Scene #2803:

Owner	Pose
Asuna	'My soul is the sky'. Everyone booted up into Alfheim Online. Asuna, personally, was happy to see the bright blue sky again, the clouds white and fluffy. She's standing at the assigned meeting form in her Undine avatar, the one from which Titania was, the one from which the White Flash Asuna was. The meeting location was a very strange tree in the Butterfly Valley, located just outside the Cait Sith territory. She's standing by a quest NPC, a man dressed in leather breeches and a matching vest, a wreath of roses around his head and pair of horns. His name? << ROBIN GOODFELLOW >>
Sinon	A true hero never reads the MMO wikis for optimal builds first! In an action she will surely never regret, ever, Sinon decided to roll a Cait Sith on Alfheim Online following the cooldown from the Bullet of Bullets, because a lot of the Gatecrashers were heading over there or, to be more precise, 'heading back there'. And what a few days it's been! She's just like 'OH GOSH THE COLOURS, THE BRIGHTNESS.... THE ABILITY TO GO ABOVE A HUNDRED FEET WITHOUT BEING IN A SMOG CLOUD'. GGO devs: 'we don't have flight implemented how do we workaround this' 'ehhh just put an eternal blanket of pollution in the skybox' So yeah, anyway, she's been getting used to the whole business of being a fae. If a pink-haired zero wanted to summon a familiar, now's the time- wait, sorry, wrong continuity. In any case, she hears there's fun to be had, maybe, apparently. Since the concept of a quest line which involves 'fun' in general is new and exciting to her, she who has often done quests involving shooting and the shot, she has definitely shown up for this, by that strange tree! Except she's walking because she hasn't got used to the flight part yet. Way to miss out on half the purpose of the game, Sinon.
Karian Icefang	It had been a while sinse Karian had been in ALO, so he had taken a few days to get reacquainted with the game sinse the BoB competition. But he was quickly back to his old self again. Landing near the quest NPC as well was the salamander clad in superheavy red armor by the name of Karian. "It's been far too long." He says softly.
Reker	You know who else rolled up a Cait Sith? Reker. Yes, Reker rolled up a Cait Sith. A spiky haired blonde catboy with light armor and more knives than one can count equipped on his person. "What's with the horns?" He asks, as he looks at the weird quest giver. He wants to tug on one, but that's rude. So he won't do that. Yet.
Iria	Despite not feeling all of her cylinders running well, Iria's come along to help out for the time being. She figures even if she's not at her best, she can still give what she can to help out. Not to mention, she wasn't born to quit that easily. She arrives and looks around, gathering in the now-familiar sights and sounds of the game world. "I might as well move here," She says half-jokingly. "This place is becoming like a second home to me."
Zephyr Windstar	Flitterflutter, Zephyr's a flight mage in real life, so she's used to the whole flying thing. It just took a couple of hours to get used to how it worked in this game. The high speed green streak of a Sylph comes over the head of Sinon's character as the Cait Sith trudges along. Her nameplate marks her as 'Mistralia' and she lands with a light tiptap of her boots to the ground. "Still gotta get used to these." she muses to herself as her wings wink out to recharge. "And the time limit kinda sucks."
Auron	There's someone else glad to see this place, too. Auron's become quite fond of the world of Alfheim Online. And now that the Death Gun issue from Gun Gale Online has been dealt with, he looked forward to the rest of the Gatecrashers Union returning to the world. Since this near Cait Sith territory, and Auron is a Cait Sith himself-- or rather, 'Stial' is-- it shouldn't take him long to get there. Though when he finally makes his appearance, it's on a flying mount. He isn't an Alf, so his flight time isn't infinite. However when he gets there, he greets Asuna warmly as he dismounts. "Asuna. It's good to see you again." Sinon he doesn't know, but he's pleased to see a fellow Caith Sith, so he offers a pleasant smile and a polite bow of his head. Karian gets a pleasant wave and a "Hello, Wolf Lord. It has been a while, hasn't it?" Reker gets the same greeting Sinon got, because he doesn't know Reker outside the GGO world, and even there he only met the man a couple times. Iria receives a polite nod, and Zephyr gets a chuckle over the mention of the time limit to flight. "It does," he agrees. For those who've never seen his avatar before, he's a little strange for a Cait Sith. He might appear a little more muscular physically than they tend to be, though it doesn't affect his stats. He has thick silver hair that's pulled back in a fluffy ponytail. The trademark cat ears poke out of this silver mane. And as always he's wearing that one-sleeved robe that has the panel in the back that covers his backside. Hide the tail!
