AN: I got quite a lot of responses saying they liked the paint fight! I'm glad you guys enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it! Anyway, we're in the Calibur arc now, so I would like to take this opportunity to point out that the novel implies that Kirito is at least familiar with, if his nerdy self hasn't played any, tabletop RPGs too! A quote from when Suguha shows him the article about Excalibur being found-
"While complaining, I shoved my spoon into the jar of homemade jam which Suguha gave me and scooped the purple jelly onto my toast. Then I spread some whipped butter, making a marbled design. Recently trying to control her calorie intake, Suguha discretely watched me prepare my toast and tried to endure while comparing the toast in her right hand, but her willpower's saving roll apparently failed, and without a word she pulled the butter jar toward herself."
As someone who has played more than a little Dungeons and Dragons, I am incredibly fond of this detail. Far more than I should probably be to be honest. But I love it so I decided I would share it with you all. Also, given that anytime we see him eating at home with Suguha it's either salads or sandwiches, hence why I've said that's all they know how to make, I'm absolutely assuming the jam was made by their mom.
Review Responses:
Aaron21hardin- It's funny that you say that… As I stated in last chapters AN I've got a vague outline of the major events/plot points for the rest of this fic, and that's basically what's going to happen. Seriously, I've asked reviewers this before, but do some of you have mind reading powers? Because you guys sure act like it sometimes.
Zoran Dawn-Eclipse- Haha, I had a lot of fun writing it too! I'm glad you liked it!
oneoddtodd- You're quite welcome, and I'm glad you've enjoyed it! I think I'll be a bit sad too. Though that being said, the muses have been bugging me about an AU, and if I did do it, it probably wouldn't be a short thing to put into the side story collection. Though you know you've gone to far down the rabbit hole when muses start giving you an AU to your own fanfic… ^_^;
Marzanna stretches out in bed as she shivers a little, by now practically a habit after the incident with the stone, before reaching for her phone. It was going off almost frantically with notifications, both from her sleepyhead and the group chat for their guild, which had been named Wings of Duality and finally made official a while ago.
Opening the messages from her husband first, she scrolls through them.
Sleepyhead
Sun, Dec 28
MARZANNA!
SOMEONE FOUND EXCALIBUR
IT HASN'T BEEN CLAIMED YET THOUGH!
WE NEED TO GO
I NEED TO ALERT THE GUILD
ARE YOU ASLEEP?!
MAAAAAARRRRRRRZZZZZZAAAAAAANNNNNNNAAAAAA!
OSNSGDHBDMSKSOWVDKDBDJSKASNIDLXBEVW!
WAKE UUUUUUPPPPPP!
I'm awake, I'm awake.
Someone's excited.
OF COURSE I AM! IT'S EXCALIBUR! THE STRONGEST ONE HANDED
STRAIGHT SWORD IN THE GAME!
I know babe.
THERE IS LITERALLY NO ONE HANDED STRAIGHT SWORD IN ALO THAT'S BETTER!
I know babe.
UNLESS THEY ADDED ELUCIDATOR AND NO ONE TOLD ME!
She snorts in amusement at her mate.
Still not convinced you wouldn't leave me for that sword.
I WOULD NEVER!
If you say so.
It's gonna take a little bit for everyone that's available to show up for the
emergency quest, so give me a little bit to get some breakfast and wake up.
But you ARE coming, right?
Of course I am. Like I'd let Excalibur slip through our fingers without even trying
to help you get it.
I FREAKING LOVE YOU! SEE YOU IN A BIT!
Love you too, babe.
She snorts again, this time at her mate's frankly adorable excitement, then rolls out of bed. Switching to the group chat as she heads to the bathroom to do her morning ablutions.
Wings of Duality
Sun, Dec 28
SleepPlz
EXCALIBUR WAS FOUND IN ALO, BUT IT HASN'T BEEN CLAIMED YET!
TONKII CAN CARRY UP TO SEVEN PEOPLE! IS ANYONE AVAILABLE FOR AN EMERGENCY QUEST?!
Info-Kitty
Holy Shit! What?! I haven't finished breakfast yet, so I haven't caught up on the
news yet! When did this happen?!
SleepPlz
LEAFA JUST SHOWED ME ON HER TABLET!
SO I DON'T HAVE THE LINK IN FRONT OF ME, BUT IT WAS RECENT!
JustWannaFly
I'm going. Also, link below.
Link
Lightning-sama
I might be available if Kirito turns off his caps lock. I feel like he's shouting at me.
SleepPlz
Sorry. I got excited.
Lightning-sama
We noticed.
SleepPlz
The point is! I'm not sure on the details, but if it's made its way to the forums, we're out of time for me to level my character's skills so we have to go ASAP. So anyone who's available on short notice please respond.
SnipyBaby
I can come. I'm not sure how much help I'd be, since I still haven't gotten to play ALO a whole lot. My skill levels are definitely further behind than you guys' are, but it shouldn't be as big of a deal since I'm not generally close quarters and I got the best gear I can possibly equip with my current skill levels from Liz to make up for a good bit of it. Right?
DragonTamer
Right! I'm sure you'll be a big help, Sinon-chan! And I'm available! Just let me know when!
Info-Kitty
I can't actually go today. Sorry.
PinkSmith
I can't either. I've got lessons with Alessio today.
But I can come in to check over your weapons and maybe do some maintenance before you head out if you want? That won't take nearly as long.
ActuallyASheDevil
That would be appreciated. And I'll be there of course.
StillSingle
I don't have work, so I can come too!
WHO CHANGED MY NAME?!
Troublemaker
I did. (・｀ω´・)
StillSingle
THIS IS WHY KIRITO CHANGED YOUR NAME TO TROUBLEMAKER DIABEL!
StillSingle has changed their nickname to RedSamurai
SleepPlz
ANYWAY! That's seven of us. Tonkii can't carry any more, so we'll meet up as soon as everyone can.
Lightning-sama
Is Yui coming? She doesn't exactly count as far as Tonkii's carrying capacity is concerned.
ActuallyASheDevil
I'll ask. And there isn't a huge rush despite what Kirito said. I refuse to dive before I get breakfast at least, so you all have some time before I'm ready.
A wave of confirmations comes through, so she locks her phone and puts it away in her hoodie pocket. Black of course, both for the comfort of having her mate's signature color nearby when he isn't and also just because at this point she's just accepted that he's slowly infecting her sense of style.
Entering the dining room she gets a wave of good mornings from her family, which she happily returns as she sits down.
