2227/Death Gun

Death Gun
Date of Scene:	13 May 2015
Location:	Alfheim Online <ALO>
Synopsis:	In the preliminary lobby... a grim and horrible specter lurks.
Cast of Characters:	Kirito, Tomoe, 631, 649

---

Sinon (649) has posed:
    What a boring place the competitor's lounge for the Bullet of Bullets preliminaries actually is.

    This is the second round for some people- still elimination rounds. Therefore, it's still a threat for the competing Gatecrashers. In order to get into the actual free-for-all, when they'll have the best chance of encountering Death Gun, they need to at least make it to the fourth round. Regardless of who wins those, they'll be in.

    The competitor's lounge is a bit of a misnomer, as close friends are also allowed, but there's no real comfort to the place. The walls are clad in rigid, glossy hexagons and the two-tiered lounge itself is entirely made of shiny black stonelike material. It's all really cliche, honestly. Cold. The neon blue tron lines provide a lot of the ambient illumination- or the floating screens showing this current round of matches.

    Sinon is not here because Kirito invited her along. Absolutely no way, nuh-uh. And even if she did, she'd only come so that she could keep analyzing his fighting style even more than usual. She's definitely NOT enjoying the small, social meetings and tiny scrapes that the two have got into between the worldboss fight and now; a smattering of uneventful days that will remain undefined and mysterious until the next novel, Untold Tales of GGO.

    She is definitely not currently sitting on a leather sofa next to Kirito.
    OK she is.

Kirito has posed:
    Being trolled by Death Gun and faced with a real kill would have anyone shaken. Even though they're still fighting through elimination rounds, Kirito's been broody through things so far. Arms folded and a pensive expression on his face, he's been on the sofa since his last round. Periodically he's brought up the roster of participating combatants.

    One of these names is 'death gun.' If he only knew which...

    But with Sinon dropping in he's quickly shunted the menu aside and begun giving her uneasy looks. Like he wants to say something but isn't sure just how she's going to react.

Reker (631) has posed:
    Ah yes the lounge, where you can scope out your competition, keep your eyes open for potential weaknesses, or in Reker's case, show the hell off. Yes Reker is not much for things like 'subtlety' or 'tact' as he's currently got several human-analog targets set up on one side of the lounge, "So I know it's against the rules to attack you chumps in here, so I figured I'd at least give you all a little demonstration of how I'm going to win this thing."

    Reker is hoping that at least some of the potential opponents will wander over and take a look at the inpromptu shooting range he has set up.

Tomoe has posed:
Sheena has been shaken pretty bad, sure she hides behind the faces of Tomoe the Iron Lily or Eisen Blumen the Femme Fatal of the Wastelands. She couldn't hide by this. They'd been taunted by Death Gun. She'd been trying to forget about it while watching the other fights and keeping an eye out for things. Sinon and Kirito are not alone. Eisen is just chilling out on a couch watching, she's also thinking of how meta it is to be laying down somewhere for real while her avatar is doing much the same thing.

"Looks like Reker's having some fun..."

Sinon (649) has posed:
    Sinon continues to sit there next to Kirito. You could almost imagine the camera panning to him, looking at her; to her looking at him; back to him looking at her and so on.

    She's really not been sure at all how to read Kirito over these last couple weeks. The boy is like a riddle wrapped in an enigma wrapped in a black leather jacket. Naturally, the fact that he's been iffy and she's been ... still unsure what he exactly is, acts and means to her means that the two of them have --

    And then Reker starts setting up targets. Sinon is broken out of her reverie of the last couple weeks as she perks her head off to the side and stares. Huh. What on earth is he doing?

    "Huh. Well, gotta do something to deal with the boredom between rounds I guess," she says to Eisen. "Is he like this often?"

Kirito has posed:
    "Reker?" Kirito's shaken out of his broody thoughts and wavering attention by the man's voice. "Not like it would do anything anyways. No PVP damage in cities." But he does stand up to get a closer look at the shooting range!