Tomoe	Tomoe was happy to be home, yes this place really was a home to her, no longer Eisen for a moment? Tomoe was getting used to being towering again rather than tiny like say Asuna is normally. Still she's pretty happy to catch up with friends, she pauses at the name, isn't that a union ally's name if she recalls right as she looks over the quest NPC for a moment. She does how she's clad in plate and using her wings to hover just above the ground. Hey she's an ALF you don't think she's going to have some fun with it's little perks? Well that would be a full out lie. She's also eating something as she hovers there. Kirito would notice that Tomoe does almost all of snacking in VRMMORPgs it seems she's using it as a way to manage snack cravings. Trick the brain and none of the calories! "Hey we're back from the land of Smog and Guns, good to see a lot of you again." Sid she just make an Arthur joke? Heck ya she did given how worlds there are named.
Kirito	WHOOOOOOOSH! Just over Sinon there's a rush of black. By this time they're nearly to Asuna. In fact Asuna can probably see what's going on! Kirito just buzzed Sinon! He comes in for a flashy high-speed landing! The moment his wings vanish he hits the ground on two feet, skidding BACKWARDS hard enough to kick up a small dust cloud. A confident, impish smirk plays across his face whilst he rises, facing Sinon. This is not the androgynous, long-haired black saberist, but a taller, lanky Spriggan swordsman. Who looks -exactly- like the Kirigaya Kazuto she met IRL some time ago. Only the pointy ears differ. "Yo!" He's not sure it's Sinon yet. But who else could it be?
Annie Sandberg	It took some time for Annie to arrive on the scene. After all, there were a lot of new sensations for her to sort out here. Rather than controlling a mechanical frame, she was instead inhabiting a digital simulation of a biological body. It was designed to be familiar for humans- for an android, who had to use special equipment even to access it, it was very different! Still, the interface adapted well enough to her design that she could control her new form easily. She'd decided on the Puca partly because of its class role, partly for the look. It wasn't long after she'd arrived at the Carnival that she noticed the event notification. She was very interested, but also worried about getting there. She'd just started- she wasn't sure she'd even be able to make the trip to see the event! Fortunately, however, a more experienced player spotted her and offered to escort her to the event location, teaching her the flight mechanics in the process. Now, she's finally arrived in the valley. "This whole place is... really beautiful," she says, looking about as she lands. Now that she didn't have to worry so much about making it, she could take more time to look around. A lot of detail had gone into everything, hadn't it? Even her starting clothes looked nice. She didn't really recognize most of the people here, but it was obvious who they were all there to see. "Robin Goodfellow... I hope he is a good fellow," she observes with a grin.
Asuna	Across the room, party invitations pop up. Annie, Auron, Iria, Karian, Kirito, Reker, Sinon, Tomoe, Zephyr, with Asuna as the party lead. Once everyone's accepted, Asuna accepts the standing quest invitation from Robin, who promptly offers a sweeping bow to the group at large. He is a flamboyant speaker, grasping Asuna's hand greatfully before releasing it. "O fair fairies, hear me well! My dear master Oberon has commanded me to undergo a quest, to retrieve a herb to make Titania release her underling to him. Yet we cannot interfere too much, as we rest on the boundaries of the worlds ruled by Theseus, a human, all too fair and rare around these parts." Asuna is twitching slightly with the names. "As such, you will take the part of some of these players, including that of my dear King and Queen." With that, Puck lifts his hands, silently chanting a spell that is unknown to any of the users except the Spriggans as what is possibly moderator-level illusion magic. When the magic dissipates, everyone in the party has a new 'name' overriding their own. ANNIE - << Peaseblossom, Titania's assistant >> Asuna - << Titania, Queen of the Faeries >> AURON - << Theseus, Duke of Athens >> IRIA - << Hermia, the Athenian Daughter >> KARIAN - << Philostrate, Master of the Revels >> KIRITO - << Nick Bottom, A Weaver, Mechanical >> REKER - << Oberon, the Fairy King >> Wait, what? SINON - << Demetrius, An Athenian Son >> Wait, what? ... poor Sinon. TOMOE - << Lysander, An Athenian Son >> Wait, what? ... poor Tomoe. ZEPHYR - << Helena, an Athenian Daughter >> "...." Is Asuna's offer to the shenanigans.
