably over and wraps him in a tight hug.
Kirito doesn’t react at first. But then he hugs her back
Her hug gets tighter
So does his.
She starts to cry.
She cries harder.
She keeps doing that.
Left alone just past the entryway, Jessie eyes the other side hungrily before seeming to belatedly spot the large black man waving her over to the bar.
She seems to steel herself before pulling away from the door to walk over as everybody’s eyes follow. Which may explain why she settles in the furthest seat from anybody.
Despite having pulled out the one next to him, Tyrone doesn’t seem to mind. “Hello, Jessie. Thank you for saving our Yuki.”
Jessie’s clenched fist trembles on her lap. “She’s Not Yours.”
Yuki unlatches from Kirito just long enough to call over to her. “Yes I am!”
Immediately upon finishing those three words, she re-buries her face in his chest.
Jessie splutters as she looks from Yuki to Tyrone. “I… YOU…”
She sighs. “Yeah okay, whatever. So how’d you know my name?”
Tyrone raises an eyebrow. “You mean besides the fact that it’s floating above your head?”
Apparently unable to keep a question in anymore, Simon leans toward Jessie from across the bar. “Have you heard of a dyson sphere?”
Jessie blinks at him. “Yeah.”
Simon goes slack for a moment before just staring her in the eye. “Seriously?”
“…Y-yeah?”
He goes back to eating his cereal. “Oh thank god.”
“What?”
Simon shakes his head. “Not explaining. Not this time. Not… Not this time.”
More content than I’ve seen him since we lost that match, he gets back to his cereal.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Which is apparently when Alex gathers the courage to walk over himself and wince at the new girl. “Hi.”
Jessie cranes her neck back and winces right back. “Hi?”
“Have you thought about training?”
“Come again?”
“With the sword? Formal training, I mean. You’ve clearly taught yourself a few things, but…”
“How do you even know about that?”
“You killed Oneshot earlier this month.”
“So?”
“So that’s how.”
“Oh… So?”
He sighs. “Look kid, you have power. I don’t question that in the slightest. But you have no skill. You know that right?”
Jessie just glares at him.
Alex gestures to himself. “I’m a soldier. I have a rifle. There’s no such thing as being ‘fully trained’. But to the extent that one can reasonably claim any amount of expertise, I am an expert with my rifle. I know exactly how to use it to accomplish whatever needs doing.”
He points to Jessie. “You, on the other hand, are a toddler. What little I admittedly know about you, indicates that you barely know up from down in this world. But you’ve somehow managed to get your hands on a rocket launcher. One that fires on full-auto, has infinite ammo, and… reloads automatically, I suppose?”
He shakes his head. “Ok, look, the analogy isn’t perfect. My point is that of course, the toddler can out-damage the soldier. But it would still behoove the soldier to help the toddler learn how to use the rocket launcher. Almost as much as it would behoove the toddler to let him.”
Alex folds his arms. “A toddler with a rocket launcher is a dangerous thing. For allies even more than enemies. If you hit any of us by mistake, we won’t be prepared to counter it. That’s the thing about stabbing your friends in the back. It’s something to avoid. Even by accident.”
Jessie blinks at him very slowly. “Kay… Fuck you too, I guess?”
“That’s it?”
“No, that’s not it. I don’t need your help. Nor do I want it. Imma do me. You do… Whatever you do, whoever you are. Which, by the way, and this is just me, maybe don’t come out the gate like an entitled prick next time, and…”
She grunts. “Said I wasn’t gonna… You know what? Never mind.”
Tyrone grunts to match, having used the intervening time to get the gist of the story from a sobbing Yuki and a much more lucid Kirito who was apparently much more informed than even Yuki realized. “Darreck from the Adventure’s Guild, huh? I’ll confront him about it tomorrow. I’ll reserve judgement until that time, but it certainly Sounds ba-”
He blinks. “Huh… His name is completely gone. Did… Did he get banned?”
Simon lowers his spoon. “I can’t find him in the registry…”
“I know, I was just checking my message history. He’s… Just gone? Could he have already changed… No, that’s stupid. He would still be in my history in the same spot with a new name.”
