The Wind in my Sails [ Q / C ]

Selkiray craved a challenge. In the past she had hopped from game to game, pushing herself as far as she could go. With the unveiling of the NerveGear, a new era of gaming had been ushered in, and of course she would be there to ensure her claim was well and truly laid. Of course, that was merely before Sword Art Online was turned into a game of death...

With an exasperated sigh, the raven-haired girl made a swiping motion, bringing up the menu. This was the one part of role-playing games she had always disliked: the early-game starter quests. There never seemed to be a happy medium for how they were created. It was always either ten levels' worth of hand-holding, or a gigantic pile of peculiarities that no sane person could rationalise. Fetch 58 watermelons? C'mon now...

In this particular case, it wasn't entirely terrible. A few fetch quests here, a couple of kill quests there. Unfortunately most of the kill quests seemed to be above her level in recommendation, and where usually she would throw caution to the wind and just dive in, that wasn't an option. Dying at level 1 would be an embarrassment.

As a result of this, Selkiray had decided to search for a party member or two in order to start making progress. Though it seemed that, unlike most people, who had joined with friends or family members, she was completely alone. As a result most parties were either full, or not looking for extra players. The girl roamed the streets somewhat aimlessly, taking pause now and then to 'ooh' over some fancy equipment that was well beyond her price range.

Just as she was about to give up, she spotted what she thought would be a prime target. Not a huge distance away she could see a man, clad in similar equipment to her own. A fellow newbie, ripe for the picking! Weaving her merry way through the crowds, she did her best to accost him before he could escape. "Hey~!" she called out, a little louder than she had intended. "You're on your own too, huh?" It was probably rude, but newbies had to stick together. And if nobody else would party up with her, this one would have to do.

The man's reaction pleased her. Truth be told, Selkiray was expecting him to spurn her, proclaiming to be some kind of brilliant solo player, or something to that effect. It'd be a real buzz-kill if she wound up having to go questing alone, not to mention restrictive. The smile he gave her felt warm, true. Inwardly she breathed a sigh of relief.

Flashing a grin of her own, Selkiray glanced at the party invitation. So eager to please, too! She quickly hit the 'accept' button, as if afraid the invite would disappear before she could get to it. Her gaze flicked off to the left slightly, seeing his health bar appear below hers. She hadn't gotten used to the way virtual reality worked yet, and she probably looked a little silly in doing so.

With a slight frown, she returned her gaze to Pax. It pained her to seem like a new player, but unfortunately she hadn't had much time to read the game's manual. With it being a first pressing, it made a lot of sense to get it and head right on home to check out the world of Aincrad. So that's what she had done. It had taken longer than she'd care to admit to even figure out how to open the menu, but mechanically everything was fine now.

"Nice to meetcha, Pax. I'm Selkiray, and most people call me... well, Selkiray. Or nothing. Most people don't seem to have any time for me, since y'know." she waved her hand vaguely in the direction of the sky. "Everyone's still preoccupied with that, so it's been kinda difficult to find anyone with potential, y'know?"

Before barely a moment had passed, she spoke once again, clearly glad to finally have somebody to talk to. Or at. It wasn't certain which was correct. "Anyway! Enough about the sad stuff. We aren't going to get out of this game if we don't beat it, right? And there's strength in numbers! ... or safety. Not important. I figured I'd find a party and... do stuff. I don't want to just hide here on the first floor forever, y'know?"