    Only to then glance down at Sinon again.

    "This isn't the best of times to bring this up... but you're in danger, Sinon." He states, grimly yet emphatically.

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen looks over to Sinon for a moment with a smirk for a moment.

"Pretty much, Reker's a walking confidence elemental and normally he can back it up to be perfectly honestly."

The red headed woman turns her head for a moment and sits up now facing Sinon and Kirito with one raised eyebrow as Kirito brings up what she thinks he's going to bring up.

Reker (631) has posed:
    "Alright you guys, listen up!" Reker jumps on top of a box, "This right here is the Devastator. It's sole purpose for existing is to win me the BoB." He pulls the weapon off of his back and holds it up so everyone can see it, "But I'm not going to show you guys this weapon. Oh no. That'd be too easy and give you guys a chance to figure out how to beat it." He puts the weapon back onto his back, "So instead I'm going to demonstrate something else entirely."

    Reker steps down off of his box and turns back towards the targets, though he does turn and grin at Tomoe, Sinon and Kirito. He hopes these guys are watching too. As soon as the first target pops up, Reker pulls his sidearm and rushes, firing two shots towards it as he slides on his knees towards the first peice of cover. Welp, there he goes.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Sinon pauses to consider Tomoe's statement for a moment. "Hhhhuh."

    Figuring she could do worse, she decides to put her feet up on a stone box and watch this one.

    So this is the weapon he acquired from that world boss?, she thinks. It's an interesting drop, and she wonders, casting her mind back, why and how- considering how incredibly popular the boss encounter was- fate led her to encountering the monster that caused her to become the sole possessor of the Hecate anti-materiel rifle. There was never such a crowd back then... just her and the behemoth.

    She curses herself internally for actually thinking for a moment he was going to show it off, but doesn't let it show on her face as Reker begins to showboat for the crowd. Yes, he does seem like the kind of person who would show off for people even if they weren't truly cheering him- just the fact that people are watching, even if it's an enemy, is enough for her.


                ..
            (An enemy is watching.)

    Surprose shows clearly on her face as Kirito speaks up, though. "...Kirito? This is a strange time to reveal a secret about my next opponent."

Kirito has posed:
    "Hohhhhhhh?" Kirito's momentarily distracted thanks to Reker's display. he can't help but grin a litle! As a fellow gamer he totally knows what it's like to show off a little in front of friends.

    Even though he tends not to just for the sake of it.

    He sits back down though, hands slapping down on the table. The androgynous boy shakes his head, sending long hair swishing. "Not the next opponent. Felidae Z, the player who was shot the other day. You remember that? ... Death Gun... ?" His breathing becomes a tense hiss at just speaking the words, but there's real fear in his eyes.

Tomoe has posed:
Tomoe looks to Reker for a moment bute is otherwis quiet. She wondfers about what he's doing here and he watches to see just how well he's showing off. He does have skill she's never doubted that but she does wonder if his tactic will work on the otehr fighters or not.

"You mean the one who used that one quote?"

Heaven Help Roger Smith if he ever gets near Tomoe, every time Big O comes out she won't react well to the call phrase.

Reker (631) has posed:
    Reker's mock-up targets seem to be shooting at him, though they don't seem to be heavily accurate. He rolls through and fires four more shots, dropping two more targets. That's six bullets. A fourth target pops up and Reker drops it with a headshot as he stands up. A couple of people clap, but most of the crowd looks a mixture of angry and unimpressed.

    That's when something begins to materialize behind Reker. A large man, a black cloak, glowing red eyes and a skull-shaped mask. A black handgun in his right hand, that he swings upwards towards the back of Reker's head. Reker racks the slide on his own 1911 and the .45 caliber round flies up into the air as he spins around, kicking the gun out of 'Death Gun's' hand. A second kick to Death Gun's chest pushes him backwards as Reker holds out his pistol towards the skull mask.

