Nite Brites Are Fun(Open)(Quest)

While SAO was very much a combat-oriented type of game where the strong thrived and the weak perished, the early sort of quests that were given to the newbies weren't always focused around fighting. Sissy, after getting tired of hiding out in the Town of Beginnings, decided that it was time to seek out as many quests as she could handle in order to integrate herself in the world itself as well as meet other people. She couldn't hide and she didn't want to anymore. Of course she had to be careful with who she chose to trust mainly because she could be seen as an easy target. There was no such thing as player killing after all but she had heard of some players that used lower level players as distractions against high level monsters, caring nothing for their safety. It was frightening.

Nothing frightening, so far, about this town. Sissy had left the Town of Beginnings behind, travelling alone despite meeting a few people in her travels and found herself in a town in the center of the forest. Her hand always remained on the hilt of her sword, pitiful as it might have been, for it was her only sort of defense should she be ambushed by monsters. In a world such as this, it was always best to be paranoid.

Sissy watched a few other players speak with an NPC which meant a quest. What a relief. Approaching the NPC, Sissy accepted the quest despite the fact that it seemed rather rudimentary. Light some lanters. Wow, how inspiring...

The white-haired newbie swordsman would not be too far behind Raiken as she went along, lightning the lanterns as well. Choosing to try and socialize, moved quicker until she was alongside Raiken. "Inspiring, isn't it? Think the boss will be as relaxing?"

Perhaps Sissy’s socialization skills were rusty or maybe she misjudged the situation. It was a calm sort of quest, one that didn’t take a lot of thought and so Sis thought maybe talking would be alright but apparently Raiken didn’t understand Sis’ type of humour. Maybe humour didn’t translate very well in virtual reality? Or maybe Raiken just lacked a sense of humour, either way, she didn’t laugh. “Not the chatty type, I see.” Obviously picked the wrong companion during this quest but Sissy had already joined her, didn’t start a party but might as well continue on.

Much like Raiken, Sissy had fire-making items as well and would walk to where another lantern was, reeling it in and lighting the lantern as well. Very different then hunting bacon but Sis already knew what she preferred, definitely not this. The other girl finally spoke and Sissy shook her head. “I didn’t actually mean it. I was just making a joke though it apparently wasn’t very good.” Was Sissy always this awkward with people? She had always been kind of a loner in the real world for a lot of reasons but she still had some people skills.

Reeling the second lantern back out, she would follow along with Raiken once again. “Want me to be quiet? Some people prefer to work in silence and I wouldn’t mind.” Best to give the other girl the option, Sissy had just joined her without even thinking ahead.

If Sissy had been aware of Raiken’s real life background, she would have realized just how different the pair of them actually were. Sis had been raised in a very wealthy home where she had all the very best, technology included, but due to her crippled status, was unable to enjoy physical activities.


Her life had always been video games, it was her only escape but SAO was taking it too far. It was a blessing and a curse in so many ways. Sissy was happy to shut her mouth and get on with the quest if that was what the other girl wanted, she seemed so very serious despite her youthful appearance. Too serious. Rather than shut Sissy down though, the other girl allowed the conversation to continue, her enthusiasm was just staggering.

Sissy wanted to comment but she kept it to herself, seeing that her sense of humour was not well-received thus far. Instead she offered the girl a friendly smile and a nod. “As long as you don’t mind. I hate doing things in silence, makes me think too much.” She hated getting stuck inside her own head, too easy to fall into disparaging thoughts.

Perhaps that was why she sought out the company of others.

Moving to the fourth lantern, she was surprised to hear the other girl ask about the real world. It wasn’t often that she spoke of the real world, it was almost taboo in a sense. Reeling in the lantern, she was quiet for a moment as she considered her answer, lighting the lantern and putting it back out before speaking. “Very different than this.” A rather vague answer. How did one mention that they were a rich crippled gamer in real life? “I lived in Toykyo. What about you?”

When it came to video games like this, there were always two different types of players. Those that played the game as an escape from whatever ailed them in real life and those that played for fun, which was Raiken.


Despite her willingness to participate in the conversation, Sissy couldn’t tell if the girl even knew what fun was. No one could really class being trapped in a death game as ‘fun’ but surely the girl took some pleasure out of the game? Even a little? Her words were curt and to the point, not delving into her life beyond why she was there but Sissy didn’t mind. She didn’t expect the girl to open up though she was curious about her.

“So have you played other MMOs before or is this your first?” Keeping the conversation casual, they continued on towards the other lanterns. They had a rhythm going at this point, chatting as they reeled in the lanterns to light them and then sending them back out. Sissy was grateful for the conversation, it served as a delightful sort of distraction. “If it is your first, I can’t imagine that it has done the genre any good.” She laughed lightly and shook her head.

Raiken’s question caused Sissy’s stomach to lurch and her eyes to burn. The sensations were so real, her grief coming to the surface despite her trying to push it back down. “If I’m honest, I panicked when it first started. Lost a good friend and hid in the Town of Beginnings for a while.” She wasn’t ashamed anymore, it still hurt but she wasn’t ashamed.