She glances at her daughter as she starts loading up her plate, "Got anything going on with grandma and the others today, sweetie?"
She tilts her head, "I don't think so?"
She glances at her grandma, and she looks towards her mother as well. Lily tilts her head, "There weren't any particular plans today, no. We were thinking about taking her to the zoo sometime soon, but I don't think we were going today."
Yui's eyes predictably light up at the idea of exploring more of the real world, but she turns back to her with a grin, "So nope! Nothing today, Mama! Why?"
She tilts her head at her, "Apparently Excalibur has been found in ALO, but not claimed. It was on the forums this morning, so we're doing an emergency quest with me, Kirito, Leafa, Asuna, Silica, Sinon, and Klein. That's all Tonkii can carry, but it doesn't count you since the system registers you as a Nav-Pixi. Just wanted to see if you wanted to go?"
Yui smacks her hands on the table as she leans towards her with excitement equal to when she was told she'll be going to the zoo soon, "We're finally going after it for real?!"
She nods as she fills up her glass with orange juice and Nero leans towards them, "Finally? And what's so special about this sword? I mean, it is named Excalibur, so I assume it's special from that alone as well as your reactions."
She turns to her cousin, not surprised that he doesn't know. While he has started diving in ALO with them, he doesn't check the group chat until after breakfast at the earliest and has notifications from it muted until then, "It's the best one handed straight sword in the entire game, though if it has any unique abilities the devs haven't said anything, which might be a little weird at this point since the actually have artwork of it on the main page of the games site, and even have it's description listed if you hover your mouse over it."
Then she huffs a laugh, "Funny enough, Kirito and Leafa stumbled across how to get to it entirely by accident when they were on their way to save me and Asuna and the others from that Sugou freak. But obviously it wasn't a good time for it and then Kirito chose to reset his avatar so we had to wait for him to level up. We weren't too worried at the time since the method to get there didn't seem like something anyone else would do, but if it's on the forums we're clearly out of time for Kirito to level." Then she gives him a faint grin, "Don't be surprised if there's a ton of messages on the group chat when you check it. Kirito and the others sorta flipped and then we were all going back and forth over who's going and when."
Nero snorts in amusement, but then his brow furrows, "OK, that's understandable, but why were you guys so sure no one else would find the method? I mean you guys found it."
Now it's her turn to snort, finishing the bite of food in her mouth before answering, "Kirito and Leafa found it because Leafa is kinda a weirdo. You remember Jötunheimr?" He nods, but she flicks a glance at her dad, who's clearly interested even if MMOs aren't his usual games, "It's an underground area almost as big as the overworld. Completely frozen over, which isn't surprising given where it draws inspiration from. It also contains some of the most powerful monsters in the game. When it first opened one of the at the time strongest players in the game gathered two hundred of the best players from his race and went down there. They were wiped out in under a minute."
Her dad's eyebrows shoot up, and he isn't the only one, even the non-gamers in their family give her surprised looks. Her dad whistles, "So. Not a place to go if you aren't seriously prepared."
She nods, "Yup. Here's the funny part though. In ALO there are mobs called mimics. They're basically shape shifters who take the form of anything ranging from a chest to a whole town to lure players in before they attack. The town ones are actually easy to spot if you're paying attention. Since they aren't a real town, there won't be any NPCs and it doesn't show up on the map. Unfortunately for Kirito and Leafa, when they came across one of the town ones on the way to the World Tree in ALO it was like two in the morning and they were tired, so they didn't realize anything was weird until it was too late."
That gets some amused snorts. And she grins lightly before continuing, "Now, normally, if you get caught by one of the town mimics, it swallows you whole, and your short journey ends in their stomach which is an instant death. But apparently by sheer dumb luck the one they found was actually a sort of secret entrance to Jötunheimr because after what I have been informed was an unfortunately long and unpleasant three minutes, they were spit out from Jötunheimrs ceiling."
Kyrie snorts and then covers her nose and mouth, "I'm sorry, that's not funny."
She barks a laugh, "You kidding me? That's hilarious. You know how much shit we've given them for that?"
Laughter drifts across the table and she grins. Then she sighs lightly, "Unfortunately given the circumstances, if things hadn't played out the way they did, they would've been fairly screwed and had to start over their journey. Like I said, two hundred of some of the best players at the time got wiped in under a minute. And they weren't spit out at the entrance where they only have to worry about the tower guardian. They were near the middle of this giant underground cavern fuckin crawling with extremely powerful mobs that can wipe out entire multi-party groups of the strongest players in game. And it's just the two of them and Yui."
That gets winces all around. Her uncle tilts his head, "I thought it was a fantasy game where you're all fairies and can therefore fly though? Couldn't they just fly out?"
She nods, "It is. But. I don't know the in-game explanation for it, if it's like the characters get their power from the sun or what, but most of the races can't fly unless it's in the overworld. The only exceptions are Imps, the race I actually chose, which can fly for brief bursts in underground places like caves and stuff, and Spriggans, which is actually Kirito's race, who can fly in bursts in dungeons."
He gets an understanding expression. And she snorts, "So they would, and frankly should, have been pretty damn screwed. Except. They heard two mobs fighting each other? And they were like, 'the fuck?' so they went to go see what was going on since they were confused and likely to die anyway, so they figured they might as well? So they find a humanoid giant fighting a elephant-jellyfish… thing. And Leafa takes one look at the one sided fight and decides that the elephant-jellyfish is being bullied and Kirito needs to put a stop to it. Right now."
Nero does a sort of full upper body jerk with the force of his snort, "If this is how the quest starts I can already see why you guys would be fairly certain no one else would find it."
She gives him an amused 'yeah, ya think' sort of look, "Right? Especially when you take into account that while at that point Jötunheimr was old enough that strategies to fight the mobs had been worked out, it was still only the best players down there and they are usually like, super serious no nonsense this place is dangerous. So even if they came across it, chances are they're just going to watch and take on the winner?"
Kyrie frowns, "That sounds mean."
She shrugs lightly, "That's just how the vast majority of those players are. But that's not how Leafa is, and while Kirito felt bad he was mostly concerned about the two of them getting brutally murdered, since as stated previously, it was just the two of them. But Leafa insisted and that is his little sister, so he was like 'oh good lord. Fine! I'll stop the bullying!' but Kirito isn't a dumb ass. Or at least not all the time." That gets amused snorts, so she grins mischievously and continues, "So he notices something and asks Yui if there's water nearby. Turns out, there's a whole ass frozen lake. So he nailed the humanoid in the eye with one of his throwing picks and fuckin booked it. Of course since it's a mob, it registers the damage, switches targets, and gives chase."
