Sword Art Online: Infinity Edition [OOC+SU][Rated: T]

[Claire*]

Originally Posted by Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers

Sure, either after Krissu's and Elise's adventure or you can run into us on Floor 4 perhaps :3

Absolutely SkyisUmbreon, I'd love to orchestrate something with you if you'd like. Or like Red said, you could meet up with us and join the party. :D

Originally Posted by Vato

Nevermind my SU attempt, just found out that I will not have the time to be in this RP...
Oh well...

Sorry to hear that Vato, I knew you had a lot on your plate beforehand. Hope it settles down for you soon!

Originally Posted by SwiftSign

My sign up is now complete, Kyle shall join you all in the IC sometime this weekend! :3

Yay! Looking forward to seeing Kyle in the IC. :3

[SkyisUmbreon]

Originally Posted by Claire*

Absolutely SkyisUmbreon, I'd love to orchestrate something with you if you'd like. Or like Red said, you could meet up with us and join the party. :D


Sorry to hear that Vato, I knew you had a lot on your plate beforehand. Hope it settles down for you soon!



Yay! Looking forward to seeing Kyle in the IC. :3

Awesome I'll see if I can work up a reason for him to join that fits around his personality.

[CarefulWetPaint]

I know Im late, please forgive me I hope this is good enough!

Name: Dante Farefyre
Age: 17
Country: America

Appearance: Dante stands at 6'1'' and has a lean musclar build. He has heterochromia iridum, one light blue eyes and one light green eye. He has extremely dark brown hair. His hair is cut short around the front, sides and back, being slightly longer at the front and sticking up and to the left side a small amount. He wears a dark grey coat that only has the right sleeve, and a shoulder plate over his right shoulder as well. 5 Dark purple straps cover his left bicep, which about 3 centimetre gaps between each strap with another strap protecting his left shoulder. His pants are dark grey as well and are slightly baggier then skin tight so not to effect his movement at all. He wears black boots that have two dark red grey straps on each side.

Personality:
Dante is a very confident person in both real life and SAO. His charisma is also boosted by his confidence. Dante is also a top athlete and a genius, topping his year both academically and in athletics. Despite this he is very modest with about everything and doesn't talk himself up.

Dante likes organising and planning out events. An example is how he plans out his day so he has enough time to study for all his subjects, work out or practice one of his martial art disciplines and to indulge in his secret life and still get 8 hours sleep. Though one of his flaws is that he loses all motivation if something in his schedule doesn't happen at the right time or doesn't go to plan. This only last about a minute or so while he is figuring out how to change up his schedule to fit everything in properly. He is slowly getting better at adapting to a change in his schedule, being able to accept it within a minute or so now when it use to take him up to 10 minutes to be able to adapt.

Dante is also very competitive and likes winning things, this is why he pushes himself to top the school and state in all his subjects (which is made easier due to his genius) and to win at most the athletic meets he competes in. This competitiveness also leads to why he enjoys his secret life so much.

He has a hidden life that hasn't shared with anyone. This hidden life is where he spends most of his free time. He is a gaming champion in this hidden life. He keeps this a secret from everyone by having his computer and gaming consoles inside his spare room which he keeps locked at all times when he's not in it. He spends about 4 -5 hours a day gaming which has giving him a reputation in every game he actively plays as very highly skilled and efficient player, especially at levelling in MMO's. He is also an avid anime fan, a fact he has been able to keep hidden from almost everyone, even though he has a massive collection of anime and manga in his bedroom. Because of this competitive nature he tends to be a solo player in games as he wants to get as much experience as possible as fast as possible and finds it easier to do this alone rather then having to worry about other people and risking not getting all the experience of drops from the monsters.

Life before SAO:
Dante lives in a 2 room apartment, (1 bedroom and a living room that opens to the kitchen), by himself. His parents live away from him as there jobs require them to move about a lot and Dante wanted to finish his schooling at one place instead of going to different school every time they had to move for work. His parents pay for his accommodation and give him $300 a week for other living expenses which allows him to study, practice kendo and krav maga and have time to put in 3-5 hours of video gaming and anime watching a day.

Even though he doesn't have to he makes a small amount of money by writing reviews of the anime he watches and the games he plays, as well as sometimes even getting paid to be a beta tester. This extra money is spent on his secret life such as new anime series and new video games.