Annie Sandberg	Annie claps her hands eagerly as the quest is explained. She really was a fairy now, basically! And not only that, but she was going to be working for the queen! Or at least, pretending to. It was quite exciting. She did find it a bit curious that, having just joined with the character name of "Silverbloom", she ended up disguised as another character with a flowery name. Was it just a coincidence? ...probably not. In any case, once the party's roles were made clear, Annie hopped over to Asuna's side, looking up at her with a smile. "Okay! This is going to be lots of fun!"
Sinon	Time to get our schenan on! Again! It looks like it's a little bit of a reunion here for some people! Is this event bigger than she thought it was going to be? Sinon waves to Tomoe then puts her hands behind her back. "Like being back in familiar territory?" she asks, admittedly missing the reference owing to the fact that she has not actually been to Arthur's planet, or had much exposure at all to Afterus or any of that crazy stuff. In fact, she's hardly even had time to percolate the details of that strange dude, who she first met being thrown at her via explosion, through her mind. But just as soon as she's greeting Tomoe, Zephyr buzzes overhead, blowing her hair out of place.And just as soon as she begins fixing her hair, Kirito buzes overhead, blowing her hair even more out of place. And makes a... well, a landing. "Hey there, showoff! Didn't feel like going all the way for the three-point landing?" she says to ... yep, it sure is that guy. Fistbumps to Kirito and Asuna? And it looks like it's time for things to begin. Sinon gets a name change! And that's when things ... um... She looks at it, and blinks. Oh dear. Sinon... isn't very familiar with classic english literature? I mean, she had a BRIEF look at a synopsis... for the sake of cliff notes familiarization...? But she kind of didn't want to know all the spoilers before she participated. Which may have been a mistake. "Oh. This is... good, I guess?" Judging by the fact that the others seem confused, this is clearly going to be one heck of a reinterpretation of the bard's classic.
Karian Icefang	Karian just eyes the name replacing his own, unsurely. "what exactly is going on?" He asks aloud, trying to piece things together.
Iria	"Hermia?!" Iria says as she realizes what her new name is. "Just what kind of name is this?!" She looks over herself and then at the others, starting to wonder if she's fallen victim to a cruel joke. "What have I gotten myself into?!" She asks to nobody in particular, glaring around.
Auron	Quest time, apparently. Auron accepts the party invitation, and then waits, to listen to the quest. An herb to make Titania release an underling? Seems simple enough. The non-interference policy is what makes it more difficult! But he's able to understand that too-- Yuna's Pilgrimage was, by and large, an exercise in non-interferance. But then suddenly his name is different-- 'Theseus'? Isn't that who the quest NPC said ruled the land he needed the herb from? Well, there goes non-interference! But more than that, there was a bigger problem. Spira didn't have William Shakespeare, unfortunately, and so Auron hasn't been raised with the bard's works. Hopefully there will be more information, because he has no idea what in the hell is going on.
Tomoe	Tomoe seems to be in very good spirits. She looks ot the NPC listening to just what's going on here. Okay she's wondering about the nature of the quest but wait she's recalling some english classes. There's a dawning look of understanding and now she knows why some of the quest devs were snickering widly last meeting. Oh lord she listens as the parts are handed out. She looks up she looks at her name plate and pauses. "Wait what?!" WHAT?!"