She takes a sip of her orange juice, "So they're running the fuck away, Leafa's yelling at him for leaving her behind, which from my understanding was totally on her because he warned her before he threw the pick to get ready to run for her life and told her after he threw it to run for her fuckin life. But anyway! Players can move damn quickly in the game so it doesn't take long to reach the lake, and Kirito applies the proverbial breaks, then turns and catches Leafa before she can crash into him or run right by. And she starts freaking out because you know, there's a giant powerful mob on their tail and Kirito is just. Standing there. Watching it run towards them."
Her family is laughing at this point, which she thinks is perfectly understandable, "So. Leafa's freaking out and Kirito is just standing there as this one hundred and thirtyish foot mob comes barreling at them, pissed off and ready to end them. And then the cracking starts. Because as stated previously. This is a frozen cavern. And they are on a lake that isn't frozen all the way through. And this mob is massive."
She gives them a dry look, "I think you see where this is going. So the ice cracks and the giant falls through with what I'm told was the mother of all cannonball splashes. And Leafa is like, 'just drown, for the love of all that is holy!' But Kirito is like, 'nah, it can probably swim, but that's ok. Drowning it wasn't the plan anyway' and sure enough it quickly surfaces and starts slowly paddling towards them. And then comes the elephant-jellyfish."
Nero gets a look of comprehension, "Oooohhhhhh. It may be able to go on land, but it does better in the water, doesn't it?"
She nods, "Oh hell yes. From my understanding he had like, twenty larger tentacle leg things with claws on the end that it could stand on when he's on land, but when he does he has to use most of those to support his weight and he's pretty slow on land. But now the humanoid giant is in the water, which means he's got the advantage. And my god. Was it an advantage. Kirito told me that he jumped in the water and dragged the humanoid giant under and started sparking and just absolutely started chunking its health."
Kyrie tilts her head, "Chunking?"
She waves a hand lightly, "Sorry. Chunking refers to when instead of taking small bits of health off at a time you take huge chunks out of the mob or player's health bar. And man, was that elephant-jellyfish chunking the giant's health. Kirito said the water started boiling and steaming and with every spark they were seeing literally hundreds of thousands of hit points drain out of the giant."
Nero chokes a bit, then coughs, "Hundreds of thousands. It has that much HP?"
She raises an eyebrow at him, "Those mobs are the strongest in the game for a reason. They're called 'Evil God Class' for a reason too. But that's why it's a little scary that the elephant-jellyfish was chunking its health despite its high defense stat, and that it lasted a minute or maybe two before it died."
Nero gives her a wide eyed look, "Fuck. Wouldn't want to meet that thing in the water."
She laughs lightly, "Right? So the humanoid giant dies, and the giant beast type elephant-jellyfish pulls himself out of the water and comes towards them, and Kirito is like, 'Oh yeah… This is still a mob. Time to run.' except Yui stops them and is like, 'It's chill. This guy ain't mad.' And then he scoops them up with his elephant trunk and plonks them on his back and walks away like, 'These ones are mine now.' which understandably confused them, but they weren't about to argue with the sixty five foot tall elephant-jellyfish."
Nero nods, "Understandable."
She nods as well, "Right. And that's another reason we were pretty sure no one would find it, because even if someone did decide to save the elephant-jellyfish, they don't have a Yui to tell them the mob isn't aggroed so they'd probably run away. But at this point they realized that maybe this was the start of a quest, or more likely since they hadn't gotten a notification or update to their quest log, an event. But they still can't survive in Jötunheimr on their own, so they're like, 'guess we're going with the elephant-jellyfish.' especially since it isn't long before they realized that other beast type mobs would look at them riding on top of it and then just… leave them alone. So then they decide they can't keep calling their new friend an 'evil god' so they name him… Tonkii."
Vergil holds up a hand, "Hold up. They made friends with a giant elephant-jellyfish thing that can chunk health points by the hundreds of thousands… and they named him… Tonkii?"
She nods, "Yes. Yes they did."
Vergil waves his hand, "Oook then. I guess."
She nods in sympathy, "Yup. Anyway. So unfortunately, Tonkii is taking them towards the center of the map instead of in one of the cardinal directions where they could find a tower going up, but again. They aren't going to argue with the giant elephant-jellyfish, and they aren't gonna leave Tonkii either, because as stated previously, the other beast type mobs don't attack when they're with Tonkii. So Tonkii takes them to the center of Jötunheimr, which is also directly under the center of the overworld."
"And in the center of Jötunheimr are the massive roots of the world tree poking out from the roof holding up an inverted pyramid of ice that no one has been able to reach because the limited flight of the Imps won't get you anywhere near it and no one else can fly at all. But that people have been wanting to get to because if you look closely you can barely make out what looks like corridors in the ice, which you can confirm with a distance viewing spell to essentially zoom in on it. Below that is a bottomless pit. Literally. While there's a boundary that if you cross it the game just insta kills you, there is no bottom programmed into the game."
She tilts her head, "So of course, Tonkii takes them pretty much right up to the edge and then lays down. And apparently at first they thought Tonkii was having a sort of cinematic death? Because he stops moving entirely and his fur starts hardening, but Yui tells them that's not what's happening so they're left with no choice but to just… wait. Of course, that's when bad luck strikes. In the form of a party of players who aren't about to let the free pickings of an evil god that isn't fighting back pass them by."
Kyrie makes a distressed noise, "That's cruel."
She nods, "Yeah it was. Which is why Kirito and Leafa weren't able to just stand aside and let it happen and did the dumb thing and attacked the twenty four cream of the crop players. Lucky for them, they bought enough time for Tonkii to complete what turned out to be a sort of metamorphosis evolution thing. He's still an elephant-jellyfish thing, but now he's an elephant-jellyfish thing that can fly. And, as the party that attacked them soon learned the hard way, dispel all magic. And instead of just being able to electrocute things he wraps his tentacles around, he also gained the ability to fire them… as multiple lightning strikes. Very… devastating… lightning strikes. And Tonkii very quickly made it clear that he was not pleased that they'd attacked him and his new friends. Although he didn't bother chasing them down, just chased them off, then circled back around to collect Kirito and Leafa."