He goes to a private high school, in which he tops his grade in academics and athletics, which leads to him being very popular with the girls at school. He is also well respected by the boys at school as they know he practices both kendo and krav maga 2 and 3 times a week respectively, which contributes to his high athletic abilities.

Dante doesn't have a girlfriend, instead his has a different girl who comes to his apartment every morning to wake him up and make his breakfast and lunch. This fact is what forces him to sleep in the living room and lock his bedroom so the girls don't find out about his secret life as a massive otaku and video game nerd. The girls know that there's more then one of them that go to see him in the morning so have organised between themselves what days each of them can go.

Dante is also a 3rd dan black belt in kendo, which he has been practising since he was 9. He is also nationally ranked number 2 in America for his age group in kendo, an impressive feat considering he only practices it a few hours each week. He also holds a 2nd dan black belt in Krav maga which he has been practising since he was 12.

Dante was also lucky enough to be a beta tester for SAO, and thus already has experience of the first 10 floors of the games as he was a front runner in the beta testers, being a part of every boss battle and even finding a 2 of the boss rooms by himself, as he plays as solo player to get the most drops and experience possible.

Current Level: 15
Weapon: One- Hand Sword
Non-Combat Skills: Speed and Hiding
Summary of first month in Aincrad:

• Rushed to the leveling spot after buying the best equipment he could with his starting money and began leveling alone. Was one of the first into the dungeon as well as the person who found the boss room. Helped defeat the boss and got a good sword drop.
• Took a minute to get his organise his thoughts after finding out about the lock out then continued on grinding on the second floor, finding the 2nd floor dungeon and spending time levelling in there. Joined in the boss battle once the boss was found.
• Levelled liked crazy on the 3rd floor, now way over levelled for the floor. After the boss was found joined in the boss battle and received a good piece of armor from the boss.
• Continued levelling on the fourth floor. After the dungeon was found levelled inside there while looking for the boss. After the boss room was found, joined the boss battle.

Roleplay Sample: <First week in Aincrad, not including the lock-in>

The purple trail followed the blade as it tore through its demon foe, shattering the demon into thousands of pieces of blue data fragments. A large clawed hand smashed into the ground where the fragments were dispersing from as Dante easily dodge the strike. Another purple trail marked the path of the blade as the demon's head was sliced off cleanly, turning it into data fragments. Sheathing his sword Dante continued alone, traveling deeper into the dungeon.

It had been a day since it was announced that he wouldn't be able to leave without clearing all the games floors. The news hit Dante especially hard as is did not fit into his plan and that his secret life would have already been exposed by Fiona coming to wake him up to find him stuck with in the game. The agony! He thought as he quickly began to plan out his new life with in the game, which had been forced on him. “Well there's only one thing to be done, I must clear this game and get back to the real world. Its going to take me so long to catch up on the games, anime and manga I'm going to miss out on while stuck here.” That last part of his sentence stung him more than he expected. Oh god, it will take a long time, he thought while being extremely frustrated. Looking around he saw a lot of people on their knee's crying uncontrollably, especially the female players that he could see. That's right, there's people here who's first experience in gaming could be this game, I have to get them out of here.

After buying supplies from a NPC to last him a few days he ventured out of the chaos of the town in which players were still crying uncontrollably he made his way back to the dungeon that he had been teleported from for the announcement. He was the only person on his map that was at the dungeon when he got there. I guess the news is still hitting everyone pretty hard.. Checking his supplies and weapon durability he walked into the dungeon, well aware that he can truly die now if he's not careful.

It had now been a day since then and he still hadn't found the boss room or anything interesting in the dungeon, though he had now seen a party or two while exploring. That's good, more people have accepted it and decided to clear the game as fast as possible, this is good. “Rawrrrgghhh!” Screamed the lizardman as Dante came out of his hiding mode to attack it. The dungeon was a gloomy lit cave type dungeon which housed low level demon and lizard men, none of which really had good drops for Dante to get but they did produce fairly good amounts of experience for a solo player.
His blade sliced off each of the lizards arms before being thrust into it's chest, shattering it into thousands of people.

“We found it! We found it!” a voice called out triumphantly. “The boss room, we found it!” A smile grew on Dante's face as he rushed in the direction of the voice making good use of his speed skill. Surely enough after 15 seconds Dante came around a corner to be standing in front of the large set of doors that signified a boss room. Outside the door there was a party of 5 that greeted him. “Message any friends you have outside to spread the word, we need a few more people too safely clear the room.” Dante said to the group. They all shook their heads in agreement and began sending out messages.