    That round that Reker ejected gets grabbed out of the air by his left hand and slid into the locked open chamber, which gets sent home. Reker smirks, "Show's over." He has to get out his one-liner before he pulls the trigger and blows away the faux Death Gun.

    "I hope you're watching you son of a bitch, because that's what I'll do to you if you show your stupid skull-face again. Better drop out of the tournament while you still can!"

Sinon (649) has posed:
    Sinon... opens and closes her eyes a couple of times. She looks first to Kirito, then to Tomoe, braincells trying to fire together to bring some sense to what the two of them just said, but ... the 'that quote' is a mystery to her.

    "Wait. Did something...?"

    That's when she realizes. "Kirito, Eisen... when we were at that boss encounter, I pulled out of the fight when it started bringing the building I was on down. I needed to put distance between it so I didn't get taken out by all of the collateral damage... ...didn't either of you notice I was gone after a while?"

    Her voice has actually turned kind of sour by the end of that. She didn't actually realize it at the time, but it seems that way. She didn't notice any 'death gun' appearence because she wasn't there for it. But to think that they're talking as if she was, and they didn't even notice she wasn't...

    And then, like the proverbial spring-up ghost from behind a polystyrene tombstone, there is the 'death gun'! Or at least a reasonable facsimile. It even makes a few people who are also watching jump! They get a good laugh and a bit of applause comes out for Reker's display.

    Sinon is just pouting.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    "Pack your best AP rounds; don't know how good a helmet that skull mask is," she mentions in a noncommital way to Reker, as if trying to latch onto something else to take interest in other than her spurned couch-mates.

Kirito has posed:
    Kirito wasn't expecting Reker to make that show take such a dramatic turn. He stiffens in place at the final target's appearance, but finally relaxes to show a rather simple relieved smile. A kind of girly expression that he's quick to tamp down on.

    Only for Sinon's grumpiness to get under his skin and get him stiffening up again. "It-it's not like that, Sinon. I thought you were watching the forums." Apparently she's not been.

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen gives Sinon a look and is about to say somehing but Sinon now gets a word in first. She pauses for a moment, wait a second Sinon was gone for a moment. Eisen's expression hadrens for momentnt as thoughts start to enter her mind not very happy thoughts either. The Asian woman looks Sinon over closly now she's not sure what to think of her for the moment. She's honestly at a loss for words.

Sinon (649) has posed:
    Well, now /everyone's/ grumpy at /everyone/. Or rather, as Sinon sees it, Kirito and Tomoe are grumpy at her for being grumpy at them, and is she grumpy at them for a good reason? Is she not? Is she just being--

    Something sparks unpleasantly in her heart again, and it's unfortunate that despite the confidence and the bravado Reker is showing off it can only do so much to detract from what may be an unpleasant air brewing between the three of them. %R
    It's that hard, inscrutable expression from Eisen that does it. Shino Asada is a socially inept person, one who finds it hard to read body language, and under the circumstances she might feel as if she'd done or said something wrong and turn her back on her friends out of shame and embarrassment.

    Which means that when Sinon shuffles to the other end of the sofa and begins to stand up, it is clearly because her cold pride and self-confidence are the bricks in the wall she's suddenly raised.

    "Listen, is that skull-faced scaremonger still making you both nervous? Get a grip on yourselves. If this weighs you down so much, you'll never make it to the finals."

    She turns around and sticks her nose in the air-- then, just a moment later, turns back around to look at the space she left between herself and Kirito.

        ..
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxTrWuJFByM

    Someone else is suddenly there.

Tomoe has posed:
Eisen is starting to question Sinnon's real idenity? Could she be the one they need to put a trace on? She's now concerned. There's something going on here something old and something from the past. Bad Memories are surfacing in the gunner's mind. No nightmareish ones she shoves them away but she's now wondering. Sinon did vanish just before Death Gun showed up. She snaps out of it after a moment her expression turning more normal a she looks over Sinon, she's about to ask her an imporant question then she just freezes up mouth partially open.