She finishes off her plate and juice, "That's where things get interesting though. Because Tonkii started circling straight up. Towards the upside-down ice pyramid dungeon. So you know, they're like 'Cool! Can't do it now since we have other shit to do, but nice to know.' And then it gets better. Leafa notices something gleaming at the very bottom of the pyramid and uses distance viewing magic and they realize that the gleaming thing is Excalibur. Of course, they were busy trying to get to the World Tree to see if me and Asuna were really there, and even if they weren't there were only two of them."
"And they'd noticed that they weren't as screwed as they thought, because while Tonkii's flight path would take them by the entrance to the dungeon, they'd noticed some stairs carved into one of the roots of the World Tree leading up to the overworld. So even though Tonkii leveled off and slowed down so they'd have more than enough time to jump onto the dungeon platform, they didn't. And then Kirito chose to reset his avatar and we all knew he needed to do some serious leveling before we could attempt it, so other than finding and completing a quest that would create a secret shortcut between Arun in the overworld and Jötunheimr since the one Tonkii took them to was one way, we've basically been sitting on it."
"I mean, me, Kirito, Leafa, and Yui did go back to scout the dungeon, but it was difficult as fuck to make any progress, so we all figured that while Kirito was the one furthest behind since he reset his character, we all needed to level up if we wanted to take it on. So while we've gone back to Jötunheimr to get materials and stuff, and Leafa went back to play with Tonkii, who funnily enough actually comes whenever she or Kirito call for him in Jötunheimr, we haven't gone back to the dungeon since."
Then she sighs, "Except now there's something about a quest to get it listed on the forums, so we can't put it off any longer."
Nero nods, "That's one hell of a story though, gotta admit."
She grins, "Right? Anyway, I'm gonna head up and see if they're ready to meet up in ALO. Come on Yui. Love you guys!"
Yui hops down and waves, "Later, love you!"
Lily smiles at them indulgently, "Love you too, and good luck getting the sword!"
She and Yui head up to her room and Yui snuggles close then closes her eyes so she can concentrate on accessing the group chat, a perk of being an AI in a part robotic-part magically synthetic body.
She pulls her phone out to do the same, quickly unlocking it and immediately seeing the chat, since she hadn't tabbed off the app before locking it.
Wings of Duality
SleepPlz
I don't know for sure, but she'll probably be back soon. Just from personal experience on how long she takes to eat.
Troublemaker
Kinda jealous tbh. I wanna go on a quest to get Excalibur.
Lightning-sama
Too bad. We already have a full party. Should've spoken up sooner.
Info-Kitty
Is it time to bully Diabel again?
Lightning-sama
Oh please.
It's always time to bully Diabel.
RedSamurai
I can get behind that.
PinkSmith
You only say that because he changed your nickname.
Even though he was only being honest.
RedSamurai
Oi!
This is bully Diabel time not bully Klein time.
Info-Kitty
Oh my sweet summer child.
It's always bully Klein time as well.
RedSamurai
Why am I friends with you guys again?
Lightning-sama
Because we didn't ditch you even after we heard your thousandth terrible pick up line?
RedSamurai
Ruuuuuude.
Lightning-sama
But true.
She snorts in amusement before chiming in.
ActuallyASheDevil
Lol.
If it makes you feel better Klein, we stick around because you're very loyal? And generally a good guy?
RedSamurai
I guess…
Lightning-sama
Hey, you're back! We were thinking of meeting up at Lizbeth and Agils shop in half an hour, that work for you?
ActuallyASheDevil
It should. The only reason that might be a problem would be if Yui takes a while to transfer since she's coming with, and that shouldn't take half an hour.
AiAIAi(1)
It definitely shouldn't take that long!
And don't be mean to Klein! (≖︿≖✿)
RedSamurai
Thank you Yui! ＼(^-^)／
Troublemaker
Oh, so you defend Klein but not me Yui? I see how it is.
AiAIAi
You make trouble. You bring it on yourself.
Lightning-sama
Σ(O_O)
DragonTamer
Σ(°ロ°)
PinkSmith
Σ(O_O)
RedSamurai
(⊙_⊙)
Troublemaker
(￣ー￣； You've been hanging out with your mother too much I see.
SleepPlz
While I wouldn't say you've been hanging out with them too much, you're definitely starting to pick up things from your mom and her family… ^_^;
ActuallyASheDevil
Lol. Her name is Kirigaya-SPARDA Yui for a reason you know.
We should get going though, just to make sure Yui has enough time to transfer.
AiAIAi
See you inside, Papa!
And everyone else that's coming too of course!
SleepPlz
See you two in a little bit!
She doesn't bother to stick around to see if the others reply to Yui. Just locks her phone and sets it on her bedside table, then turns to her daughter. She keeps her eyes closed for another moment, not the type to leave before the others get a chance respond, even if she doesn't say anything back. She waits until she opens her eyes before standing up and offering her hand with a smile, "Come on, let's get you in bed so you can transfer."
Yui hops down and slips her hand into hers with a smile, "OK, Mama!"
She would give her the option to just rest in her room while she's transferred, but Yui's bed actually had a bunch of runes and enchantments that are designed to take care of Yui's body while she's out of it, given that unlike when she or Kazuto dive, Yui fully leaves her body when she transfers, which means there's no subconscious to continue managing her body for her.
They were working on making something significantly more compact, like a bracelet, that could do it in case she ever found herself needing to transfer when she doesn't have access to her bed, but until they succeed Yui still needs her bed specifically if she's transferring out of it, since otherwise her body would die. And while that wouldn't kill Yui herself it would necessitate creating a new one, which she'd have to wait for before she could leave the digital world.
She gets her daughter tucked in since she prefers to fully climb under her blankets to dive, then settles on the edge of the bed to keep an eye on Yui and the computer screen displaying the transfer information so she can monitor them to make sure her baby relocates to ALO alright.
Only once she's certain that Yui is back in ALO and has double checked that her body is being properly taken care of does she get up and head back to her room. She slips her AmuSphere on and makes herself comfortable, then says one of her favorite phrases in the world, "Link Start!"
And with the usual burst of color her awareness of the real world dims, and once she's past the standard sensory checks and log in, she's flung into Alfheim.
Her eyes flutter open, and after she registers what's in front of her they quickly dart up. She smiles widely when her eyes find her mate's grinning face above the fist he's propped his head on to gaze down at her. Without hesitation she leans up to press a brief kiss to his lips, then pulls away, laughing lightly at his predictable whine.
She boops him on the nose playfully, "Come on sleepyhead. We gotta meet up with everyone to try and get you a new sword."
He quickly wraps his arm around her waist when she makes to roll out of bed, "Not quite. We've still got two or three minutes before we have to leave without worrying about not getting there on time." Then he drags her close and nuzzles his face against hers, "And I haven't seen you yet today."