Another group of 5 showed up 10 minutes after Dante joined the first group. In 10 minutes Dante had been sitting against the door patiently waiting. After a quick greeting and agreement they should wait for another group Dante went back to sitting against the door. 15 more minutes went past before a group of 8 showed up greeting the party that had found the door like they were all good friends. “This should be enough, everyone ready?” Dante announced as he stood up and turned to the door.
“We are ready, lets do this.” replied a member of the party that had just shown up. He was dressed in green armor, like the rest of his group, a part of a guild they must have been.
“That's exactly what I wanted to hear.” said a cheerful Dante as he pushed open the door to the boss room, walking in the lead with a massive smile on his face. He could hear the footsteps and clattering of armor of the other parties following him into the room. “Lets do this!” Dante yelled as he unsheathed his sword.

[SwiftSign]

Dante is in, although your summary is basically 'he fought in the dungeons'

Welcome aboard!

[CarefulWetPaint]

Not going to lie it was a struggle for me to really put anything for that section haha! I was so sick of doing the Sign up its not funny, it only took me like 2 weeks to get enough inspiration to actually do it half decently xD. So I do apologise for that but you know, it happens! Ill get my first post up in the next day or so.

[machomuu]

If someone wants to interact with Daniel, he's in a cavern on the fourth floor fighting a Golem (which is traditionally a large monster composed of rocks); help would actually be appreciated.

[Khawill]

Lol exactly how many of us are going to the fourth floor, it seems pretty funny since 5 are open

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Originally Posted by Khawill

Lol exactly how many of us are going to the fourth floor, it seems pretty funny since 5 are open

Haha true xD Well, we're going there because it has ore that Elise could use for a sword for Krissu, and... huh, maybe there could be some kind of crystal that Krissu needs to boil her potion with in order to give it the desired effects. Yeah, that's a plan!

Anyways, with everyone going to the fourth floor, it'll give us a chance to meet up and orientate us in the RP before we take on the real mission.

[Khawill]

Well my characters are going there to basically grind monsters for XP and Fester is mentally unstable so he would help for sure if you call it a "quest" (he has a video game version of Solipsism, where he thinks all players in the game are NPCs and he is in a single player game)

[Claire*]

Originally Posted by Khawill

Lol exactly how many of us are going to the fourth floor, it seems pretty funny since 5 are open

Everyone knows the 4th floor is where the party is at.

I'll have Elise make it to the 5th floor and its main quest eventually...

[AlexOzzyCake]

Rapp will be on the 5th floor helping out the guys fighting to clear the game by supplying equipment, for now at least :D I'll try and get the post up within the hour :3

[CarefulWetPaint]

Dante will probs be chilling in the fifth dungeon killing monsters and searching for the boss room. Ill have it up sooner or later today.

Edit: would you like me to come save your behind ozzy?

[machomuu]

Everyone's having fun in town and I'm being ravaged by a golem, this sucks -.-

[SkyisUmbreon]

Im sorry i haven't posted yet >.< PSAT's and other stuff. Hopefully will get one in later today

EDIT: I will be helping daniel with his golem problem when I get inside my house (locked out)

[Garet]

Hello, everyone. So, from what I read, there's still room for two or three more people.

Name: Jonathan E. Turner/Jet Stryker
Age: 16
Country: USA
Current Level: 13
Weapon: Daggers
Non-Combat Skills: Speed and Hiding

Appearance: Jonathan "Jet" Turner is not much of an exception to the stereotype of a skinny, game-playing geek. His black-gray hair is semi-short and unkempt. For a teenager boy, he is short and skinny, standing at about 5'3". Being an American, Jet has white skin with a hint of a tan, though he would more often get a sunburn in real life. His hazel eyes are close-set and light-sensitive in real life. Outside of virtual reality, Jet tended toward a wiry build with a knack for feats of jumping, running, hiding, etc. In Aincrad, he was able to build on this. If he isn't doing anything with his hands, then he usually taps seemingly random rhythms with his fingers.

Nowadays, Jet usually wears dark-colored long-sleeved shirts and pants, as well as a pair of brown leather fingerless gloves. He can always be seen wearing black leather boots, which add to his speed, and a pair of sunglasses, with a blue metal frame and dark glass lenses. Jet's current combat attire consists of a black long-sleeved shirt, a vest of fortified chainmail, and dark-gray leather pants; the shirt and pants add a small bonus to hiding. Jet also wears a black belt that holds his daggers and some belt pouches for carrying potions and other small objects. His two daggers have steel blades and silver hilts, decorated with black leather grips and etched deep-blue designs. The scabbards have similar silver-and-blue designs decorating the outside.

