Whiny Little Peasant

Summary: Not all of the Betas were willing to remain silent during Kibaou's rant and subsequent demand for loot.

Diabel looked around at all of the players he had gathered. Seeing that they seemed to be done forming the parties for the raid against the First Floor Boss, he said "Okay, have you all formed your parties?" Seeing nods all around, he opened his mouth to begin designating roles when a voice at the top of the theater called out "Just a second!"

Everyone turned their heads to watch a cactus haired player quickly move from the top seat steps down to the bottom in a series of jumps. Turning around, he pointed at the gathered players dramatically and said "My name's Kibaou. I wanna say something before we take on the boss. Some of you here need to apologize to the two thousand players who have died so far!"

As the players glanced at each other at his words, Diabel cocked his head and said "Kibaou, are you referring to the beta testers?"

Kibaou gave a derisive snort and said "Of course I am! On the day this stupid game started, the beta guys ditched us beginners, and they all disappeared. They took all the good hunting spots and easy quests for themselves, so only they could get stronger. And then, they just ignored the rest of us." Dramatically pointing at the players again, he continued "I'm sure someone here was in the beta! They should get on their knees and apologize, and give up all the items and money they've hoarded. Otherwise, we can't trust them to protect us as party members, and they shouldn't trust us!"

The players once more glanced at each other, and one of the two at the top gave the smallest of swallows, but they only had a few seconds to take in Kibaou's demand before a bored voice asked "Are you quite finished?" The players all turned their attention to a player that had been slouching just off the right side of the middle of the group seven stairs up. Standing up, the player picked up the Spartan Shield and Spear that had been laying next to him and put them on his back before he easily leapt down to the ground in a single leap, barely even bending his knees to absorb the shock of his landing. Walking towards Kibaou, the figure said "You know, you talk about how these people can't trust betas, but you're acting rather untrustworthy yourself."

Kibaou sputtered in rage as he demanded "What?! What are you talking about?!"

The player gave Kibaou a dismissive snort as he turned towards the other players and said "My name's Tac, and yes, I was a beta player, but let's look at the facts shall we?" Pulling out a brown book, he said "True, some of the betas rushed off on their own, but me and fifty others got together to make this guide book that all of the equipment stores hand out for free. We compiled everything we could remember from the beta into this book, including the boss we're about to face." Tac gave Kibaou a disgusted look as he continued "I've also made it a point over this last month to help anyone I come across that are level four or below to level up on team monster hunts where they could get more experience from the monsters stronger than themselves. Tell me, Kibaou, have you lead any level grinding parties recently?"

Kibaou gritted his teeth, but didn't say anything and Tac scoffed as he said "That's what I thought. I wouldn't blame you of course, the stronger players do tend to get the shorter sticks on those. However, what you are doing now, just before we intend to take on the first floor boss is inexcusable."

Giving an expansive gesture of his arms to encompass all of the players before him, he said "We are about to take on a floor boss, the Bosses of Bosses in this game, where the survival of everyone in this Raid Group is needed to ensure that we succeed, and yet, this absolute NOOB wants some of us to fight without any weapons or armor at all? Does he WANT us to all die?!" Tac saw all of the players begin to give Kiabou dirty looks and turned around to glare at him as he leaned forward and said "You know what you remind me of, Kiabou? A whiny. Little. PEASANT!" He poked Kiabou in the chest at each of his last words, the last time hard enough to make him stagger a step back as Tac continued "You're like one of those NPC beggars, hanging outside inns and stores to demand a Player give them some of their loot for no reason whatsoever. I can't blame those guys though, after all, they're coded to act that way. But you? You're just a jealous little player who wants all of the good stuff without putting any effort in, and crying about how it's not fair that those who put in actual work have better things than you do."

Turning to look back at the rest of the Raid Group, Tac spread his arms and asked "My fellow Players, this man asks how you can trust Betas? I in turn ask how we can trust him to be part of this group? After all, what's stopping him from just hanging back at the rear of our group during the entire fight only to jump one of us later on to take our hard won Loot from our pixelating corpses? In fact, how do we know he's not actually working for Kayaba, sent to ensure that we NEVER leave this hell he created and then trapped us in?!"

Kiabou flushed an angry red at Tac's words but he paled as all of the players stood up as one and began yelling at him, some of the things heard being 'Peasant', 'NPC Bum', and 'We don't want a traitor in our midst, go away!' Then one of the players actually took out a tomato from their inventory and threw it at Kiabou, striking him in the face. At the sight of others opening up their own inventories, Kiabou did the smart thing and bolted out of the theater, running up the stairs as far away from the other players as he could get and Tac snorted in satisfaction before he quick step hopped back up to his former seat crossing his arms as he sat back down.

Diabel shook his head with a sigh then quickly got the Raiders back on track as he said "Alright, now that the drama's over, let's discuss team assignments."

END