While she can and would argue that the sound that escapes her isn't a giggle, even she has to admit that it's close to one. But well, she's cuddling with her soulmate, and while life isn't all sunshine and rainbows and shit since there's still the war involving Mike and the problems with the demonic summonings, right at this moment she's happy. She has her soulmate who she's getting a few minutes of cuddling with, their child can go to the real world, their family and friends are in good health, and if things go to plan today her mate will be incredibly happy. Fucking sue her for being in a good mood.
After two minutes of cuddling and lazy kisses, she lightly pushes on his chest. He pouts and whines, drawing a laugh from her, "We have to go or we really will be late."
He lets out an overly dramatic sigh, "Fiiiine."
Rolling out of their bed, she stretches, then blinks in surprise, "Hold on a moment. Where's Yui? She always spawns near one of us."
He gives her a sheepish grin, "She took one look at my face while I was waiting for you to spawn in, gave a giggle and said she 'knew that lovesick expression' and decided she was going to go find Leafa."
She laughs as she makes her way out of their room, "At least she doesn't dislike us being affectionate like children are notorious for? She just does things like that to give us some privacy after all."
Kirito tilts his head thoughtfully, "There is that. I wonder if it's because she's an AI or just something about Yui's personality."
She shrugs as she makes her way towards the door, "Who knows? It's not like it really matters anyway though, does it? Yui is an AI. No matter how alive she is, nothing will change that, so it's as much a part of her as her actual personality. And that isn't a bad thing."
He smiles and nods, "That's true."
She returns his smile as they head out. Though their apartment is up in Yggdrasil City, with the teleport gates and the closeness of the shop to Arun's gate, it isn't long before they're meeting up with Sinon, Klein, Silica, and Lizbeth. After greetings are shared, and they've handed their weapons to Liz, who already has Asuna and Leafa's weapons and informs them that the two went on a supply run, they settle around a table off to the side of the shop.
After chatting for a little bit while they wait, Klein nudges Kirito, "Hey, Kirito. If we do get «Holy Sword Excalibur» for you today, help me get «Spirit Blade Kanedzuchi» later!"
Kirito's face scrunches up, "Eh? That dungeon is so damn hot, though. I hate the heat."
Klein frowns lightly, "Sure, but Jötunheimr is freaking freezing, and I hate the cold, but I'm still helping you out!"
Sinon leans forward a bit to interject into the conversation, "Oh, are we doing this for favors later? I thought it was just a guild quest. If that's the case though, I know what I want. I want help getting «Light Bow Shekinah» later."
Kirito almost chokes on air in surprise, "You've had your character for two weeks, and you already want a legendary weapon?"
Sinon nods, "The bow Liz made me is wonderful, but I'd like a bit more range."
She laughs, "That's because you're used to your sniper in GGO."
Before Sinon can respond, Lizbeth pipes up, "Listen… In this world, bows have more range than spears, but less range than magic. You're the only one who's trying to hit the target from a hundred meters away."
Sinon shrugs with a smile, "Honestly, I'd like to double that."
Lizbeth gives her an astonished look, but she waves it off, "That's actually not entirely out of the question."
Kirito looks at her in surprise, "Really? How do you know?"
She snorts, "Really. And I know a decent amount about a lot of different kinds of weapons because of my family, remember? Putting it in meters for you guys, real life bows, depending on the type and draw weight, have a maximum range between 180-455 meters, an accurate range for target shooting of 135-275 meters, and an effective hunting range in experienced human hands of 25-55 meters. But. That's in real life. You can do a lot in VR that you wouldn't be able to pull off IRL. Sinon is already decently accurate at 100 meters even if she isn't as accurate as she'd like, and she hasn't even had a chance to get a whole lot of experience. With a good bow and more practice, being able to hit even moving targets in game at 200 meters fairly reliably isn't that much of a stretch."
Kirito leans forward in surprise, "Holy shit. Are you really saying that Sinon in game is already better than experienced IRL hunters?"
She nods, "Yup. Mind you, as stated previously, part of that is because you can absolutely do things in VR that you'd never be able to do IRL, not just things that are physically impossible for humans, like flight, but with the various ways the system assists and the fact that you take your physical bodies limits out of the equation, even things like Sinon's unbelievable accuracy become possible. Especially when you take into account that the reason most people in game have problems hitting anything outside of the range the game helps your accuracy is because they don't know how to account for the effects of wind and gravity which kick in outside that range zone."
"GGO players constantly have to account for that though, so other than the adjustment period she went through, and even that would be familiar since you have to adjust at least minorly for every different firearm, Sinon already knows how to do that. It's not surprising she has such incredible accuracy. The point is, it wouldn't surprise me if you eventually got that accurate Sinon, but just don't expect to be the sure shot you're used to being at that range."
Sinon nods slowly in understanding even as she gets a calculating look in her eye. No doubt already trying to think of ways to improve her accuracy to even more unbelievable heights.
The conversation is cut off by the door opening, letting Leafa, Yui, and Asuna in, who are carrying baskets of supplies. Leafa cheerfully calls out, "We're back!"
Asuna shoots them a smile, "Sorry to keep you guys waiting! The market was busier than usual."
Silica returns just as cheerfully, "Welcome back!"
Klein teasingly calls out, "You kept us all waiting forever."
That gets a little bit of laughter as Yui flies over to her and Kirito and settles on his head, which actually had hair that laid flat now, for no other reason than Yui couldn't settle on top of his head with his avatars spiky default hairstyle, talking all the while, "While Aunty Leafa, Asuna-chan, and I were out we did some information gathering. It doesn't look like any players, or parties, have made it to that mid-air dungeon, Papa."
Kirito's expression turns confused, "Eh? Then how did they find Excalibur's location?"
Yui shakes her head, "It seems that someone found a different quest than the one we found with Tonkii. And as a reward, an NPC showed Excalibur to them."
From where she's pulling the potions out of her and Leafa's baskets so they can distribute them, Asuna chimes in, "And evidently, it isn't a very peaceful quest, either. It wasn't a fetch or escort quest. It was a slaughter-type, in which you try to kill more than a certain number of monsters. So a bunch of the best players went to Jötunheimr and are trying to kill as many monsters as they can. Since there are good strategies for taking on the evil gods now that can even allow groups under fifty to fight in Jötunheimr, unlike back when Eugene took two hundred of his men down there, the sheer number of players down there are apparently genuinely causing a slaughter. Even worse, there's even fighting amongst the players over mob respawn points."