Her jaw closes she sits up and she now gets she's not alone, none of them are there's another there. Her eyes trail up looking the stranger open and she just almost seems to freeze up.

Reker (631) has posed:
    At the sudden appearance of the unwanted guest, Reker drops the empty magazine from his pistol and swaps a new one in. Sure he can't actually shoot Death Gun here, but he's very tempted to at least try it. He keeps the weapon up as he moves towards him and the trio that Death Gun has appeared near.

    "Don't move! Hands where I can see them!" Reker, military trained as he is, tends to revert back to that mentality when he doesn't fully understand the situation. And Death Gun appearing in the midst of them is a situation that he sure as hell doesn't understand.

Kirito has posed:
    With Sinon scurrying away Kirito feels his gut sinking. Did he botch this that badly? But no. He can't just let her ramble off into parts unknown, not with the message he has for her.

    He never chickens out when he really shouldn't, even if he desperately wants to.

    Or so many would say. The appearance of a sudden dreadful presence nearby gets his blood freezing. In an impressive show of reflexes he actually backflips up atop the sofa. "Where did... no way..."

Sinon (649) has posed:
The figure sitting on the leather sofa, inbetween Kirito and Sinon is undoubtedly the man they know to be Death Gun. Here he is, right before their eyes, sat with his hands in his lap.

Furthermore, he seems to be entirely- well, ignorant of Reker pointing a gun at him is hardly the right word for it. In fact, he knows what Reker may not- that technically this lobby is a safe zone, and although he can fire bullets here at inanimate targets it just wont work against other players. After all, if it did, whats stopping someone from just killing off several potential opponents in the lobby, otherwise?

Sinon grits her teeth and wrinkles her nose in distaste, but this is the first time shes met this man, much less seen him within inches of her face.

"So."

Death Guns voice is not so much a rasp as it is a distortion, each syllable sounding like its coming from a distorted, dying speak-and-spell. He is looking at Tomoe and Kirito. "It is you."

Sinon (649) has posed:
The theory Eisen had about Death Gun and Sinon goes up in smoke at this point. As well no person can operate two avatars at once right? She just lets those thoughts go as she looks at death gun. Shes attempting to keep it together.

"Reker its a lobby, put it away...it cant do a thing here."

Her eyes just narrow now and focus in on Death Gun, her own fear starting to boil up from the depths of her own soul.

Sinon (649) has posed:
The Marine knows when hes beat, so to speak, and lowers the weapon back into its holster, "I know." He says, as he continues to glare at Death Gun, "Come here to gloat? It wont do you any good." He says, arms folded across his chest as he speaks.

He doesnt know who Death Gun is, and while he has no stakes in the events of SAO, the fact that somebody from that, somebody who survived, would want to get back into their old ways, it makes him wonder. How traumatized was this guy? Or did he just enjoy hurting people? "Id tell you to take off the mask, but it aint like its your real face behind there anyway."

Sinon (649) has posed:
Deep within, Kirito's nerves are on edge. The wrenched-up gut and flared-up fear is doing nothing good for him, but none of his feelings show where it counts: his expression turns cold, fierce, and focused... even if the effect's nowhere near as potent as his original avatar.

This one is just too girlish.

"A two and a half years-long killing spree wasn't enough..." Bitter bile of the thickest degree poisons his tone. He has no forgiveness or toleration to offer the man with the metal skull-mask. None whatsoever.

"Huh, Laughing Coffin?" There's the faintest hiss in his words despite every attempt to sound tough. Little hints of terror.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Not unless Sinon is operating him like a handpuppet, she cant. Not possible for Death Gun to be two people!

Naturally, hes smiling at Rekers comment, but, you know, skulls are always smiling. He hasnt even moved a twitch as the three of them talk to him.

