Me: I'm so excited for this collab! It's gonna be a really long time before we're done and stuff but omigosh like I can hardly contin myself I'm so excited *squeals and then flails*
Lori: While she's occupied, have a good time reading-
Amaya: Review!
Kaori: *giggles*
German's POV
"What's that smell?" I was bombarded with a multitude of answers, ranging anywhere from "I don't know" to "your face" which was then followed by a few fits of laughter from two of the younger children.
It was loud. If there was one thing that people said after visiting our household, was that it was loud. Although honestly with this many children, it was quite possibly impossible for it not to be. Somehow, I had acquired fourteen younger siblings. Well, not just somehow; that makes it sound like I don't know. I do. My parents had them all of course, and somehow I'd come out as the oldest.
And being the oldest had some responsibilities that came with it.
I heaved past the small herd of children which had surrounded me due to the fact that I was stirring what would soon be cookie dough, hearing tiny feet stampeding after me as I followed my nose toward the incredibly odd smell.
Odd smells in a household full of children weren't rare, although they were still unnerving.
"Guys, seriously what's that smell?" I asked, poking my head into the living room and sniffing. Nope, it wasn't as strong in there. I could hardly hear my own thoughts over the chatter and yellings of high-pitched voices as I turned back to the kitchen, two kids latching onto my legs, chanting for me to give them a taste.
It was times like these when I wished our parents were actually around to give me a hand. I sighed, scanning the crowd. "Spain? Mind giving me some help here, buddy?" I asked, spotting the second eldest.
He smirked up at me amusedly, apparently enjoying the sight of my troubles before nodding. With a few heaves he managed to pry the toddlers from my legs and I went in search of the smell again.
I yanked open the microwave. Nothing wrong in there. I sniffed, feeling suspiciously like a tracking dog as I shuffled around the kitchen, my posse of children hoarding after me like I was an ice cream truck. Counting heads I couldn't find one missing, although I did see a teary face.
Tears weren't exactly an uncommon sight either. It seemed at least one of them was crying over something at all times. I loved them to death and seeing them sad was horrible, but good lord what was that smell?
I set the bowl of batter on the counter and reached down with one arm to heave up the little crying girl. She wailed, throwing both arms around my neck as I continued to scan the room for the smell.
"What's wrong?" Rainy, the youngest sniffled pitifully next to me, letting out a string of words so slurred by her crying that I wondered for a second if she'd just spouted out an alien language. "Sweetie calm down, your big brother can't understand a word you're saying."
I leaned down, peering in each of the cabinets for an abnormality.
She swallowed, gasping for air. "I-I-My-Our-Cat! Gibble tuck!"
What the hell? What was a gibble tuck? However I had picked out one actual word. "Cat? The cat? Are you talking about Kibble?"
She nodded rapidly, her tiny brown ponytail bouncing as she did so. She struggled for a moment with some more explanation before apparently giving up, instead slapping one tiny hand on either side of my face and forcing me to look at her. Her blue eyes were wet and wide as she then sloppily pointed over towards the stove. "Gibble stuck!"
Oh… oh crap. As a fluent speaker of baby talk I understood what she meant, promptly setting her back down on the floor and rushing over to the stove, my journey still rather delayed due to the amount of tiny humans in front of me, although most of them had abandoned their clawing at my pants and were instead slapping at the cabinets below where I'd placed the bowl of dough.
We had a cat. He was brown and dull and sometimes could be mistaken for a rat he was so small, but he was a cat nonetheless. We'd found him, or more like he'd found us, showing up on our front doorstep one day and refusing to leave. As if fourteen children weren't enough to take care of, we'd adopted a cat.
Half of my brood wanted to name him Mr. Fluffy, and the other half simply wanted to name him Cat. They'd argued for hours but eventually settled on what the older ones called "middle ground" and named him Kibble. How on earth Kibble was middle ground between Cat and Mr. Fluffy I didn't know, but honestly, I didn't care.
I looked behind the pre-heated stove and sure enough, just as Rainy had said, Kibble was stuck. He was perched, tangled up in cords from various appliances and squished in the only four or five inch space between the stove and the wall, his green eyes glowing in fear as he looked to me like I was the light at the end of the tunnel.