Her mate frowns, "That isn't very peaceful, no."
Klein leans forward, "But isn't that weird? The «Holy Sword Excalibur» is sealed at the bottom of a mid-air dungeon swarming with evil god class giants. So why is an NPC revealing it as a quest reward?"
Silica rubs Pina's head anxiously, "That's true. If the NPC just took them to the dungeon, I'd understand…"
She frowns, "Didn't you say that you thought Tonkii and his kind were responsible for taking players up to the dungeon because there's some sort of animosity between the beast types and the humanoid types?"
Kirito nods, "Yeah, what of it?"
She shrugs, "I'm saying that it seems like there's two sides of a conflict going on in Jötunheimr. And if Tonkii's quest is one side making a move against the other, why wouldn't there be a quest for the opposing side. We've seen powerful NPCs not only being deceiving, but even taking on a different form to be more approachable. Like the Kraken from the whale quest a couple months ago. Who's to say one of the giant's didn't do the same?"
Kirito jerks away from where he'd been leaning against the wall, "Eh?! You're suggesting this is the giant's doing?!"
She shrugs, "Well think about it, other than players wanting to hunt evil gods in general, the only thing we've ever heard of having any sort of enmity towards the beast types are the humanoid types."
He glances over at Leafa, then up where Yui was leaning forward to share a look with him, "That's… true."
Quiet descends over the group for a minute before Lizbeth calls out cheerfully, "Oookay!" They all look over to see her approaching with a grin and their weapons piled in her arms, "All your weapons are fully restored!"
They eagerly line up to get their weapons back from her, thanking her as she handed them out and happily equipping them. Then accept their potions from Asuna, each of them putting some into their pouches for quick access and the rest into their inventory.
Klein looks them over as he rests his sword over his shoulders, "Our party is a bunch of muscle-heads, though."
Hanna snorts, "Speak for yourself. And if you're that concerned about it, then raise your magic skills."
Klein looks away with a sort of holier-than-thou expression, "Hn. No way. A samurai never selects any magic skills. It isn't allowed."
Lizbeth moves over to him, "Listen… In RPGs, the samurai has been a 'warrior plus black magic' class for a long time."
Klein looks at her in amusement, "I'd rather snap my katana and quit being a samurai than use magic."
Silica looks over at him with a grin. Specifically the one that looks innocent, but means she's about to cause trouble, "But last time we dived, you were using a flame sword skill, weren't you? I think that was half magic."
Klein leans towards her with a surprised look, "Ehh?! Seriously?!"
Yui nods, "Yes. Silica-chan is correct. In the May update, Sword Skills were introduced into ALO, and high-level skills are also divided by magic classes of earth, water, fire, wind, dark, and holy, in addition to physical…"
Klein frowns, "Is that right?"
Lizbeth gets up in Klein's face, "So, weren't you going to snap your sword, rather than use magic?"
He clutches his sword protectively as he backs away from her to Kirito then leans against him and presses his forehead against his chest, whining pitifully, "Kirito…"
Her mate smiles, somewhat awkwardly, "To perform a Sword Skill, you don't say any incantations." Klein looks towards Lizbeth pitifully, nodding in agreement as her mate continues, "Let's say it doesn't count."
Lizbeth chuckles, "Oh, fine."
Klein lets out a relieved sigh, much to everyone's amusement. Her mate sweeps his gaze over their friends as he clears his throat, "Thanks for coming so quickly, everyone. Somehow, I'll find a way to express my gratitude."
Asuna leans forward with a grin, "You better! This isn't like the whale quest when we were helping for Yui's sake after all!"
She leans around her mate a bit to give Klein an amused look from where he seems to have forgotten that he's leaning against Kirito still, "Are you trying to steal my husband from me?"
He blinks at her in surprise, "Eh?"
Then he seems to realize he's still crouched down pressed against Kirito's chest and jerks away amidst everyone else's amused laughter, barring her mate who gives another awkward smile.
Her mate apparently decides to just ignore it and raises his fist with a determined expression, "If everyone's ready, then let's do this!"
Their friends raise their own fists with a cheer, so without further ado, Kirito leads them out and to the narrow alley in Arun that was their first destination. It wasn't displayed on the town map, it was so small, and it really only led to the garden of an NPCs house, which as well as having a back door into the house, contained an unremarkable rounded wooden door. The look of it and its placement would easily lead players to believe that it either went to the NPCs basement or was just decorative and not actually a door at all, something that would easily be backed up by the fact that it's locked.
When they get there, Leafa takes a small copper key from her inventory and unlocks the door, opening it so it won't relock before putting the key back in her inventory. They all file through the door and Klein, who was at the rear of the party, pulls the door closed behind him, and a click of the door automatically relocking sounds out.
Silica hums lightly, "That's… a lot of steps."
She couldn't blame her pseudo little sister for saying such. The staircase, which was about six and a half feet wide, was lit up by torches on the walls and descended all the way out of ALOs view distance. In other words, from the top, you couldn't see the bottom.
Leafa shrugs, "I think it may be about the size of an entire dungeon floor in New Aincrad."
Asuna, Klein, and Sinon who hadn't been here all looked surprised, and her mate gives a wary smile, "Listen, if you went to Jötunheimr the normal way, you'd have to go to one of the four towers in the Arun plateau, which don't have any towns closer than Arun itself mind you, fight your way through the tower all the way to the very bottom, and then fight the boss at the end. All of which would take at minimum two hours. This staircase, on the other hand, only takes about five minutes as long as you don't go slow. Honestly, if I was Leafa, after we get Excalibur I'd let this route be known and start a business collecting a thousand Yuld toll per person to let people use it."
Leafa sighs, "Onii-chan, exiting without Tonkii will drop you into an unavoidable death in the pit."
Honestly, she knows that Leafa is mostly using it as an excuse because she's too honest to do something like charge a toll to use their entrance, but given that her excuse makes her mate sound kind of like an idiot, she can't help but defend him, "Well, assuming Tonkii continues to respond to you guys after the Excalibur quest has been wrapped up, you could always tell them up front that the thousand Yuld only covers the entrance fee and charge them extra for Kirito to call Tonkii and take them down to the ground."
Leafa sighs heavily, but doesn't bother to respond. Kirito clears his throat, "Well regardless, you should all appreciate every step of this place and stop complaining."
Sinon, of course, immediately fires back, "You're bragging like you were the one who made it."