"Beneath, this mask, there, is just, an idea," he replies in that same stilted voice. Someones paraphrasing the words of an equally fanatical mask-wearer who had a desire to redefine the world.

Its then that he moves- but rather than standing up or an aggressive gesture, he just removes his virtual menu from his palm and drags the corner of it to expand it in size so that everyone can see. The name of Kirito is highlighted, but others are indicated in different colours- the menus big and its hard to pick out all of them fast enough, but all of them are at least familiar to at least two people.

He looks at Reker first, then Eisen, then Kirito, the faces of each of them reflected in his red lenses. "I wanted, to make, sure, that it, wasnt just, copycat, users, you see."

Sinon just continues to sit there, utterly oblivious to whats happening and actually visibly getting irritated at her total dismissal in this conversation.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Then Kirito, brings up that dread name, her fear if boiling over now shes looking very unsettled now. Shed used German to leave a hint to whom she was sure, but how many people on a Japanese server would catch on to it? Whod also know her name in SAO?

Eisen now is more than on edge she knows the guns cant hurt her but she watches for a moment as she pots the menu wait does she see someone she knows she thought she did. Shes clearly on edge now ever since the words Laughing Coffin came up, if Sinons paying attention.

"So why do you care if were the real deal or copy cats?"

Memories she normally keeps suppressed are trying to fight their way to the surface. Shes not freaking out but this could be going that way at this rate.

Sinon (649) has posed:
"Aint nobody like me but me." But hes not the one Death Gun is talking about, is he? No, the ported account by Kirito and The Iron Lily, those would be the ones hed be interested in, the SAO Survivors. While he himself doesnt fit that particular description, he knows about a lot of the things Laughing Coffin did. Why one of them would be here, that part he hasnt figured out yet.

Hes trying to take the focus of Death Gun off of the two of them, make the guy focus his intent on Reker, "Whats it matter?" He asks, still keeping his attention on his own reflection in Death Guns mask. He doesnt like not being able to see this guys eyes. Being able to see eyes can convey intent even more than being able to see their hands.

Sinon (649) has posed:
With Death Gun right in front of them, Kirito's on high alert. The single subtlest motion from the cloaked and mask man will undoubtedly trigger a record-breakingly quick beam-saber activation...

But for now, Kirito 'contents' himself with staying tense.

It's getting VERY hard to hide his fear too.

The one thing he doesn't want to show.

"What are you trying to pull with these stunts...?!"

Sinon (649) has posed:
Death Guns eyes- such as they are, the glowing red of his skull mask- shine brightly for a moment, before dimming once again. Its just him showing off, clearly, just a cosmetic trick, and yet...

And yet...

Sinon opens her mouth to say something, but she hasnt even got the first syllable out before Death Gun is talking again, once again not even acknowledging that theres a fourth person there. If Reker is slightly below his notice in this affair, then it seems as if Sinon doesnt even exist to him.

"I dont, care. Doesnt, really matter," he says back to the three of them, minimizing the holographic window displaying their names- and making absolutely no effort to hide his Laughing Coffin tattoo as he does so. Although his hand is covered in bandage wraps, they seem to be there to highlight the tattoo rather than hide it- if you know what youre looking at. Sinon glowers, she opens her mouth again, and he starts talking again.

"But, whether youre, the real ones, or not...
I can find you. And no matter where you are, I am going to kill you."

And just like that, he stands up and begins to walk away, Sinon glaring at his back all the while...

He only turns back to glance at her once, and shes still glaring a hole through him. When a chill runs down her spine as his eyes glow again, Sinon will dismiss it as a moment of surprise.

When you blink, hes ceased to exist. Was he even there at all?

Sinon (649) has posed:
Eisen isnt ignoring Sinon intentionally, shes just got a horror in her face. She listens she stares at him for a moment and then she sees the tattoo. She cant hold back the memories anymore her face is just a twisted mass of emotions at this point. Sher looking damn near like shes seen the primary incarnation of evil.

