Cerulean awoke to the sun streaking through her inn room's blinds. It was late morning when she finally stirred from her spacious bed to walk around the small inn room. It consisted of a sitting area, followed by a small kitchen, bathroom, and then her bed and nightstand. That was all, nothing more or less -- just the necessities.
The blue haired girl stretched and yawned as she had not slept well the night before -- plagued by the thoughts of her late lover and home, in the real world, where she hoped her lover waited with baited breath. Cerulean was in her inn's kitchen when the announcement appeared over her UI and menu. The boss room had been found. The words made her happy, yet sick to her stomach as she read them silently. This would be the first boss she has faced without her friends.
Those thoughts were quickly dismissed from her mind as she opened her menu with a wave of her hand to equip her armor. The articles of leather and mail glowed to fit her body and she exmained them once over before leaving her room in a rush. Her rapier, «Bloo», dangled from her waist as she walked the hall towards the stairs that funneled the noise from downstairs to the upper floor.
Meanwhile, Rivas slept peacefully until he was awoken by a small bite on his finger- his eyes blinked open before he found a mouse had bitten his thumb; quickly and carefully he brought it into his cupped hands and stared at it. The virtual mouse blinked back; Rivas smiled warmly as he looked at it. He noted the room was lighter; the cape which he had halfheartedly arranged to block out light at the middle of the night let in a red glow. For some reason as he looked at the mouse he didn't feel any harsh feelings towards it. It wasn't it's choice to be programmed into this game.
Or was it? He put it down, finding that thinking too early on in the morning didn't help anyone. His hand browsed the nightstand before he realized that- for the second time in 24 hours- he had no glasses. Dammit. He left his hair messy as it was, and brushed his teeth- aware that it wouldn't do anything for his appearance for his health, but hey! Habits are hard to break. It didn't help that the hotel had gave him a sink and toothbrush to do so as well. Kayaba really thought of everything. Thinking of Kayaba, however, disturbed him a great deal.
It was with these thoughts that he slipped into clothes more suitable to wear outside; the message that came to his UI startled him to the point that where putting on pants he slipped and fell; he look at it excitedly, but he slowly became less excited as he read that it wasn't time. Realizing that, he put on an orange and grey sweater, jeans, and his red scarf- he would wait out the battle by seeing the sights for the last time before he came to the third floor- as well as grabbed the «Blue Light». It wasn't like he was coming back. He grabbed a croissant as well, but didn't bite into it like he would've done, and put his cape and all his items back in his inventory.
He noted that the announcement of the boss room was like an early Christmas present as he opened his door quickly, not being able to wait to leave- this thought was rudely interrupted by a loud thud. As he rushed to help whoever he had accidentally hit with his door. he found himself facing the blue haired girl we saw at the beginning of this post. Extending a hand, he blushed slightly. "Um... Désolé! I didn't see you, and I didn't mean to hit you, honest!"
Cerulean's butt hurt and so did her face. Her nose had been smashed by the door she walked into. But, that door wasn't open last time she checked... two seconds earlier. She blinked and shook the daze from her head. A hand appeared amidst the blur in her eyesight and the panicked voice of a young man rang in her ears. She couldn't help but wonder what Désolé meant.
"It's all right," she groaned, taking the young man's hand and rising to her feet. "It's only a virtual world right," she continued quietly, smoothing out her top and skirt once more. "It's not like it really hurt."
Cerulean placed a hand on «Bloo»'s hilt once standing and looked up at her assaulter with a small, kind smile and warm sapphire eyes. "Getting hit by a door sure wakes you up better than a cup of coffee or a shower," she joked on, hoping to calm the young man further.
Rivas was pretty worried until she had made that joke, which then... he sighed and grinned. "Alright, if you say so. But don't tell me that it hurts later, alright?" He smiled. "Well, um, speaking of which..." He decided it was a good moment to find something out, considering he didn't talk to many people anyways. He opened his UI and observed the «Christmas Turkey» sitting in his inventory. "Do you have anything that goes well with turkey? I know it's kinda sudden, but I got this from a random quest and I can't find anything that goes with it. Er... I was going to have it with bread, but it might be a good idea to ask someone else for their opinion... and it's too much for one person anyways."
The girl blinked and smiled slightly when she saw his grin. "There are many different dishes you can add to a turkey," she said. "You can make dressing, bake croissants, pies are great," she paused, placing a hand on her chin in thought. "You also can make herbal soups and mashed potatoes are really good." Cerulean stopped talking, remember that he had only asked for an opinion not a menu.
"My apologies. I rambled." She smiled politely to him. "I'm just used to cooking and I run my own bakery down on the first floor and I haven't cooked in so long." She took a breath. "I'm rambling again. Bread would be fine with the turkey, but I imagine that it'd be a little dry, so a soup and maybe some water would be good."
