03 Idle Meteor

[minetodecide]

[Along the harbor area of Mac Anu is Ryusei, sitting down on the edge of the bay quietly enjoying a small meal. Though that being said, he doesn't seem to really be eating, his food is practically untouched.

He stares into the sunset, his mind elsewhere. He would occasionally look down at the water watching the waves distort his reflection or he takes out his relic then sighs.

Perhaps he is in need of some company, or maybe, a good shove into the sea. You decide.]

Comments

[greaterspeed]

[so I heard you were in need of a good shove into the sea some company. *A* ]

[Sonic's going to attempt to lean on Ryusei over here, hands on both the other's shoulder]

Y'gonna eat that or were you planning on feeding the fishes?

[what is personal space, there is no such thing as too many angry friends, etc.etc.]

[minetodecide]

[The sudden weight on his sides just sorta made lazily him look in Sonic's direction.]

Huh? Oh, it's you.

[He looks at his food, mostly meatbuns from the guild grunty and some juice. He takes a bun offers it to Sonic.]

You want some?

[greaterspeed]

[his ears immediately come to attention at the offer of food. What? Free food? Awesome]

Sure, if'n you don't mind. [he helps himself to the offered bun and gets off Ryusei in the process]

I take back what I said last time. You're a pretty cool guy!

[and now you've got a happy hedgehog plonking himself next to you]

[minetodecide]

Heh, still carefree I see.

[greaterspeed]

[NOM!]

Gotta live life to the fullest! 'sides, I know people who're uptight round the clock.

[tank_sniper]

[So much for her plan to go sit on the edge and be melancholy. She's slightly concerned though; the guy was nice enough the last time they met, if a little reckless. After a moment's hesitation, she walks on over to him.]

Is something up?

[minetodecide]

[Ryusei lazily turns around to see Shinon standing behind him.]

Shinon.[He scoots over a bit so she can sit down]

I guess.

[tank_sniper]

[She'll go ahead and take a seat then, drawing her knees up to her chin.]

You guess? Either it's something or it's not.

[minetodecide]

When you put it like that....[He takes out his relic and stares it]...then I guess it's something.

[He picks up his meal, consisting mostly of meatbuns, and offers one to Shinon.]

Want one?

[tank_sniper]

[She shakes her head.]

I'm on cooking duty at the guild, so I'll wait until then.

[And... a bit awkwardly...]

...What's wrong?

[minetodecide]

Well...[He hesitates for a moment, twirling the relic in his hand.]

(I have to pick my words well.)

...trapped inside this, is something that connects me to my friends. Without me, half of our fighting force is gone. I was hoping to contact them and tell them I'm trying to find a way back but, [He shakes the relic up and down as if he's trying to shake something out.] This! Thing! Won't! Let! Me! Haaaaa..

[His shoulders slump as he let out a sigh.]

[tank_sniper]

A whole half?

[She's looking at him incredulously. This seems to happen a lot with the people here.]

Are you and your friends part of some kind of military, then?

[minetodecide]

Military? Not quiet. [He looks up and smiles weakly.]

It was a club! A club that fights to protect our school from monsters that threaten it.

[A pause]

My friend who fights along side me is strong though I'm still worried.

[tank_sniper]

...A club.

[...It's hard to sympathize when the situation is so weird, but at least she's trying.]

...Does your school normally get attacked by monsters?

[minetodecide]

[He laughs. He appreciated her attempt to sympathize, but he understands how weird a high school being attacked by monsters is.]

I know how strange it sounds, a high school being attacked by monsters. But yeah, the school is always getting attacked, one way or another.

[tank_sniper]

Is there some kind of reason for it?

[minetodecide]

Yeah. There are these guys who are distributing something called a "switch" to the students. The switches turn the students into monsters and my friends and I fight them to turn them back.

[A pause]

As to where the distributors come from, I don't know. That's what we were trying to find out.

[tank_sniper]

Fighting them is enough to turn them back?

[...Weird.]

Hopefully your friends will be able to handle it until you can get back. But depending on how long they keep us here... that might be a while.

[She does seem concerned though. It's really no good for any of them to be stuck here.]

[minetodecide]

Yeah.

[He leans back on his hands, a smile on his face. He actually feels better now that he's let all that out.]

How about you Shinon? Anything back where you come from?

[tank_sniper]

Huh? Uhh...

[...Well, he'd told her a bit about his own home, so... It would only be fair.]

Nothing as exciting as that. I made some new friends and agreed to play more games with them in the future, but that's about it.

[She purses her lips in thought.]

...Although since I'm here in my avatar, that probably means my body's still unconscious. Someone probably noticed and had me moved to the hospital... Or at least, that's what I hope. Unless what someone else told me was true...

[minetodecide]

"Body still unconscious"? What do you mean?

[Her statement had caught him off guard. Avatar? So this isn't her real body. Was she in a coma? So many questions, but he dare not asked them all at once. He'll just sit here and listen.]

[tank_sniper]

This is just an avatar I used to play a game. I was trying to log into that one when I found myself here. It's part of what confused me so much when I first came here - I thought we were all somehow dragged into a different game and trapped as hostages for some reason. The truth isn't much better, but... it was still a relief to find out.

Anyway, the gear people use to play games shuts off all of your senses, directly sending the information to your brain so you can experience the world of the game. Your body is totally defenseless in that state, so I've been a little worried.

[isolates]

[Hope you don't mind a little boy squatting down beside you.]

That's kind of a waste of food if you're not going to eat it.

[minetodecide]

[He looks at his food, mostly meatbuns and a few fruits. The urge to eat has passed, well, maybe not completely. He offers some to Yuuta.]

Want some?

[isolates]

[Yuuta shakes his head.]

No, I'm good.

[He looks away to stare at the water.]

Is everything okay?

[Because in his household, you better have a better reason to not finish food or his grandmother would give you an earful.]

[failedrescue]

[Asad himself had settled into a routine of wandering and trying to find information versus training to be stronger while he was here. This was one of the few times similar to the former when he spots him.

Ah, he remembers conversing with this person once before.]

You seem crestfallen. Is something the matter?