Once Death Gun has vanished she cant hold back anymore shes hugging herself, while her very body trembles. She gets this look of abject terror on her face. The weight of her encounters with Laughing Coffin come crashing down on her. The simple day of looking for nodes to harvest with two of her friends, the ambush, the death of one of her friends.

"They pinned me to a tree with a sword, they kept ... they kept they made me ... watch. Because ... I wouldnt join..."

Tomoe seems to just be melting down now, somethings got her to crack like an egg. Thankfully her voice was low and its only likely that the others directly with her would hear her mutterings.

Sinon (649) has posed:
A big frown crosses Rekers face when Death Gun finally up and leaves. He watches the man go until he hears the sounds that Tomoe is making and turns around to see the way shes reacting. He listens to her story, and then moves up to give her a hug, as best he can. Hes not much of a hugger, but he can try.

"Hey, listen to me." He says, trying to get her to pay attention to him, "Hes not gonna hurt you, alright?" He says, before he looks at both Kirito and Sinon, "Hes not going to hurt any of you, because were going to figure out who he is, and were going to shut him down before he does anything to anybody else, okay?"

He keeps hugging Tomoe, trying to encourage her to get it all out, while looking at the others, "Sinon, youve been playing this game since it launched. Do you have any idea who he might be? Was he in the BoB last year, maybe? With stats like his he cant be a /new/ player, he has to have been at this for a while now."

Sinon (649) has posed:
The moment Kirito's dark eyes lock onto that emblem of the buried past his heart all but stops right then and there. It's one thing to have said the name, but quite another to see the proof.

Still, he remains unbudging... all up until a good ten seconds after the assassin is gone.

That's when he collapses back into his seat across from Sinon. All the mortal terror he'd been clamping down on erupts to the surface. "It's really them... it's really them...! The murder guild! Could he be one of the two... no, three..."

As if the entire rest of the world has entirely vanished, Kirito wraps his arms around himself for comfort... shivering. His eyes are wide and even in the virtual environment, he's broken out into a cold sweat whilst his breathing quickens into a near-hiss.

Gone is all trace of his professionally mischievous attitude and spirit. The young man's transformed into an emotional wreck in the blink of an eye!

Sinon (649) has posed:
And just like that, suddenly the atmosphere breaks, like someone falling through a sheet of fine clear ice into the swamp underneath.

Sinon, who has been so entirely befuddled by this situation, and more to the point pretty bent out of shape by what, in her mind, seems to just be some grandstanding jerk doing RP in a slightly more creepy vein than, oh, lets say Amalie, feels herself like the floor has been dropped out from under her when both Eisen and Kirito seem to go into hypothermic shock.

In an instant, the knot of emotions that had been muddling around inside of her- pride, confusion, anger, resentment and irritation- they were all blasted away as she looks at the two people who she had identified as being so strong, and--

Sinon is looking at herself. Not Sinon the sniper, but Asada Shino from the real world. During the times where she lay in bed, curled up, memories of blood and gunpowder running through her mind and crying for someone to save her.

"...why do you have such a face? Dont show me such a face... I still have to take back what you owe me..." she asks Kirito quietly, and then, not even knowing why shes doing it... she puts a hand on his shoulder.

And regardless of what happens next, she regards Reker with a... truly lost expression. "That was... him," she says back to him, clearly only now realizing that that was Death Gun, the one who killed XeXeed. "Before now, Ive never... this is the first time. And underneath that mask and cloak, he could be anyone..."

Even a ghost.

Some distance away, a boy with pale sand-brown hair looks curiously at Sinon, then turns away to look at a screen. The next rounds pairings are going up. In a few minutes, itll begin.

Sinon (649) has posed:
Eisen is lost in her own little nightmare, she should be dead, if not by chance someone had come across things. She would have just been another statistic. That hunts her and then she's hugged.