Reker	"Ha ha, yeah! Hail to the king, baby!" Reker says, as he realizes that he gets to be the big guy, the man in charge. The leader. Or something. He was never much for Shakespere but he's picked up a bit here and there from movies and TV. A glance over at Asuna and then at Kirito, "Oh man, I'm totally not going to mack on your girl though, don't worry about that." He says, giving Kirito a thumbs up.
Kirito	Kirito's dealt with some pretty weird quests in the past. None have started like this. So he's understandably wide-eyed and looking quite critical of the quest window that appears, which Asuna's apparently accepted. The quest summary is baffling. More baffling is... Is the way his name just changed in the party window. Oh dear. "Ni..." He's only so good at reading english. "Niiiiiiick Bottom?" And pronunciation somewhat skewed engrishily. Probably to much hilarity on Tomoe's part. He's making one hell of a face. Even more of one at Reker. It looks slightly like a drowning kitten's best attempt at sarcastic glaring. And then his front pocket wriggles... the flap pops open... and out comes Yui! "Of course not!" The little navigation pixie states vehemently, rising up only to seat herself on Kirito's head. She joins the glaring, though it's too childish to be taken very seriously.
Asuna	Across the board, quest objectives are given out. For being in a party, it seems that each member, based on their new character, gets a specific set of objectives. ANNIE & ASUNA: - Find the sacred grove AURON, IRIA, SINON, TOMOE, ZEPHYR: - Head to the castle of the Duke of Athens. - Find Philostrate, the Master of the Revels. - Be fitted for the wedding of the Duke of Athens KARIAN: - Head to the Castle of the Duke of Athens - Find the Duke of Athens to outfit him for his wedding KIRITO: Find a spot near the sacred grove. - Practice your singing. REKER: - Hang out with Puck and rant about Titania not loving you. THE SACRED GROVE AND NEARBY: The Sacred Grove is a wonderful place, full of heedy smells and beauty. The large weeping willow is set as the main feture, surrounded by a clear, crystal blue lake. Asuna and Annie can find it certainly easily enough - it's like they have a quest marker or something, gosh. Speaking of Asuna and Annie, both have new costumes available, dresses of white and lace. Their wings are also distinctly different from their normal ALO ones, being made up of white and gold instead. THE ATHENIANS: The Castle of the Duke of Athens is large, sprawling, and made of dark grey stone, and as such, seems cold and forbidding. Also of note! Everyone that was named an Athenian no longer has wings. Welcome to being Human in the Land of Faeries. Man, that's weird. (Kirito also doesn't have wings.) Kirito's goal is also somewhere in the forest, and he has a quest object in his inventory - a scroll with lyrics on it. Puck, meanwhile, looks at Reker curiously. His lead. Meanwhile, Asuna looks at Annie, laughing slightly. "I didn't figure there'd be another quest like this one. Back in Aincrad, in order to buy our house, Kirito and I did a Wizard of Oz themed one." She admits. "I hope you're not put off by this." Asuna is caring and worried for her teammates.
Karian Icefang	Karian eyes this quest objective closely, almost a bit critically. "And I'm supposed to dress him how?" He asks low, mainly to himself. Still, he makes his way around, looking for the duke.
Tomoe	Tomoe looks to Sinon she was going to answer here but she's just staring at what's going on about this quest. "This isn't the sort of welcome back questing I was expecting Sinon... and Kirito! Your murdering it you are a butt for that it's Nick Bottom!" English turtoring for Kirito, Asuna and othes can get very comedic at times. It's as much as when she horribly messes up Japanese. She's actually distracted from what's about to happen to her okay so she lost her wings. She relaxes as her avatar's gender doesn't swap on her and she's just playing a part for now. It's going to take her a moment to get in character however she smiles at the wolf lord. "We shall see fair sir, shall we be off?" Oh lord she's starting to larp.