Personality: Jet is an inquisitive person with a knack for getting in and out of trouble. He often becomes friendly after a few minutes of conversation with another person, though some have found him too nosy. Jet sometimes slips and tries to dig too deep into another's past or business. He constantly wants to know more about some subject or situation that interests him, which often lands him in situations where danger is real or people don't appreciate his curiousity. Despite this, Jet keeps moving forward, learning what he can of social events and drama, exploring the depths and reaches of video games' dungeons, whatever interests him.

The flip side is that if someone he doesn't know well asks about his personal life, Jet will immediately clam up, often searching for a way out of the situation or conversation. This carried over to online games, including Sword Art Online. For all Aincrad purposes, he is Jet Stryker, dagger-warrior and explorer. Jet wouldn't mind being able to get out of this VR game, but chances are that he would eventually return to Aincrad if it ever became safe.

One of his passions is games. If it's an action/adventure game and seems even remotely interesting, Jet will give it a try if nothing in life is engaging at the time. If he still finds a game interesting after the first ten or so minutes, he will spend a lot of his gaming time completing all solo material in that game. Jet usually uses the same approach in online games, teaming up with other players to fight or explore. This curiousity serves him in finding out pretty much any relevant information, even if his game avatar delves too deep and is struck down by a mob of monsters.

Life before SAO: Jonathan Turner was born an only child to a mother and father in a town in the mountains of Arizona, USA. Tourists are often surprised to learn that Arizona isn't all desert and has mountains that actually get snow in winter. The town was a small community where any one person is likely to know most everyone else in his or her age group. Jonathan's parents weren't terribly rich, but they did spoil him a little, at least when it came to video games. Jonathan's curiousity scared away some of those in his age group and attracted others who lived in a similar fashion. Jonathan and his friends often spent their time playing video games together when they weren't exploring or playing in the nearby mountains, hills, and caves. Jonathan wasn't deterred by any bruises, scratches, bites, stings, etc., that he got in his adventures.

As middle school, then high school came around, Jonathan found that his urge to know more now extended to sociality and drama. If anyone cared to ask, they would find that Jonathan usually knew more details about any event than almost anyone else in the school. If questioned about his methods, Jonathan might shrug and say, "A question here and there, some investigating...", but he will admit that cell phones and technology were very helpful. As for his gaming life, Jonathan's parents had few restrictions. After his first few ventures into online games, Jonathan dived in wholeheartedly, usually adopting the codename "Jet Stryker." In the games he took seriously, Jet became a prominent player when it came to leveling and exploring. When it was announced that a new VRMMORPG, Sword Art Online, was to be released to the public, Jonathan was quick to bug his parents into ordering a copy of the game and a virtual reality headset so he could play it once the servers were up.

Summary of first month in Aincrad:

• During the first week, Jet explored Floor 1 and dabbled in Forgery with the thought that he could make his own equipment.
• After the announcement that virtual death meant real-life death, Jet was both worried and excited. He couldn't shake the thought that one of his parents or friends might try to pull him out of the game, yet he also realized that he had time on his hands to explore pretty much everywhere he could reach.
• Jet had recovered by the next day. One of the first things he did was to use his Forgery to make a pair of sunglasses, as a reminder to himself that Aincrad was just a game in the real world. Jet had every intention of getting back to reality.
• A few days later, on Floor 2, Jet and a player he'd partnered with tried to fight a relatively high-level monster; by the end of the fight, Jet was close to dying and his partner was dead. Jet retreated to Celedona and spent a few days cooped up inside the town, trying to get over the stark reality of death. Eventually, though, his inquisitive nature overruled his fear and he continued his exploring and leveling.
• For the next few weeks, Jet made parties with other players for protection and a better chance at exploring the reaches of each floor. By this time, he'd left Forgery in favor of Speed and Hiding. Fearing death, Jet spent his spare time soloing low-level monsters to build up his level and combat skills. He usually brought back drops and important information to other players who either Forged new equipment or did the brute work of clearing the floors.