I wasn't entirely sure what the smell was, but as I reached behind to pull him out, I assumed it was the smell of burning fur. Our stove was definitely not the most high-tech or the safest piece of technology, and it turned out the back got incredibly hot. Thank goodness I'd only begun pre-heating it a little bit ago or we would've had a half-fried cat stuck in our house.
Gross.
Rainy cheered behind me, taking Kibble from my arms and twirling the stunned cat around in circles. "Thank you! Thank you German!" she managed to say, her words now much more understandable without the distress.
I nodded, mentally telling the cat he better remember that I saved him and not hack up in my slippers again. Man… I really sounded like a grandpa sometimes. I needed a break.
Although, that break was within reach. As today was the day the game I'd been waiting for for what felt like forever was coming out. Well, it'd actually gone online almost five hours ago, but still, once I forced these little ones into bed, I could have the much-needed break I deserved.
I couldn't remember a time when I'd actually played a game that I wanted to play. My days were full of tag and Candyland. Not to mention the last time I remembered taking a somnolence.
My friends had raved about this game for months now it seemed. They'd all gone and bought it the instant it came out, and with a little help from them, they'd thrown together some of their extra savings to help me buy a copy of my own. They'd said they didn't mind pitching in, as they couldn't imagine it without me, but I still felt a little guilty… although mostly grateful.
We'd all scheduled to meet up at 20:00, although I figured since I'd never played a video game before, let alone anything close to virtual reality, I could use all the help I could get and planned to log in earlier. Sure, no one else but the beta testers knew what true virtual reality was like, but at least my friends had some experience with video games.
Even the thought of being able to be completely immersed in another world seemed like complete hooey to me.
And so I was making my siblings cookies in exchange for them going to bed early. I figured if I had them all asleep, I'd have until the morning to play. We'd all probably play all night, so I wouldn't be the only one sleeping through class the next day. I smiled at the thought.
"Alright, they're going in. I repeat, they're going in," I said, scooping the last mound of dough onto the baking sheet, somehow weaving through all the children, and shoving it into the oven.
It was like they had all been hypnotized. They sat in front of the oven, staring through the little glass door, pushing and shoving one another in complete silence to get a better look.
I heard a 'hmph' from beside me and looked down to see Spain with his arms crossed at my side. He looked indifferent. "Getting so worked up over cookies. I'm so over that," he said.
I couldn't help but chuckle, reaching down and ruffling his hair as he desperately tried to slap my hands away. "Oh c'mon, you know you want to go watch. You're not too old."
"I'm almost a decade!" he protested.
I nodded. "Eh, yeah old man I guess you're right. That big one-zero is right around the corner for ya, isn't it?"
He nodded, puffing out his chest in pride. He'd been looking forward to his tenth birthday since he'd turned nine. He was the second oldest, although just barely. He had a few others nipping at his heels in the family. Heck, Cyrus and Monica were only nine months behind. Man, time flew.
"So a big manly man like yourself can help me get them into bed in a record amount of time, can't you?" I'd said it like a challenge, and if I knew anything, Spain loved challenges. Joke was on him, he was really just helping me out.
His hands clenched into fists. "You bet! I'll get them in bed in half the time you usually do!"
"Ooh, big talk from such a little guy," I mocked.
"I will! You just watch!" he yelled.
I could've sworn Spain was a blur once the cookies were out. I was just about to set up plates around the table when he stopped me, holding up a smug hand and telling me he could handle it. Instead he disregarded plates in general, taking the cookies off the tray, still burning hot, and wrapping each one in a napkin before giving them to the other siblings. Once cookies were in-hand, or rather in-mouth for some, he promptly carted them to their bedroom, spouting nonsense about a monster eating all their cookies in the future if they didn't go to sleep right then.
Although I wasn't entirely sure if sending children to bed with chocolate still on their faces and promises of cookie-stealing boogie men was a good idea, I couldn't deny his method had been speedy. Much faster than I had ever achieved… although they had had clean faces and weren't staring in horror at the ceiling, hoping a monster wouldn't come and get their baked treats.
