Sword Art Online: Altforv

Session Three: Technique

Teal paces back and forth in front of the『Propeller Pack』, her foot tapping as she hums to herself anxiously. On occasion, she looks up at the pastel blue sky, a frozen picture of an exploding technological wonder, splintering into several rings above what the NPC's called 『Base Zero』. This is where most new players spent most of their time, it was the biggest piece of floating land and sprawling with the wet forests and stunning plains that Teal had done numerous quests in.

Her hums grew in passion as she started to make more verbal "Da-dum"s while her pacing became a small dance. The rusted metal floor of the tall『Luxuriant Launchpad』beat from Teal's movement causing several dead vines that had wrapped around the old landing area to snap before falling far below the canopy of the forest. It was a large platform, as other players were also examining and launching from the same pad a few feet away from Teal.

Thap, thap, thap! The sound of rapid, accending footsteps slightly startled Teal into stopping as she tried to peer over the side, and under the railing of the launchpad at the staircase underneath.

Calamity jogged up the industrial staircase, enthusiasm drew high eyebrows and a tight smile on her face. She finally got to the top and greeted Teal.

"You are here already?" She questions as she goes to examine the strange backpacks. Their propellers laid at rest folded downwards behind the pack which held all of the knickknacks of the machine. She saw a handle on the side of the pack, she went to pull it, but Teal stops her.

"Whoa! Slow your roll, love," Teal smirks as she grabs Calamity's hand, "You don't want to start the thing without being attached to it, do you?"

"Ah, sorry, I haven't seen these things before, have you?" She inquires as she pokes around the flying machine.

"Not this close up, but a higher level player was showing off a high tier variant to all the newbies a few days ago." She recalls the story with some interest in her voice. She explains a few things she knew about the strange mechanism, her excitement now etched within her tone.

"It uses steam?" Calamity questions, slightly confused, "thought it would be a little more advanced, it was made before the Burst."

"Burst?" Teal responds with her question, to which Calamity blinks and moves a small string of brown hair out of her face.

"That's what the NPCs called the CME or whatever, the thing that destroyed the large spire," she explains, "I don't want to exposit a whole conversation, don't you pay attention to the NPCs?"

"Not really," Teal admits, "it's a bad habit, I should listen more."

Just then there was another padding of feet and though Teal wouldn't admit it to herself, some spite flared up as she guessed it was. Sure enough, Ava appeared and approached the other two girls. Although Teal went over and hugged her, she felt annoyance nagging at her.

Calamity observes the two, "I can't believe you two didn't realize each other sooner, how hard is it figure out you are playing with the same person you live with."

Ava scoffs with a smile as she is released from her embrace, "Well, I am not perfect, cut me some slack dude. Besides, she doesn't look or act anything like the way she does in real life."

"Maybe you just don't know me that well," Teal ripostes with a small smile, "your hair threw me off, but I guess it should have been obvious by how much you fumble around when you make conversations."

"That's a weird way to explain my 'charming-demeanor'," Ava returns the smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Calamity breaks in, "you two are a real pair, are you ready or not? I have been dying to get to this part of the game!"