Roleplay Sample:
Jet sighed as he watched the boar before him dissolve into bits of data and disappear. As he sheathed his daggers, a screen popped up with the amount of experience he'd gained, followed by the message, "You have reached Level 3!" "Finally," Jet muttered, crouching to take a look at the boar's drops.

Boar Hide
Raw Boar Meat
[Take] [Destroy]

Jet shook his head as he stashed the drops in his bag. "Already have good armor for now, and I'm not a Cook myself," he muttered, standing and turning back toward the city. It was the fourth day of the game, and Jet was bored. He'd already explored Starter City and the fields, completed several quests, defeated boars and other monsters for the sake of getting to Level 3...there really wasn't much left for him to do on this floor beyond building up his skills. Jet began humming to himself, his fingers tapping out a rhythm. Actually, there was the dungeon. He hadn't explored that yet, and he hadn't heard anything about the boss room being found yet. On the other hand, a Level 3 player probably wouldn't last too long on his own.

Several minutes later, Jet pushed open the door to a shop in the city. The shelves were decorated with various food items, ranging from fresh-baked loaves of bread to packages of seasoned meat. Jet edged around two other players who were browsing and walked up to the counter where the shopowner stood. "Welcome!" the NPC greeted with a big smile. "We have the best food in the city! Would you like to make a purchase? Or perhaps you have something to sell?"

"Yeah, I have something to sell," Jet answered, bringing up a screen of his inventory. There were two items made obvious by their amounts: 27 Boar Hides and 26 Raw Boar Meats. Jet sold the meat to the NPC and got a small chunk of the game's virtual money in return.

"We're always happy to make a transaction!" the shopowner boomed, still smiling. Jet rolled his eyes as he turned and walked back out the door. Was it just him, or did virtual reality make repetitive answers like that more annoying?

Seeing the blank stone wall across from the shop, Jet strolled over and leaned his forehead against it. Bored, bored, bored... This virtual reality was great and all, but the last two days had been just plain repetitive for him. He was sure he wasn't alone in feeling this, but Jet always got bored with repetition. He needed something new to do on this floor!

"Hey, you there!" Jet looked up in surprise at a nearby player, all decked out in armor with a Greatsword on his back. "You need something to do? I'm lookin' to lead a group into the dungeon. There's word that someone found the boss room. Interested?"

Jet perked up, already grinning. He wouldn't have to search for a party after all. "Yeah, I'm interested," he replied, his fingers tapping again. "Gimme a few minutes to buy a few things, and I'll come along. Where do we meet?"

"I'll let you know," the swordsman said, nodding. "Need your name b'fore I can send a message, though. Name's Kaiser. You?"

Jet was still grinning, his mind whirling with ideas on what to do in the dungeon. "Jet Stryker."

[SwiftSign]

Welcome aboard Garet! I'll update the list (since I think I forgot to add Dante)

[Garet]

Thank you! So, there are players on Floors 2, 4, and 5... I have a question, by the way. I haven't read or seen Sword Art Online before, so I'm not sure about a few things. Do bladed weapons like swords and daggers still hurt monsters made of rock, like a Golem? It seems like they'd still hurt in a game, but since it's virtual reality, they probably wouldn't hurt as much as a hammer, for example.

I could be thinking too much about this.

[SwiftSign]

Originally Posted by Garet

Thank you! So, there are players on Floors 2, 4, and 5... I have a question, by the way. I haven't read or seen Sword Art Online before, so I'm not sure about a few things. Do bladed weapons like swords and daggers still hurt monsters made of rock, like a Golem? It seems like they'd still hurt in a game, but since it's virtual reality, they probably wouldn't hurt as much as a hammer, for example.

I could be thinking too much about this.

Hi there! Yes blades will hurt them, it's up to you however if you want the monster to be a challenge and have tough defense - but normally what they're made out of doesn't make much difference.

[AlexOzzyCake]

Sorry about the lack of posts recently, I've been way busier than expected .-.

Message for CWP (and everyone!): I know you wanted to plan out our conversation but I'm not going to be able to get on properly for a while due to uni assignments so feel free to just leave Rapp where you found him and we can meet up again after - I'll send Rapp on a quest to level up and improve alchemy after realising how weak he is so maybe you can save him again or something haha. Just say he was speechless after being saved and kinda just stared up with a glazed look and leave him, and I'll try get my post up soon :)

[Leaf Storm]

Sooooo, while I was writing my next post, this came up: Do we all follow the same IC day, or do we just go with the flow as we please? Like for example, in Aincrad it's morning and in about two weeks or so it's evening. Just a tiny suggestion. xD

[SwiftSign]

Originally Posted by Leaf Storm

Sooooo, while I was writing my next post, this came up: Do we all follow the same IC day, or do we just go with the flow as we please? Like for example, in Aincrad it's morning and in about two weeks or so it's evening. Just a tiny suggestion. xD

Yes and no.