It was just for one night though. I could console them tomorrow and clean them up. And of course I'd probably put them to bed in the future as well… mainly because Spain was a tad scary when he wanted things done… the descriptions of the cookie-eating monster had been oddly vivid. Although it was still pretty light outside so I hoped that that would at least help set their minds at ease.
He strutted back into the kitchen after the last child had been put to sleep. "See? Told ya. New record," he boasted.
I rolled my eyes lightly, a smile still playing on my face. "Yeah, yeah, you're the best. You wanna take over my duties from now on?"
His eyes bugged and he rapidly shook his head. "No thanks."
I chuckled, handing him the last cookie on the tray. "Didn't think so. Now you go to bed too. Remember if you don't you'll get all future sweets stolen right from your cold clammy dead hands," I said, letting out a ghostly 'oooo' afterwards which made him sigh in annoyance before trotting down to his room, munching on his cookie on the way.
There. All done. Not too bad it was… 18:00. I still had plenty of time before everyone else logged in.
I shoved the cookie sheet back into the cabinet, wiping my hands on a paper towel before nearly jogging down the hallway to my room in anticipation. I'd already unboxed it, too eager to wait. It looked pretty much just like a helmet. Sleek, black plastic made it look a little nicer though. And then it had a cord, which was a dead giveaway.
I closed my door with a click, locking it tight in hopes I wouldn't be interrupted, and hopping onto my bed without a second thought. I leaned over, plugging it in and firmly placing it over my head. A giddy smile stretched across my face.
Here it was: some down time for German. It would be so nice to spend some quality time with friends. Not only that but doing it while playing a game? This would be perfect.
I still had long lists of all I needed to do running through my head. Rylie had soccer practice tomorrow. Cyrus needed a poster board for a project he was working on. I'd left my keys on the coffee table instead of putting them in my book bag, and Spain's bicycle tire needed airing or he wouldn't be able to go over to the sleepover he had with a friend the next day. It seemed like a never-ending slew of thoughts but I figured the game would take over soon enough and I would be pulled away from the craziness of it all.
I adjusted my position on the covers, lying my hands down by my sides before calling out the two words that the instruction manual had told me would take me to that magical world.
"Link Start!"
Diesel's POV
I bit my nails, wiggling happily in my seat as I watched the clock tick ever-closer to the time I'd been waiting for for over a month now.
Beta testing the game had been one thing, but playing with that many people? That many civilians? That many people who could possibly give me a challenge was just irresistible.
I'd been sold on the Nerve Gear from the very first instant I'd logged into SAO. Looking down at my hands to feel them clench when I clenched them, to sniff and smell real air, even to pinch myself and feel the pinch, was invigorating. Living life was nice, but living life in a place like that? It was something I could get used to very quickly.
I'd been sitting at the chair to my desk, staring at the oversized digital clock on my desktop monitor for over an hour now. I had a few pages open, watching news of the new Sword Art Online game appear. People were frantically buying it; it was flying off shelves faster than a new harem dating game did in a crowd full of girlfriend-less losers. Although, I was one of those losers… but still. It didn't matter.
I scrolled down the slow and steady feed of news I had. I had alerts for nearly anything game, manga, or anime-related. It was nice to know when the new things came out, that way I could easily stay caught up.
I also had a small chat box constantly scrolling on the side. I'd made countless acquaintances during my beta test and had kept in contact with nearly all of them. They tended to avoid me sometimes… which I didn't know why, but as the real release date of the actual game inched closer and closer they began contacting me again.
'HogKnockers225: Yo Dies! You ready to kick the game's ass?' A beep signaled the message directed towards me.
'DieselForTheLadies: You betcha!' I typed back.
'Slythender: Two minutes 2 go guys. Get ur gaming pants on. This'll be epic!1111!'
Bet your life it was going to be epic. I wracked my brain to remember who was who of the two people who'd sent me messages. Oh yeah, both guys I'd met in the first floor dungeon. Eh, moderately skilled players although they were too engrossed in the scenery to really be of any help.
I liked them. They were nice, but they weren't what I was interested in.
Unfortunately I hadn't run into too many girls during my time beta testing. Of course, that was understandable, not many girls would go far enough to be chosen for that. I had a much better chance of meeting ladies during the real game. Hopefully helpless ones that needed a very skilled master like myself for some help and advice.