Reker	Right, time to get into character. Reker takes a moment to clear his throat and holds a hand over his face for a second, taking a deep breath before he strides over to Puck, "Woe be to me, Puck my boy. The love of my life spurns me at every opporitunity!" He clenches his fist and then holds it up to the sky, "For millenia I have tried to get my queen to return the love that I feel towards her, and yet time and again I am rejected!" He turns back to Puck, and puts an arm over his shoulder, "What should I do, my friend? I am running out of ideas for how to make my queen return the love I feel towards her. Perhaps some grand gesture? All of my previous attempts have failed. Mayhaps I should conquer all of creation and present it to her as a gift? No, I dare say she would reject that as well." 'Oberon' hangs his head and releases Puck, "I must come up with something I have not tried before. Something that will truely make her return my love. Walk with me, Puck." He rises again and begins to walk, though he honestly has no idea where they're walking to, "We shall determine a course of action together!"
Auron	There's the quest objectives. Hm. Different objectives for different people. Well, that makes sense. They're all characters in a play now, so they'll all have different roles. Apparently, Auron realizes, he's supposed to be getting married. Which prompts a twitch of one eyebrow. Oh the irony. Well, it's just cyberspace. "Anyone who's going to the castle, let's go." He has no idea about this whole Elizabethan speech thing. He pauses, though, as Reker starts monologuing. He looks to Asuna. "...Am I expected to talk like that?" Because he has no idea how. Also what just happened to his mount? It's a... actually he doesn't know. It looks like Ixion, but no horn. Oh wait that's right. A horse. He takes a moment to examine the tack of this new animal. Ah, so one sits UP on the animal's back, not BACK like on a chocobo. ...WELL. Mount up, pardner!
Annie Sandberg	Annie waves toward Yui as she emerges from Kirito's pocket. She'd heard Yui on the radio before and was glad to finally meet her in person. "Hi! Are you going to have a role too?" she asked Yui, figuring that someone "her age" would want to join in with something as fun as this. Whatever the case was, it seemed like they'd probably have to part ways for now, given the quest objectives. "Okay... I mean, very well, Your Majesty," she said to Asuna with a giggle. "Let us away to the sacred grove!" As she proceeded, Annie looked appreciatively at her and Asuna's new outfits. They looked the best out of everyone, she thought.
Sinon	Sinon is dressed like a dude now. Bifauxnens are cool. She's still dressed in green, by some miracle? Some things remain the same no matter what the universe. Sinon will always wear green. However, now she has an ironic twist to things, considering she once thought that all of the gatecrashers were RPers. Now the RP boot is on the other foot! "Demetrius is a worthy lady," she says, mostly to herself, then adds "Gentleman?" thoughtfully. She hopes we're not being graded on script accuracy. So, glance back and forth at Auron, Iria, Tomoe, Zephyr, I only know about two of these guys, she thinks to herself... Well, a PUG's a PUG. She mumbles rhubarb, rhubarb, carrying on a conversation, making it look like I'm talking amongst one another as we go questing towards a castle. You can ride, Aurseus... Theon. Sinon's much more used to walking. But where is our Eugeus? Her and Auron can't banter without him! Well, admittedly, it's Auron that would be doing most of the bantering... .o(I don't get many lines by comparison really, do I?)
Kirito	"Doubtful! The Quest already begun." Yui answers Annie in a sprightly voice. She's lighthearted about things as usual in Alfheim, but she's finding the new head she's seated on a little less comfortable. So she flutters off and leaves Kirito looking himself over. Hands, check. Robes, check. Wings? Disabled. Bah! "What kind of quest...?" He's really in a bind here. But the quest window... May as well follow it. Off he goes into the woods, looking for the grove and a place. Well, presuming he finds the grove's location easily enough he ends up looking at the scroll that's appeared and trying to read it. Meanwhile, Yui's hovering nearby, whispering. "The part of Nick Bottom is a weaver from Athens, playing the part of Pyramus in a play put on by the Mechanicals. What does the scroll say, papa?" Kirito's now starting to get a dreadful feeling, but he pulls open the scroll and has a look. Whatever he ends up singing out of this, it's probably going to be downright laughable. He's embarassed to begin with, and this, well. Suffice to say the half-hearted, struggling attempts to sing he's making say that Nick Bottom needs a lot of practice. And Kirito probably needs to learn how to read music.