The 'present' is whatever is described in the first post, which you can interpret as full day in this case. Since the even just started I would recommend assuming its morning/noon but overall not worry about times of day.

You are welcome to be out of sync with the canon posts, just make sure to say so somewhere so nobody gets confused aha.

Its 7am did that make sense?

I'm not going to do rigid timings as it just won't work for a game like this, what I might do is have time-skips between events though... undecided.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

I think as long as we pretend it's the same time of the day when we meet up and interact, we'll do fine :)

[Raikiri]

So here is my attempt at a sign up. Hope it is to everyone's liking.

EDIT: I had a feeling the picture wouldn't work: http://images5.fanpop.com/image/phot...73-600-674.jpg

There is the link I tried to use, if anyone is curious.

Name: Reinhard Ossur (Reinhart is his avatar name)
Age: 19
Country: Germany

Current Level: 14
Weapon: One handed Sword
Non-Combat Skills: Speed and Taming

Appearance:
A pure blooded young German man, Reinhard has many of the characteristics that define his people. He is fairly tall (standing at 6"1), with broad shoulders and an average build, blending fat and muscle into a powerful stocky build. He will affectionately define himself as a natural born "tank" in that regard which only adds to the roughed nature of his physical appearance. Reinhard has fairy long, shaggy blonde hair with its rough ends brushing across his neck and face, obscuring his small dark blue eyes that often stare down others. An unkempt dark blonde patchy beard gives his long, thin face a rough exterior, which is only emphasized because of his permanent stern expression.

Reinhard is most often found in his adventuring outfit, of which he has grown satisfied and comfortable in. He wears a light blue shirt (over a chain mail shirt) tucked in to a pair of padded dark blue pants, held up by a brown leather belt. Black leather boots protect his feet from the elements. However, the defining characteristics of his outfit lie in the extras, of which tales of adventure lie in their acquisition. The first is his dark red scarf, of Reinhard purchased from a shop after acquiring some negligible loot to sell. The other piece of clothing is his lightly armored dark blue trench coat, which was a rare monster drop. Armor lies on the shoulders in the form of steel pauldrons, bulking up his already broad shoulders. Reinhard also sports leather gauntlets, to maintain a tight grip on his sword, which rests comfortably on his shoulder in its sheath, held on a leather belt that lies across his chest. To this day, he has yet to invest in more casual clothing, taking the game a bit too seriously.

Personality:
Reinhard is best described as serious, rigid, structured and methodical. He is goal orientated with a carefully constructed plan of action to complete his objectives. This applies to both short term and long term goals and keeps Reinhard focused on the task on hand. Reinhard spends much time preparing for his conquests, stressing preparation, strategy and structure over reckless abandon. This makes Reinhard overly cautious, and one to never take risks. He relies on his intelligence to make the best decision based on logical analysis. "Gut feeling" is just superstition, something that Reinhard refuses to recognize. In fact, Reinhard refuses to believe in superficial things such as luck, spirituality, faith or anything of that nature. He believes that one's success is measured by raw skill, preparation, talent and hard work.

Reinhard is level headed, collected and logical. He weighs his options and allows reason to guide his fate. He does with relative ease due to his lack of emotional attachments to much of anything, making logical the final factor in any impactful decision. Reinhard keeps himself collected at all times, never allowing weakness to show. He cares about the impressions he makes and how people view him, preferring that he commands fear or respect. Therefore, he makes an conscious effort to be as intimidating or as "cool" as possible in order to accomplish that.

Because of his rigid disposition, Reinhard is very rough around the edges. He is brutally honest, strict, and overbearing. Trending close to a careerist, Reinhard puts his goals above others, making him unemotional and cold. Therefore, it is safe to say he does poorly in establishing relationships of any kind. Professional relationships often suffer because Reinhard punishes any degree of stupidity or failure, and given the high stakes of SAO, he feels his nature is more than justified. Personal relationships fail because of Reinhard's general distrust of people and his reserved nature. Reinhard fears developing close knit relationships in SAO, as emotions can make people do stupid things. Therefore, Reinhard focuses purely on his own security and survival.