Eisen was not expecting to be hugged let alone by Reker of all people. She doesn't even try to fight it off. She thought she was able to cope with things. The day she dragged the monster to the Black Castle. It was the day she thought it was over, it never ends.


Kirito goes unnoticed in the here and now, in the world Eisen is in half in the past right now. She's calmed somewhat but still she's shaken. She manages to utter something.

"He's one of them...he has their mark. A Laughing Coffin Member, one who hasn't stopped killing."

Laughing Coffin? If one has poked about the death game known as Sword Art online? The name would come up, it might even have been on MMO Today a few times and nothing ever good is said about them, when they do come up.

Sinon (649) has posed:
"We cant be sure of that. He might just be a copycat. I dont know." Reker knows thats probably not the case. I mean very few people KNOW about Laughing Coffin. He only knows because of discussions with Kirito and Tomoe after the initial deaths caused by Death Gun.

"Sinon, if hes the one that killed XeXeed and Tarako, you need to be careful." Reker says, as he looks at her, face going very serious, "I thought he might be targeting BoB finalists from last year, and his appearance just now pretty much confirmed that.." He looks at Kirito and Tomoe for a moment, frowning. He cant go and warn every single finalist from the BoB last year that some guy might be trying to kill them. Most of them wouldnt even believe him, probably think hes trying to run them off so he can win

Sinon (649) has posed:
Having Sinon address him shakes Kirito out of his panic. As if all the self-imposed panic-laden blinders were just pulled away and light shined through ito his dark-riddled psyche he jumps up with a start, simply startled out of the panic spiral.

Without thinking about it much he looks over his shoulder and right into her eyes, blinking.

There's none of that warrior there like before. Just a vulnerable young man like any other.

"He's... he's definitely... a survivor from the red guild..." Without thinking about it he claps both of his own hands over Sinon's. To prevent her from going anywhere? For his own comfort?

Hard to say, but either way he's still shivering.

Sinon (649) has posed:
And here we find ourselves, deep in the darkness. Clinging to one another to chase away the cold, unsure why or who were holding onto so long as its someone who --

But for Sinon, who sees nothing but herself reflected in Kiritos eyes, something else stirs in her chest. For the first time in her life, she feels something shes never experienced before, a sensation- an emotion she cannot understand.

She should- she should look at Tomoe, who is the same, but for some reason shes somehow only able to concentrate on the slim, feminine face of the boy holding onto her hands.

Somehow, for just a moment, all of that whirlwind of emotions is replaced by just this one singular need

And thats when the virtual environment shifts. The pairings for the next round have been posted, and its only a matter of seconds before server ping resolves itself and begins shifting players out of the lobby into their matches. Sinons hands havent moved, but she feels the pressure on her hands disappear, and--

Sinon (649) has posed:
Eisen doesnt say much of anything somewhere in the back of her mind shes get what Rekers thinking. Right now shes busy dealing with her own demons. She pauses now as the next match is starting and she wonders should she just log out and never come back? This was becoming utter insanity, she didnt know what she should do at this point.

Sinon (649) has posed:
With everything being as crazy as it is, and the next match starting, Reker lets go of Tomoe, though he does his best to comfort her one last time before he does, "Dont worry, Ill keep all of you safe, one way or another." He says, before he fades out as well, yanked by the game system into the middle of his next matchup.

    As soon as he arrives, though, hes forced to put his gameface on. That encounter was weird, but theyll have to focus on the job at hand, and deal with it when they can. Its important that he makes it to the finals, so he can be there to help keep Sinon, Kirito and Tomoe safe, along with anybody else. Keep them out of Death Guns sights.

Sinon (649) has posed:
The disappearance of Sinon goes without much reaction from Kirito besides a twitch. His brow furrows, still quivering with terror. Not all of it was brought on by this lone murderer, was it?

Oh hell no.

But he's still like that when the teleport effect swallows him up to parts unknown. Will he be alright?

Will... ANY of them?