Sinon	Sinon slides in from the bottom of the screen, in a sort of super deformed style. Holds up a placard. "Teeen." Slides off again.
Tomoe	Tomoe is then floored by Reker's preformace she has an idea of what play this is, yet? She doesn't have much of it recalled save the gist of it. Who knows what the guys and gals in quest design did, seriously. She's going to be doing things to them in the office later oh she's going to do things. She turns to her companions and keeps going. She's also very much dressed like a guy however there's one little issues her bust line, there's no hiding she did play with the slider bars but otherwise she's playing the part for now. Thankfully this isn't so much as Pug as a guild run, not Sinon knows this.
Asuna	Asuna opens her mouth to reply to Annie, but the sound of Kirito just around the riverbend has the fairy queen - twice over, hilariously enough - dropping to the ground and rolling around in silent laughter, her glittering wings getting dusty and her white dress getting a bit brown and green in places from the dirt and grass underneath them. She then finally gets up, looking down at Annie, wiping tears from her face as she chokes out; "Let's go... let's go seek out the sound of that... b-beautiful voice..." Kirito: Good job, just. Keep doing that. THE ATHENIANS (IE, everyone but Reker): In the room of the castle you're led too are a variety of additional costumes you can opt to change into! It doesn't seem to be a requirement, though. However, your quest objectives are updated. OBJECTIVE: Find the Mechanical Troupe! (0/6 - FIND PETER, NICK, FRANCIS, ROBIN, TOM, SNUG) REKER: "I daresay you're only loving her to get your hands on the changeling you so desire, my king. You are very forward with your intentions, but trickery enough to use love as a method to get her to set him free. After all, our queen is besotted by music itself... and what is that noise you hear?" That's kirito, not music, Puck.
Karian Icefang	Karian looks over the costumes but in the end, decides not to change. Though at the updated quest objective, he ponders. "I can't imagine it will be so easy. Perhaps we should each seek one out. What do you all think?" He asks of those nearby.
Reker	"Aye, tis true. Yet somewhere deep inside, I cannot help but think that the love may be real." There is a pause as 'Oberon' replies to Puck, "As real as the concept of love can be, at the least." He then turns his head and looks off in the direction that Puck is listening towards. "I am unsure as to what type of creature would create such a noise, but we should investigate post haste!"
Auron	Hey, costumes! Well, hey, if they're going to do a play, might as well go the whole nine yards, right? And he's supposed to be a duke, so... Auron picks the costume that looks the most like a duke. And then he looks at the quest objectives. Is there a quest arrow or something of the sort? They may need it. 'Speak to this NPC in the buttcrack of the area' objectives suck, particularly when there's no guide. Karian speaks up, and Auron nods. "They should be within the area. I hope so, anyway. Let's get moving." Sorry, no play dialogue from Auron. He's never read or seen the play. Though depending on how this goes, he just might after this.
Tomoe	Tomoe is quick to start getting into co costume she'll pick up the outfit and seems to be at least having fun with it by the looks of things. She's getting dressed but well she's ducked off to do so she comes back in a far more fitting bit of clothing for her part. Also thanks to the wonders of digital reality the outfit fits. "Ah fine clothing...." okay she's not the best actor well for a part like this. She does check her quest log though... humm
Annie Sandberg	Annie can't help but laugh as well at Asuna's reaction to Kirito's attempt at singing. The incongruity of the image helped make it funnier. Still, she kind of felt bad for Kirito- maybe she should help him out! She may be playing a different role right now, but Annie- Silverbloom- is still a Puca, and is equipped with a flute- though after the change in clothes, Annie has to access it from the menu. Bringing it to her lips she starts to play along with Kirito's singing- maybe having something to sing along to will help him improve. However... she's a new character. Just by being a Puca she's more capable of musical talent than Kirito, but... she's not perfect herself either. Playing the flute and skipping along, she follows Asuna toward the grove.