Reinhard's poor social skills are further exaggerated by his generally shy nature, being socially awkward. He does not read social cues well, often saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. To compensate for his poor skills, Reinhard hides away from others, putting a great distance between himself and others, both metaphorically and literally. Reinhard is a true loner in this regard, avoiding others as much as possible, limiting social interactions to as needed basis. Whenever he is thrown into a social situation, he will keep people to a distance. Short answers, ignoring others completely and using body language to communicate are the norm, as are sarcastic quips, chastising remarks and brutal honesty. Reinhard avoids bonds and others due to a deep repressed paranoia of others, constantly questioning others motives and desires. He holds a firm belief, no one is worth trusting as they easily betray you if the reward is ripe enough. In this regard, Reinhard rather never join any social group, as betrayals are impossible when you are forever alone. If forced into a group situation, Reinhard keeps vigilant and wary, always with his guard up. He holds grudges easily and can be vengeful. However, he usually keeps a cool facade, keeping himself under control, never expressing his emotion. He rather plan revenge than act on his pure instinct.

Life Before SAO:
Reinhard's early life was nothing out of ordinary. Born as the middle of three children to an upper middle class family in Germany, Reinhard was the victim of middle child syndrome, often ignored by his hard working business man of a father and his mother who pushed her eldest and babied her youngest. Reinhard was just caught in the middle, doing his own thing whatever that was interesting at the time. After all, fighting for attention when you have a prodigy of a older brother and a whiny younger brother is a tall order. Reinhard decided that making himself fit in the middle was just easier.

He had never developed any constant habits other than reading or playing videos that fueled his escapist tendencies. Reinhard quickly developed into being quite the nerd, often bullied by others. Without any guidance or role models, he became independent easily and mature faster than most but lacked the refined social skills that would make more functioning in social environments. School became tedious and a chore, a distraction from his fantasy worlds that were in great novels or video games. Regardless, Reinhard worked hard, earning high marks so that just maybe he will earn some recognition other than the kid who picked his nose in kindergarten and doodles those "dorky characters" in his notebook. To escape, Reinhard grew more and more addicted to his pursuits, becoming an avid gamer, as the ecstasy of succeeding in a game world was incomparable to anything he experienced in the physical world. However it was a slippery slope that evolved into a vicious cycle. As he grew older, the bullying intensified. As the bullying intensified, so did his love for video games. His love of gaming exasperated the bullying situation. As his infamy as a total nerd grew and the ridicule progressed, his faith in mankind declined. Reinhard entered bouts of depression in middle school and early high school, requiring a psychologist to work out his problems.

At his recommendation, Reinhard joined some clubs and sport teams (he wasn't a terrible athlete) and strived to succeed in them for the hopes of standing out. And surprisingly it worked. Reinhard grew up in more than one way. He experienced a great growth spurt and began to fill out in his figure. And he gradually developed some social skills (enough to be cold at least). It was a solid turnaround, as school became less arduous of a task and almost enjoyable. However, the trauma of bullying never ceased to be a grim memory. Reinhard kept his distance, as he couldn't suddenly trust a population that made his life so difficult to enjoy. He continued to play video games and enjoy trips of fantasy. It was perhaps why the Nerve Gear was such a glorious godsend (even if Reinhard refuses to believe in such things as God) as it allowed him to fully immerse himself in something. Something that was free of pain and suffering. Something he could enjoy. It was glorious.

He didn't allow it to completely ruin the new life that he crafted in school, but it did develop into an addiction. It did delay his entrance into University. Then Sword Art Online came out. "Bye good grades," he said to himself as he finally got to play the game.

Summary of first month in Aincrad:
-> Week 1: Started playing SAO on a whim and eventually grew to love the game, quickly becoming his home away from home. He would party with others sporadically, if only to gain levels quickly, but following the reveal of the game's new gimmick, Reinhard was caught off guard and questioned how he would survive. He decided the a slow, careful progression would be best suited. He hunted weak creatures and did runs on low level dungeons until he reached the second floor.

-> Week 2: Was unprepared for the second floor and joined a small guild to aid in his quest. Bonded slowly with the others and almost enjoyed the game. Eventually made it to the next floor after startling successes.