I bit my tongue to keep from laughing in excitement. Yes, this was going to be the best game ever.
However I guessed I had met a few of the wonderful things they called females during my beta testing times. They were just as fantastic as any in the real world.
Giselle, Haruka, Lacy, Amaya, I could've gone on to name them all but the sad fact was that they were some of the few. Although none except Amaya had I really adventured with. And even then I'd only met her a little while before the beta was shut down, so we hadn't gotten too much time to play together.
But that would change today. We'd already made plans to meet up the instant the game had gone online. It was so exciting. I'd asked the other ladies and some of my gentleman friends I'd had during the beta testing if they wanted to meet up too but they all said they were busy somewhere else in the game… which was odd because the game hadn't even started yet… but it didn't matter. I'd have lots of time to make other friends and hopefully find a girlfriend in the process.
All the time in the world in fact.
The clock ticked down another minute and my heart raced faster, accompanied by another small notificational beep. I peered down at my screen to see new news had come out regarding one of my favorite games-turned-shows.
I clicked on the article and the wonderful words of spectacular beauty stunned my very heart. They had done it. Asuki, Asuki my darling, my waifu, and my one true love when it came to animated girls was getting made as a figure. Not only that, but they were releasing a small portion of them to Japan before the actual release for "super fans". Well, I think calling myself a super fan would be an understatement.
I'd never clicked on a "buy now" button faster in my life. Asuki was my darling. She was so sweet, so caring, so gentle and kind, not to mention quite literally the most beautiful thing I'd ever laid eyes on. She'd fallen in love with me so easily in that game, we'd skipped down the road to happiness and not anything could ruin it.
My heart nearly stopped.
Nothing could ruin it… but something apparently had ruined my quick buy of this incredibly enticing figurine. She was even wearing the outfit I'd liked best in the game. The white one that if you went wild enough sort of looked like a wedding dress. The dress she'd wear on the day we'd get married… if she were real.
"OUT OF STOCK?!" I gasped, looking at the red letters that told me I was too late to get the figure's pre-release. I slapped both hands to cover my eyes. No, this was not happening. This was a nightmare. She'd been right there, right within reach and yet she'd been stolen away by another man, other men. What would they do to her? My precious Asuki would be defiled for sure! "No, nonononono," I moaned, clicking the back button and quickly re-reading the rest of the article.
It said there would be a few distributed to local manga shops… there was still hope.
But wait… what about the SAO release? It was probably only a minute away… I couldn't miss that by running down the street to see if they had my figure…
But I couldn't leave poor Asuki alone and cold and homeless in a little plastic box, men ogling her from a distance with greedy eyes.
But games like SAO sometimes had special campaigns. With my knowledge I wouldn't be surprised if Akihiko himself decided to give out a powerful sword to the first one hundred who logged in or something of the sort.
But my wife, my one true love who had cared about me until the end was finally within sight and I couldn't leave her alone.
I toyed back and forth, leaning one way in my seat and then the other, grumbling and grunting and arguing with myself. Who would it be? Asuki, or other girls in this new virtual reality?
"GAH!" I yelled, quickly clicking around until I found the pre-order form for the figure for when it actually went on sale to the public. "I'm so sorry Asuki! Forgive me!" I wailed, typing in my address and payment method. I'd have to wait… I'd have to wait two horrible bone-crushing weeks for her to go on sale and arrive at my door. I was a horrible boyfriend.
However, maybe in this new game I'd find something more akin to a real relationship… something a little healthier. Not that what I had with Asuki wasn't healthy! But it really wasn't…
I slammed down the enter key, dashing over to my bed and throwing on the Nerve Gear before I had a chance to change my mind. With angst of the love I'd have to wait ten to fifteen business days for, I called out the two words to take me into the world that would be full of actual women.
The screen went white, the familiar colorful blocks once again engulfing me. I calibrated it, followed by putting in my password. It popped up with the avatar I'd used during the beta and I sighed in relief, clicking accept and waiting for the drop off. It'd taken me seemingly forever to customize my avatar. Mainly because I couldn't decide on what looked cooler, purple hair or white, or maybe gold… or blue… There were an endless amount of choices when it came to hair, eyes, and clothing, and in the end I'd ended up with something just about as far from my real body as possible.