Cerulean clutched «Bloo»'s handle anxiously. Unsure if she made a complete fool of herself.
Rivas smiled back. "No no, that's fine. Perfect, actually, I love bread..." Which makes a bakery all the more interesting. "A croissant, huh... I was eating one just now, so that should be good. I'm no good with cooking though, forging is my forte. Come to me if you ever need a sword! But whatever, if bread is good that's fine for me. And the soup as well." He thought to himself for a moment. Might as well keep this conversation going... not like I have anything better to do anyways. "So, where were you going before this, by any chance? I mean, you look ready for battle, you do know that the boss isn't going to faced yet, right?"
Cerulean nodded with a smile but looked thoughtful. "I know," she answered softly. "I was going to do some grinding after breakfast. It's been a while since I've been on the frontlines so I need all the practice I could get." She finally removed her hand from «Bloo» and ran one to tuck a free strand of hair behind her ear.
Cerulean looked upon the young man with some thought. "My name's Cerulean by the way. Some back on the first floor called me Blue because of my clothes." She gestured to her outfit. "As you can see, it fits." Cerulean chuckled to herself at the good memory of home before looking back up at the boy with a bright smile.
Grinding? Eh... well if you haven't been on the front lines for a while, I could see why. I'd wait for the boss, but... Rivas looked at her, suddenly interested. "Yeah, it does make sense... although I haven't been called Red yet, but that's probably because I only wear all of my red stuff in battle anyways." He thought for a moment. "Either way, your name? You're obviously not actually called Blue, if it was because of your clothes. My name is Rivas." Well, my username is, anyways.
Rivas, that's a nice name... Cerulean looked to the boy for a moment before thinking on the question. "My username is Cerulean. My real name..." she trailed off, unsure herself. She hadn't used that name in sometime and the only peoeple that called her that name were her close friends on the first floor. Not that others were forbidden from using her real name, people often called her Blue or Cerulean just because it was comfortable sometimes. Still, her real name held some importance. It was special. "It's Emily," she finally said after what seemed to be an hours worth of thought but only a few seconds of silence.
The fact that Emily had just told him her real name surprised Rivas, considering he hadn't even told her his real name. It made him feel a bit guilty. "Erm... I wasn't originally asking for your real name, but if you must know, mine is Joseph. Joseph Lucien." Compared to Cerulean's long drawn out paused, Rivas easily bounced it out; perhaps because he hadn't said it in so long would explain why it simply slid off his toungue. Or not.
He felt a bit guilty as well for not having many feelings for his true name, but generally it was something he didn't say or think twice about giving. "But please, just call me Rivas, or Lucien if you'd like. Not that I don't like calling myself Joseph, but um... just a matter of preference." His sheepish smile didn't show much confidence; then again, that's sort of what sheepish means, anyways. "Well, Cerulean..." He opened his UI and equipped his battle armor before sending a party request, checking his XP while he was at it. 90%, I could use the extra experience. "I'm not too far from the next level anyways, mind if I join you on your training?"
Cerulean's eyes went bright at the unexpected flashing of armor and question. She smiled widely and shook her head. "Not at all," she answered. Rivas' question had been unexpected, in fact this entire conversation had been. Cerulean didn't anticipate any of it and it was a surprise but a pleasant one at that. It had been a long time since she had leveled with someone.
She summoned her UI with the wave of her hand and found the social menu. From there she sent Rivas a friend request followed by a party request before looking back at the boy, still smiling. "What level are you?" she asked while she waited for Rivas' acceptance of her requests. "I would want our leveling to be efficient, so we should make it as such. I'm level thirteen by the way." She nodded at her own words.
"I'm at level fifteen, need 10% more experience for a level up." He quickly accepted both the friend request [which added Cerulean to his small and barely ample friend-list] and the party request, coming up with a quick strategy. "Considering you need to do more training, you can lead and I'll be there for back up." He frowned slightly, seemingly in deep thought. "Although you'll be out in the open if we do that... still, that should work. I'll take down whatever may come up from behind... or more like whatever's left over, and come in if you need help. That should be enough to give me what I need and prepare you for the boss. Sounds good?"
Level fifteen, huh Cerulean thought, biting on her bottom lip lightly. "I'm only level thirteen," she chimed with some worry. Her thoughts of slowing him down, however, came and went with his words. In fact, she found herself more happy than worried as she thought more on it. Though it had been a while since she grinded with another player, it would be well worth it. She was sure.
Cerulean nodded. "Okay, Rivas," she said, smiling. She flung her UI away and took hold on «Bloo»'s handle with one hand before brushing past Rivas towards the stairs. "Let's go!" she cheered, breaking into a brisk jog down the hall and then the stairs.