Sarcastically, her mate returns, "Thanks for pointing that out, Tsukkomi(2)."
Then in retribution he grabs the tail she had from choosing Cait Sith for the fact they had the best eyesight. Immediately Sinon shrieks in surprise and immediately whirls around and tries to claw his face.
The cat ears and tail were of course body parts humans didn't have, however players could still register feeling if they were touched, which Silica had previously described as a 'super weird feeling' so her mate, who is mean enough to find the reaction incredibly amusing, occasionally likes to mess with Cait Sith for that reason alone. That, as well as being familiar with Sinon's personality, means he absolutely expects it and easily moves his face out of the way.
Without hesitation Sinon glares at him, "Next time you try that, I'll shove a fire arrow up your nostril!"
Their friends all shake their heads at him in exasperation, but Kirito just laughs while Klein, who was behind them groans in a reluctantly admiring tone, "You just don't know fear, huh?"
She shakes her head in amusement, "Well if Kirito and Sinon are done with the Manzai(2) routine, maybe we should get a move on?"
Her mate grins, "Right! Onwards to adventure!"
The return calls of acknowledgement are… much less enthusiastic in face of the long staircase than they'd been when they'd cheered in the shop. Towards the end of the promised five minutes, they begin to see the light at the end of the staircase and around the same time the temperature starts dropping.
When they reach the bottom and exit out of the stairway carved into one of Yggdrasil's roots onto the platform suspended in mid-air, Sinon, Silica and Asuna, being the ones who haven't used the secret passage before, stare in wonder at the view the aerial entrance provides. Even Pina flaps its wings in an enthusiastic manner from its spot on top of Silica's head.
She can't blame them, Jötunheimr, as harsh as it was, was also incredibly beautiful. And their bird's eye view only enhanced the scenery. Despite being a land of eternal night by nature of being underground, it was never dark in Jötunheimr. Quite a few of the massive ice crystals on the roof refracted light across the land, creating a gentle consistent light source throughout. Where the crystals got the light from, she couldn't say, but it was gorgeous nonetheless. Plus, while not as bright or consistent, from up here they could see the yellow-green and purple-blue bonfires in the centers of the fortresses of the evil gods. Honestly, if it wasn't for the evil god class monsters, she knew Kirito would either be trying to track down a house regardless of how remote to buy or complaining about the fact he couldn't live there.
Even if one didn't look down, the view was still amazing with the countless twisting roots of the World Tree descending from the ceiling, some of which held up the inverted ice pyramid hanging from the ceiling that was their destination. The distance between the ground and the roof was usually about .62 miles or one kilometer, with obvious deviations where there were icicles and the like hanging from the roof.
That was out of clear viewing distance even with spells, so it was no wonder no one but them had known Excaliburs location until today. Their vantage point was significantly closer to the dungeon though, so even if she can't make out the sword itself even with the enhanced night vision of the Imps and Spriggans, of which the gentle light was dim enough to partially activate and give them a small boost, she can still see the golden glimmer of it blinking in and out of view when her gaze drops to the tip of the pyramid.
Klein, though he also hasn't been down via the secret passage, doesn't appreciate the view and breaks the moment from where he's vigorously rubbing at his arms by the stair entrance, "So cold! K-Kirito, it's way too cold!"
Hearing him, Asuna turns with a smile and extends her hand towards the three of them, "Ōsu sharu reizu vindo, bāto haruka storuzu." As soon as she's done, an orangish gold light envelopes the entire party, "Okay. I applied some cold resistance magic to the party. So you should be fine now, Klein."
She shoots Leafa a glance when she's done talking, who nods and turns back towards the drop off with a smile before placing her fingers in her mouth and letting out a piercing whistle.
There's a beat of silence before a strange 'kwooo-n' sound calls back from the distance, barely heard over the rushing wind. They all make their way to the edge to look for Leafa and Kirito's beast friend. It's difficult to spot the white-grey body in Jötunheimr's icy landscape, but after a moment Kirito spots him and points, "There."
Almost as though acknowledging that they see him, Tonkii cries out again, and Yui shouts back in excitement, "Tonkii-saaan!"
Tonkii approaches with great speed and is before them in moments. Immediately Klein stumbles back with a cry, and her mate quickly calms him, "It's fine. He may not look it, but he's an herbivore."
Leafa turns to him with a grin, "Actually, I brought him some fish from the surface the last time I was here, and he ate them all in one bite."
Klein takes another step back nervously, "E-eh heh. I-is that so?"
Tonkii, possibly sensing Kleins nervousness, lifts his trunk and rubs the top of Klein's head with the end. Her mate moves around their friend, "He's saying to calm down and get on."
Klein looks back at him as best he can without moving his head, "B-but… My grandpa's dying words were to never ride American cars or flying elephants."
Her mate huffs, "At the Dicey Café last night, you gave me dried persimmons you said your grandpa made." Then he places his hand on his back and starts pushing him forward, "They were good, so give me some more."
Klein hesitantly climbs on, followed by the ever fearless Sinon, then notorious animal lover Silica who clearly likes Tonkii. Asuna climbs on with amusement at Klein's antics, then she and Leafa, being two of the three who have ridden on Tonkii before, hop on without hesitation. Kirito only pauses long enough to pet Tonkii briefly while thanking before jumping up to them.
Once they're all on, Leafa leans towards Tonkii's face and cheerfully calls out, "All right! Tonkii, please take us to the dungeon entrance!"
Tonkii lifts its snout and gives a sort of warbling noise in acknowledgement before beating the wings on one side heavier to turn away from the platform, and once it's cleared, take off towards the dungeon.
This was her fourth time riding Tonkii, and Kirito's fifth. He'd admitted to her once that every time, without fail her his mind is immediately drawn to one thought.
Sinon, sitting calmly on the ridge of the plating on Tonkii's face, unknowingly voices the thought that plagues her mate's mind, "So, what happens if you fall."
It wasn't much of a question, to be honest. When Kirito and Leafa had been spat out by the mimic, there had been rather deep snow there to break their fall, likely generated by Cardinal on purpose, since there wouldn't be much point to putting that mimic in only to kill players with fall damage. However, since Jötunheimr was meant to be traversed by the players of Alfheim, of which only one race could fly in short bursts here, most of the snow wasn't anywhere near that deep.
Taking out the ability to slow down with at least a small burst of flight or some other means, even in this game setting anything over one hundred meters was an instant death regardless of the player's skill levels. Given that Tonkii was currently, and tended to prefer in general, flying near the roof about half a mile above the ground, the fate of anyone who fell off and didn't manage to catch one of Tonkii's tentacles or teleport away or anything like that was fairly obvious.