I was much taller, much more muscular, had purple hair down to my waist instead of the shorter forest green hair I'd been blessed or maybe cursed with upon birth, and orange eyes, so stark compared to my normally blue irises, but hey, orange was incredibly badass-looking if I did say so myself.
I materialized easily into the world. I looked around myself, watching as others fizzled into existence mere feet from me, spawning faster than bunnies reproduced. You could tell the betas from the newer players. The beta testers stretched, looking upon the world fondly while new players' eyes were wide, scanning their surroundings and gaping at the clarity of it all.
I swiped for my menu, quickly scanning through everything. I still surprisingly had most, if not all of my items. While I had collected a good share of things during the month of betaing, I still looked forward to acquiring new objects and weapons now. I didn't know for sure, but surely there would be new extras that hadn't been there during the beta. Plus, I hadn't gotten the chance to get very far in the game, so hopefully soon I'd be reaching higher floors on the tower and also acquiring better rewards.
My friends list was also intact. I'd added quite a few and in scrolling I saw that around half of them had logged in already, even though it was still probably within the first minute of release. Although, there was only one username I was looking for.
Amaya… yup, she was on. Now I just needed to head to the field we said we'd meet in.
I shot off in a sprint, dodging gamers and flying out of the main city and into the surrounding fields. I'd told her I'd be in the southernmost one… and in taking a glance at my compass in the corner of my screen –or I guess I should call it vision- I headed to my right, jogging all the way down to nearly the bottom of my map.
I looked around, searching for any sign of her but came up empty. Maybe it was because it was early in the game but no one had made it to the field yet. Which would make it easier to find Amaya of course, and also easier to kill the beasts since no one else was here to steal my prey.
As if on cue I spotted one a few yards away. A boar, same as in the beta. "Alright," I sighed to myself, scrolling through my items and picking a common sword I'd found. "Time to have some fun."
With a fluid shove off the ground I was off, slicing through the boar in one fell swoop. It made a grunting noise before bursting into pixilated squares and into the abyss. A tiny window popped up congratulating me, letting me know I'd earned a small amount of HP and gold. I swiped to close it.
I'd always found games to be intriguing. Ever since I was small it was hard to find time to talk to me that I didn't have some sort of handheld device in my grasp. Rather than intriguing, they were easily beaten. Maybe it was because I had indeed played video games since I was a tot, or maybe it was because I threw myself wholeheartedly into it until it was beaten, but I found it rather easy to beat games.
And while in one small respect that was frustrating, I didn't really care. Even if I'd beaten a game a hundred times I still found some sort of enjoyment in it. Even more so in this virual reality. I hadn't ever exactly been very good at the game of "life" as they called it. Reality wasn't my thing, and I didn't know how to beat it or how to push its buttons, so I liked actual games more. I could control them, I could dominate them, I could conquer and be the best at them. When it came to my prowess regarding them, people oo'd and awe'd. No one oo'd and awe'd at me in real life.
"Diesel!" A shout took me out of my thoughts.
It wasn't a voice I recognized and as I turned to it, I had to hold a hand up to shelter my eyes from the sun. Who was that? There were two girls, one of which –the one that'd yelled- looked unfamiliar, while the smaller figure, jumping up and down and waving struck my memory like a truck.
Amaya!
I set off in a sprint, abandoning my sword in the grass and not caring who found it or what happened to it. My little gaming partner had returned and she looked as gorgeous as ever! Not to mention she'd brought an equally gorgeous friend who was… very well-endowed if I did say so myself.
I didn't slow down at all, instead tackling Amaya in a hug and hoisting up to spin her around in glee. "Amaya-chan~! I missed you so much! What've you been up to! I haven't talked to you in forever! How's it been~? Still single? Still as powerful as ever? Glad to be back?" My questions spewed out at a million miles a minute. I was so happy to see her again.
I set her down a moment later when she began to look a little dizzy. She was smiling, although her eyes were spinning like crazy. "Can you slow down? I can't read your lips when you're talking so fast."