Tyrone turns to the rest of the group. “Well, good news everybody!”
He backhands the nearest wall.
It shatters on impact.
Cracks spread to half the spacious room before they repair themselves a moment later.
Tyrone doesn’t seem to mind the expense. “I won’t be getting any XP Debt!”
He throws his opposite arm to the side. “SON OF-”
He spins from the momentum to punch through the same wall again.
Which immediately repairs itself.
“-A BITCH-” He kicks the room’s support pillar.
The pillar vibrates a bit, but remains fully intact.
The roof however, nearly caves in before the whole thing repairs itself.
“-got banned…” Tyrone calms down physically, but his breathing is heavy.
Simon stomps his foot in outrage. “Bro!”
Tyrone breathes more slowly as he turns back to him, disposition still plenty dark. “What?”
“My Cereal, You Dick!”
Tyrone finally seems to notice the bowl that was spilled from all the commotion on the perfectly repaired, if wet, counter. Tyrone’s eyes narrow. “And?”
“And I was EATING that!”
“SO??? GET MORE THEN!!! YOU MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED, BUT THIS IS A VERY BAD TIME TO CHALLENGE ME ABOUT YOUR CEREAL!!!”
Simon petulantly sits down and twirls his spoon on the countertop.
Half a dozen seats over, Jessie grips the same countertop so hard that it cracks. “HE’S NOT.”
Simon loads up some cereal and flicks his spoon at her.
She glares at him.
He looks ready to do it again. “Who’s not what?”
“Darreck. Not banned.”
Tyrone seems to shudder before looking back down at her. “How do you know?”
“Admin told me.”
“Oh…”
Yuki looks furtively between her and the nonplussed Tyrone. “So she’s in the guild, right?”
Tyrone’s entire demeanor brightens in a chuckle. “That’s not how guild invites work. You’re talking about a major commitment. This isn’t MySpace.”
Jessie blinks in slow-motion. “What?”
“Nothing.”
Jessie lets out a muted bunny-hop of a laugh.
Tyrone continues, uninterrupted. “This isn’t the sort of invite you can leave on ‘read’ forever. How’s that for a relatable comparison?”
Jessie seems to feign embarrassment. “I mean… What’s an invite supposed to do when it turns red.”
Tyrone’s gaze moves quickly from Yuki to Jessie with a glint in his eye. “Fuck you.”
Jessie freezes. “Fuck You.”
“Naw… Fuck-” Tyrone tips the bolted chair between them out of the floor and throws it at her, only barely missing. “YOU!!!”
Jessie laughs slowly for a few seconds before that fact seems to get her mad. Then she throws all the furniture she can reach back at the guild leader.
Their voices ring out in discordant unison each time they throw something.
“FUCK YOU!!!”
There goes the TV.
“FUCK YOU!!!”
And there goes another couch.
“FUCK YOU!!!”
A third couch.
“FUCK YOU!!!”
And the second TV…
“FUCK YOU!!!”
They just stare at each other.
Many seconds pass before Jessie spins on her heel. “Fuck you.”
Tyrone stays exactly where he is. “Fuck you.”
Simon picks up his cereal and walks out of the room. “Jesus Christ, there’s two of them now…”
Jessie leaves in a huff. The whole building. She just walks out before anybody thinks to stop her.
Tyrone has been grinning ear-to-ear the whole time. Only half a minute later does he realize what everyone else got right away. “Oh damn y’all, is she actually serious?”
After he just gets a bunch of blank stares, Tyrone’s face scrunches up to where it no longer even looks like him. He tends to do that when he realizes he’s screwed up. Something about the facial expression he defaulted to on Earth bends his newer features in ways they were never meant, designed, or even imagined to when he customized his appearance.
Simon once hypothesized that with Tyrone’s current bone structure, the original expression is technically impossible. A hypothesis supported by the handful of HP he loses whenever he does it. Still, there are times when Tyrone can’t help his instantaneous impulse to make ‘that damned face’, as he calls it. Apparently, he’d used it so much in his previous life that it still comes through over a century later.
He just stands there like that as no one, not even Yuki, can seem to get a message through to Jessie anymore.