Asuna glances over at Kirito with a sly teasing grin, "I'm sure this guy, who once tried to climb to Aincrad's next level via the outer pillars and fell, will find out for us someday."
Her mate smiles back, but it's somewhat forced, "I think a feline would be better at falling from high places."
Immediately, Sinon and Silica shake their heads in firm denial. Their conversation is cut off when, without warning, Tonkii makes a sort of groaning cry and enters into a steep dive at tremendous speed, barely giving them all enough time to grab onto either his fur or the hard faceplate.
Sinon, Silica, and Asuna shriek, and even Klein and Kirito give a shout, but Leafa, ever the speed addict, just lets out an enthusiastic 'yahoo!', while she herself merely furrows her brows, not bothered by the dive itself, but concerned by Tonkii's sudden deviation.
With his incredible speed it isn't long before Tonkii applies the proverbial breaks, unintentionally pinning them to its back with the Gs from decelerating and levels off, after which their friends just remain sprawled on his back trying to find their equilibrium, but they're all quickly forced to their feet by Leafa's frantic shout as she points to something on the ground, "O-Onii-chan! Look at that!"
When they pick themselves up and make their way to the front of Tonkii's head they see a dazzling flash of light, she and her mate, having partially activated night vision, have to shield their eyes momentarily, but when they look back they get a good look at what Leafa had pointed out. Below was a creature that looked sort of like Tonkii and matched the description Kirito had given her of what he'd looked like before his metamorphosis.
From the various hair colors it was clearly being attacked by about thirty players from various races. The strange thing though, was the humanoid evil god with them. It wasn't attacking them in the slightest, instead it was whaling on Tonkii's kin with its massive swords, slicing into the softer parts of its body and cracking the shell on its back with each blow.
While the mages casting large scale AOE attacks weren't bothering to aim much, the other players were aiming into the cracks left behind by the humanoid giant.
In a stunned voice Asuna whispers out just barely heard above the wind, "What's… going on down there? Did someone tame that humanoid evil god?"
Silica turns towards her sharply with furrowed brows and a frown, "That's impossible! Even for a Cait Sith with a full boost and special equipment the taming success rate of an evil god class is still zero!"
Pina chirps as though in agreement. With confusion Klein pipes up, "So they're… What? Taking advantage of it? When the four-armed thing is fighting the elephant-jellyfish, they're hitting it, too."
Sinon is understandably a little baffled, "But is controlling a monster's aggro that easy?"
Tonkii's kin falls to the ground with a feeble high pitched, and frankly heart wrenching, cry. Despite that, the mages of the hunting party don't hesitate to launch explosion spells at it, and after a few seconds it lets loose a warbling scream like sound as it dies. Tonkii cries out sadly at the death of its kin, and for a few moments they all just stare in faint horror at the horrendous scene. Then the most astonishing thing happens. The giant glances directly at the players but simply turns away and starts walking, and they peacefully follow it.
Kirito jerks in surprise, "Wh-?! Why aren't they starting combat with the giant?"
Asuna glances away with brows furrowed in confusion, then gasps and points off to their left, "Look over there!"
Turning their gazes they see flashes of various large scale spells going off in at least three different places, and Klein cries out, "W-What's going on down there?"
Hanna grimly enters the conversation, "I think… we're seeing the giant's side of the quest, the slaughter quest Asuna mentioned earlier, in which you work with the humanoid evil gods to eliminate the beast-types."
Kirito, firmly invested in Tonkii's camp in whatever this conflict is, looks away and clenches his fists in frustrated anger, "... So the new quest really is the giant's attacking Tonkii's side of whatever conflict is between them."
She purses her lips, "But it doesn't fully make sense. The giant's guard the dungeon with Excalibur in it, so while they could give it away, I can't see them being programmed to do so. And why would they, it's the strongest sword there is."
Before anyone can formulate a response, glimmering golden light shines on them from behind, accompanied by a strange sound somewhere between whooshing, bells, and wind chimes that she could only describe as a sort of… shimmery sound effect. As they all turn, they see golden orbs of light condense into a tall woman, who doesn't have wings, yet was floating above Tonkii's back. She was easily nine and a half feet tall with long golden hair that fades into a very light blue and ends in points reminiscent of the ends of Tonkii's tentacles. Her eyes had faintly glowing turquoise pupils set into her dark blue nearly black irises.
She was clothed in a long off the shoulder flowing blue gown with no defined waistline, flowing sleeves cut on the inside all the way up to about her lower rib area partly showing her arms, which she soon realized were covered in pearly scales that nearly blended with her pale skin and while slightly shinier were similar to the plating on Tonkii's face, and a large cutout in the front at the bottom, which reveals a white underdress. She also had some sort of circlet that rested on her forehead with a crystal dangling from the center(3), as well as some sort of incomplete ring floating around her throat. As a strange touch, the woman's delicate feet are left completely bare, and finally, she had a faint golden aura surrounding her entire body with golden flecks of light drifting down off of her. Overall the woman was both elegant and incredibly beautiful.
She shares a glance with her mate, but he looks just as confused as she feels. Well then. It seems the plot thickens. Or at the very least like they might get an explanation on the beast-humanoid evil god conflict, at least from the beast quest side of things.
In either case, it should definitely prove to be interesting.
(1): This is meant to be a sort of play on words thing. AI is obviously the abbreviation for Artificial Intelligence, but Ai is a Japanese word for love. So her nickname is something like LoveAILove. Yui's a loving person and an AI, so it seemed like a fitting group chat nickname for her.
(2): As you may have noticed, this conversation is a blend between the Anime and Light Novel versions. In the light novel, Kirito thinks about how Sinon is as 'cool and straight as ever' and says "Thanks for the Tsukkomi." which references Manzai a type of Japanese comedy which involves a Tsukkomi, or straight man, and a Boke, or funny man, exchanging jokes at great speed. I'm not particularly going anywhere with this, I just thought I'd save some of you the effort of having to Google it. That and clarifying that no, Kirito isn't getting her name wrong. Seriously, I hear some people complain that Kirito doesn't really have a personality, and while I disagree with that, if you feel that way you should definitely be reading the light novels because his personality is way more prevalent there since the anime cuts and changes a lot of things.
(3): I did some Googling and I'm fairly certain that this particular kind of jewelry is called a Ferronnière… buuuuuut Marzanna wouldn't know that. Hence why I ultimately chose not to call it by name.