“Only just recently decided to do all I could to reach the front lines.” She reeled in the sixth lantern; she couldn’t even remember at this point how many they were meant to do. “Even these little sorts of quests, whatever gets me closer to helping end this death game.”

First game ever? Oh wow…that was rough. Sissy couldn’t imagine how distressing being trapped in her first game ever, especially for someone of a younger age. She seemed to be taking it well enough though she really didn’t have much of a choice, did she? No one did, other than those who took the easy way out. Sis didn’t know anyone personally who chose suicide over trying the game but she heard of people who did it. “Not exactly the best introduction to the virtual world.”

They were doing well enough in lighting the lanterns, not that it did much good. The lanterns would dim not long after they left so anyone else who wanted to do the quest could light them. It was never-ending, much like the game itself.

While Sis had been hiding in the Town, Raiken had been out in the field which was surprising, was she a higher level character and just doing the lantern quest for fun? “You’re braver than me, I am still low level and thus keeping out of the front lines for the time being.” She wanted to get out there but it would take time. “I know we only just met but please be careful.” She didn’t want more people dying, even though it was an inevitability.

The sixth lantern was finished as was the seventh. “How many did we need to do again, I forgot?” It was a monotonous task to be done and Sis was kind of hoping it was almost finished. “Thank you, it is a shame that it had to happen.” She commented in regards to the loss of her friend. She didn’t allow her mind to dwell on it though, choosing to move to the eighth lantern. She had to give the rope a bit of a tug as it seemed to get caught while reeling it but she managed to pull it in.

“I’m Sissy.” She was slightly surprised that the girl offered to add her to her friend’s list given how their interaction had been slightly rocky to begin with but Sis was never the sort to turn down friendship. She smiled and nodded. “Of course you can. Can never have too many friends.”

The quest was so simple that she didn’t really have to think much on it while they did it, they had the rhythm in place that she just followed her feet and concentrated on their conversation. A brow lifted as Raiken mentioned being trained to be flexible. She couldn’t help but be curious as to what that meant. “Trained? Like in Kendo?” Kendo was something she had always wanted to learn but for obvious reasons, she had never been able to. Raiken’s attempt at humor was not missed and Sissy smiled in response, nodding. “I don’t know you very well but from what I’ve seen, you come across as the sort that can handle herself.”

Ten lanterns. Right, so they were almost finished them. They reached the second floor and were on the last few lanterns needed to complete the quest. As before, Raiken walked over to one and Sissy walked over to another in order to light another one. Almost finished and then they could collect their reward. It wasn’t much, negligible almost but it was better than nothing. She would be able to trade in her current sword in order to get something much better. She needed to get out there, build up her strength and choose to live, even if it eventually resulted in her dying. At least she would get the most from it.

Sis waited for Raiken’s friend request to appear but it seemed that the other girl didn’t want to do it now, that was fine of course. Instead the dark-haired girl seemed kind of annoyed, commenting on the lanterns which caused Sissy to glance over her shoulder. Oh yes, she wasn’t used to video games and their mechanics. “It’s a game mechanic, it allows for other people to take the same quest not long after us.” She was such a gamer geek but she didn’t care, if anything that helped her when she ended up trapped in the game. “It’s just a quest side effect, anywhere else the flames would have lasted longer.”

She finished reeling out the lantern and looked around. “Is that it or is there one more?” She kind of lost count at this point.

Ninjutsu? That was pretty hardcore and reminiscent of old world views that Sissy wasn’t normally around. Raiken mentioned that she was from a small village, apparently one that raised their children in things like Ninjitsu. Sis was most definitely impressed. “Wow, that is not something you hear every day.” Would explain, to some degree, why Raiken came across as such a serious girl. “I wish I could do something like that in the real world, maybe I will make up for lost time here.” She could become a warrior here in Sword Art Online while in the real world she was just a cripple gamer. No one to feel bad for her or judge her by appearance alone.

Sissy would head over and reel the last lantern in, lighting it and then sending it back out. Their quest was finished and all they had to do now was speak to the NPC who gave the quest in order to get the col and experience. She wanted to get as much experience as she could, levelling up with pitiful little baby quests for the moment until she was able to handle herself in a fight. She wanted to take part in a boss fight at some point, get herself some rare items and powerful weaponry. Unrealistic ambitions, perhaps but still…

Without seeming too eager, Sissy decided to initiate adding Raiken to her friend list, just in case the other girl didn’t know how to do it. She would wait for Raiken to accept before answering her. “Once we friend one another, we will be able to track each other’s locations on the map. Easy enough to find one another and I doubt we will be going anywhere until the first floor is cleared.” As far as she knew, there was no messaging system but she could be wrong.

Following Raiken down the steps, she considered her next move after this. Another quest maybe? Hard to say. “Have you done many quests yet?”