Say what now? My eyebrows pinched but I smiled. Silly girl. "You can't read my lips? Why can't you just listen?" Maybe she hadn't adjusted her volume settings yet. Although mine had been right where I'd left them the time I'd logged out from the beta.
She looked down toward the ground, her usual bouncy persona dialing down into what I swore was a sheepish smile. She brought her hands up, quietly tapping her fingers together as she searched for words. "Well, see, in the real world, that is, in real life, um…," she trailed off.
A look was exchanged between the two girls which gave me a bit of time to do a look-over of the girl Amaya had brought. Gorgeous was an understatement. Maybe it was just her avatar but this girl looked like she belonged in a movie. I'd definitely have to introduce myself properly in a moment after Amaya got whatever it was she wanted to say out. Although I doubted at the moment I could form a logical sentence as this woman's beauty had me swept away.
Ooh, maybe she was the girl I was fated to meet in this game! I would definitely not be opposed to that.
"You didn't tell," the girl said to Amaya, half sounding as if she were questioning and half as a statement.
Amaya sunk further. "Well, no, I didn't think it would matter! I could hear in the beta test!" Eh? What were these two talking about?
"You could hear in the beta?" I asked. Of course she could hear in the beta, everyone could or it would've been reported as a bug. But why was she talking like it was something so new? Like it was an extraordinary fact that she could hear in the beta?
Amaya leaned to the side, still looking square at the ground as she said slowly, "In the real world, I'm actually deaf." She gave me a slight smile.
To say I was surprised was an understatement. My mouth dropped agape and I stared at her as if she were from another planet. She had to be kidding. "Are you serious?"
She gave me a simple nod, searching my features for some sort of answer.
"B-But… but," I stumbled clumsily. She'd been fine in the beta. Perfectly fine. She'd heard me and I'd heard her. She hadn't acted any different, she hadn't seemed amazed by the sounds she was apparently hearing then, but not now… It was hard to believe. "Why didn't you say anything?"
She offered me a light shrug. "I didn't think it mattered… since I could hear."
Of course it mattered! That was the problem with gaming: even if you made friends online, there was still so much about their real life that you didn't know. And Amaya thought something as "trivial" as being deaf in real life didn't matter since in the game she wasn't. Which was sad. Yes, I hadn't known her for that long and yes, I was probably just some creepy guy she met on the game but still… I wanted to know things like that about her and about any other friend I made online.
I couldn't imagine not being able to hear. It was so beyond me that I couldn't even begin to fathom it, and my heart ached slightly for the wonderful and sweet girl in front of me. I sighed, straightening and swiping up my menu. I clicked on Amaya's name as she and the girl that was accompanying her gave me questioning looks.
I pulled up the chat function and with a slight smile typed. 'Of course it matters. I want to know all about you Amaya-chan~! You could've definitely shared that with me. ;P'
She jumped as the message popped up on her screen and a sweet smile stretched across her face as she read, her friend looking incredibly confused, only the owner of the menu could see it after all.
I swiped away my screen. "I'm not sure what to say, Amaya," I admitted.
The atmosphere had turned a little downtrodden, if not a tad awkward.
Amaya shook her head, waving her hand to dismiss it all. "Don't worry about it. We really don't have to talk about that right now… we can later. Because I have to introduce you to someone, Diesel!"
I figured she was right, and we would talk about it later. Even if she somehow forgot about it I'd be sure to remind her. It would be nice to have a little chat with her about it, and about other things in the real world as well for that matter. I sensed she was hesitant to talk about it, but also wanted me to know at the same time. She was sweet; definitely one person I wanted to get to know better.
I turned to the girl next to her, offering a hand for a handshake. "I'm assuming that someone is this beautiful lady?" I asked.
The girl gave me an uncomfortable look, hesitantly reaching out to take my hand. "This is Lori! My big sister," Amaya said. I couldn't tell if she'd read my lips or not, but I was too intrigued by the lovely woman beside her to really question it.
Although, I had to admit I was surprised. Aside from the blonde hair I really had to squint to see they were related. But then again these were avatars so goodness only knew how similar they looked in real life.