-> Week 3: His new group was dismantled by a dungeon, and Reinhard was among the few survivors. The other survivors were traumatized and broke down. One killed himself. Reinhard entered a bout of depression before reaffirming himself that the game could be conquered. Looked into taming for companionship of a less "real" kind. Always wanted a pet anyway.

-> Week 4: Reached Mount Lost as a solo player through grinding, hard work and ambition. Hopes to make it to the front lines before long. Never enjoyed sleeping much anyway.

Roleplay Sample:

Spoiler:

Reinhard stared longly at the helmet that was his Nerve Gear and the copy of Sword Art Online that was rested soundly on his desk. He picked up the package and read the back of it once again. "A virtual reality massive multiply online game. It sounds too good to be true." Reinhard has played MMOs before and found the games generally fun if a bit…tedious at times. But a virtual reality one…the premise sounded amazing. He could truly lose himself in the game. Sure, it would be dangerously close to total escapism, but he would be called a gamer who enjoys an immersive experience. Reinhard eliminated his hesitation and set up his Nerve Gear. He pulled the helmet on and settled himself for the connection.

"Link start."

The helmet drew Reinhard deep into a wave of color as the algorithms for establishing the virtual reality ran, making sure that every sense was totally drawn into the game. Once everything was locked in, the settings menu came out. After setting his language to German and logging in, Reinhard designed his avatar and was transported into the game.

Reinhard felt himself struggle to adjust the world for a moment. Not because he was physically incapable or his old Nerve Gear was malfunctioning.

No, it was the game. It was too real. Too surreal, that would be a better word for it. He bounced his foot off the paved ground. It felt solid. In fact the third bounce almost hurt. The grass was a vivid green, the skies a deep blue, the mountains in the distance an awe inspiring sight. Everything was too real. Too hard to believe. Reinhard took a deep breath, enjoying the fresh air. It reminded him of the German countryside. Good first impression there, SAO, Reinhard said to himself. Enough with being impressed. I have a game to beat.

With the shining sun beating down on him, Reinhard left the safety of the town, determined to get out of the noob territory. He disliked rookies. They never knew what they were doing. Sure, he didn't get to play the Beta, but Reinhard played enough Role Playing Games to get around. He double checked the menu system to make sure his best equipment was out.

Several mental checks later, Reinhard officially entered the grassy fields of Aincrad. He took a moment to take in the surroundings. As much as he wanted to rid his mind of awe, he found it difficult to take in. It was too good to be true; too immersive to believe. The light breeze swept through his hair and it was a moment of peace. For the first time in a long time, Reinhard felt at peace with himself and his life. Whether he realized it or not, it was in that moment that Reinhard made a connection with SAO. A connection that would last for some time.

Reinhard walked the fields, looking for his first monster to fight. He was not alone in this endeavor, as many other players were eager to fight their first monster, but those select few had formed parties already. Reinhard was alone. He preferred it that way, at least for now. Maybe he will eventually warm up to some group, but he didn't see it happening until he had something to contribute to a group.

Reinhard's gait was eventually stopped by a boar which did not take long to deduce was probably among the weakest creature in the game. At least it was better than fighting rabbits as his first monster encounter. The boar was startled by Reinhard's presence and immediately went in for an attack, Reinhard sidestepped the creature and taunted into attacking once more, side stepping again with ease. It's attack pattern was entirely to predictable. When the boar lunged forward again, Reinhard slashed his blade through the creature, slicing it along the side. The boar was weakened and in a rage attacked again, catching Reinhard off guard. He took the hit head on, and crashed to the ground, watching his HP drop down close to yellow zone. He neglected the pain, picked himself off the guard and prepared for the next battle phase. Taking a defensive stance, Reinhard charged up his attack and watched the boar bolt forward. Release the charged attack, Reinhard dashed forward, striking down the boar in a flash. The creature shattered in bits of glowing data, as a screen popped up giving Reinhard's his rewards.

"I need to kill a few more of these to level up. Fair enough."

That was the beginning of the game. Reinhard continued his conquests, slaying monsters, joining small parties and continuing to develop his character. He wanted to be the best warrior in the game, and all his free time was devoted to training. Hours eroded by in the game and before he knew it, the first week of SAO had consumed him.

It was only the beginning.

[SwiftSign]

Welcome to Aincrad! :D Raikiri your character is accepted.

[Red's Hawt Chibi Pelippers]

Told ya, silly. Ossur <3 But your image didn't show up right. broken image perhaps? :3