I shook Lori's hand before deftly bringing it up to my mouth, giving it a quick peck of a kiss before letting it go. "It is a real treat getting to meet my darling Amaya's beautiful big sister!" Somehow I'd managed to throw in a compliment to both women… and flirt with both. Hell yeah, Diesel! My game was definitely stepping up.
Lori stepped backward, looking somewhere between surprised and a little peeved. "Excuse me? 'Your darling Amaya'?" She turned to her younger sister. "How well do you know this guy, anyway?" she snapped.
Amaya bobbed her head back and forth as if thinking before giving a shrug. "Pretty well, I guess. I dunno we played for a while together and hit it off."
I nodded vigorously which only resulted in a glare from Lori. I wasn't sure if she was just a protective older sister or just simply didn't like me right off the bat. I'd gotten off on a good foot though. Kissing a girl's hand was supposed to make them swoon, right?
I gave Lori a grin and her glare only deepened. Ooh, this woman definitely didn't like something I'd said… or something I'd done. I wracked my brain for what it could've been. I scratched the back of my head sheepishly, letting out an awkward laugh when I couldn't put my finger on something that would've made her angry.
Amaya seemed to sense the tension and instead turned to me with an exuberant gushing of words towards the release of SAO. It seemed she was just as excited as I was to get to explore the higher levels of the game.
Amaya was an extremely talented player. Not until her had I encountered anyone even close to my skills in games, but she was right up there on my level. Granted I was pretty sure I could still beat her, but she was talented. She also hacked, just as I did, and her fingers flew faster than light on the keyboard she was given, her eyes taking in all the data with ease. She was the first person I'd met in a game who could keep up with my technological talk and game hacking too. In all reality she was pretty amazing. I'd only wished I could've met her earlier in the beta.
Plus, she wasn't like other girls and didn't make excuses as to why she couldn't meet up with me. And honestly, talented in games or not, that was pretty much a selling factor.
Lori looked a little baffled and overwhelmed as Amaya and I continued to spew excitement and theories about the game to one another. Apparently she'd heard the game was truly unbeatable, and that at the top level you only have one HP and if you don't kill the boss within ten seconds you automatically die. Challenge accepted I said, to which she laughed and seemed determined as well.
I wasn't quite sure how long we gibbered at each other but apparently it was long enough for Lori to eventually butt in with a clearing of her throat.
I stopped, turning to her while Amaya continued to chatter away, obviously unable to hear the noise. She stopped a second later when she realized I was looking elsewhere, however, staring over at her sister before letting out a laugh and muttering, "Sorry."
Right… her hearing. Even though she couldn't hear in the real world, most likely it could be fixed in-game. While the Nerve Gear replicated a human body and a human's thoughts and actions, it wasn't real. Therefore this avatar that could look exactly like us if we so wanted, was still only virtually created. People could move much better in here, even if they were overweight or handicapped, than they could in real life. So Amaya's hearing issue should've been overlooked by the sensors, since the Nerve Gear couldn't just sense that a person was deaf in a scan.
Granted it did take cranial information to help process our thoughts in-game. However still… if she could hear in the beta it appeared that the Gear didn't delve that far into the human brain, so far as to check to see if any of the senses of the user were impaired.
I turned back to Amaya. "Listen, about your hearing, have you tried logging out and recalibrating it and then logging back in? It might just be a little fluke."
She shook her head. "I haven't tried it. I went to meet up with you right after we arrived. It said when I logged in it didn't connect with the hearing sense…" She looked off to the side before shrugging. "I guess I could try it real quick, see if you're right."
I gave her a nod. "Surely it'll work the second time around. These things don't work perfectly every single time, after all."
Amaya swiped up her menu with a smile, toggling through her list before the corners of her mouth fell. Her eyebrows pinched and she swiped away her menu before bringing it back up again. "Guys…," she said, tilting her head to the side. "The logout button is gone."
Somnolence: (she meant nap...I think...0.o) v; to have an abject fondness for sleeping
Me: YEEEEEEAAAAH! SUCH EXCITEMENT! *punches air* The logout button's gone, oh snap, some serious shiznit's about to go down *giggles* Review! Thaksies!