Sinon	Sinon folds up a piece of paper and puts it back in her jacket pocket, no I wasn't just a chibi, you're seeing things. Is this actually a re-enactment? She doesn't quite remember things going like this in her brief- Sinon stops as the group walks for a moment. She's peering at a very interesting looking mountain on the horizon, which, is interstandable really, because she's pretty new to Alfheim and all the interesting sights. Her brief read-over of the plot of this play. What? What are you all looking at her like that for? In lieu of the presence of an Egeus, his dialogue was probably split up, chopped to bits, put in a blender and redistributed among the rest of them. But we're not really paying much attention to the script anyway, so it probably doesn't... Sinon stops to look at a flock of colourful birds flying overhead before they enter the castle. Probably doesn't matter as much. What? Sinon comes out with a new costume, just as green as the previous one except this one has a dashing silk scarf. And she also has updated objectives! She whispers something quietly about a crew of patches as she looks at the list of names. Gimme a break, questgiver, I don't have many lines yet. She's gonna feel so sorry for Zephyr when this is over...
Kirito	Kirito's awful songcraft halts for a bit as he hears rustling nearby. And the sound of a flute. Hrm. That's not what he was expecting. He glances at Yui.. and Yui shrugs while keeping under his collar. The good thing is the flute does give him a kind of a melody to work with, so the awful singing gets on key. Still awful inflection and pronunciation. But at least he's now got a melody to work with! Probably the wrong melody.
Staren	It's been awhile since he played ALO! Staren's curious what the Gatecrashers have been called together for. He certainly didn't expect /this/. The Hippolyta title and the dress get a raised eyebrow, but when he sees that Tomoe and Sinon got male parts he shrugs. After a moment, he gets the reference, "Hey, I know this one! We're doing a Midsummer Night's Dream, right?" He scratches his head, wondering how this will go. He can run with it though. So, they need to find a place, find a guy, and... get fitted for the wedding. He's a bit :\| at that, but he figures /something's/ going to happen at some point to knock things off the rails, since just running through a play wouldn't be very interesting. He looks over from the others to... "Oh. Are we already at the castle?" In they go. To the fitting room. And there's a quest update! "Aha! So we have to find some constructs..." He looks around the room, though. "Isn't this already a wedding dress? Maybe I could get something a little easier to move around in..."
Asuna	Oh man this is awkward. Hilarious, but awkward. FOR THE ATHENIANS: There's no need to split up! Once everyone is changed as they wish, if they want to be changed, you can head out on your (mis)adventure. On the road outside the castle, there's a band of five people, and you immediately clear most of the objective, aside from NICK BOTTOM. Who, as most of you will recall, is Kirito. Asuna, meanwhile, is musically wooed by Annie and Kirito. She's read the play, so it's quite fair that she knows how to resolve this quest before it gets any worse, and she approaches Kirito-Nick, grabbing him by the shoulders. Next to Reker, puck lifts a finger. "Aha, the chance is now for the changling that you seek, my king!" The NPC runs off, right as Asuna gives Kirito a chaste kiss on the cheek, which abruptly drops everyone out of the roleplay part of the quest. Puck reappears holding a small child in a bundle, his dark eyes gleaming. "Now we wait for the party to regather." "... I hate this game." Asuna mutters.
Tomoe	Tomoe did get a male part and she's doing her best to play the part to play this son. it's not much of idea but she'll roll with it, she's able to recall a little bit of it Sjhe's in good spirits noe that she's fallen into the role over a wedding but she's also perhaps in some ways trying to method act too hard. IT does not take long for them to quickly regather with the rest of the party she does however look at Puck for a moment. "Very well." She seems to be on guard after all given this situation and she looks over to Asuna with a odd look on her face.
Karian Icefang	Karian emerges from the castle and finds most of the party they need right there. "Convinient. Now we need to find the sixth. Should be simple enough..." He said. This was an interesting quest to him, but he still was hoping that it would lead to a nice boss encounter.
Sinon	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MK6TXMsvgQg Alright, it's clearly time for some /comedy/! We've got our fancy clothes, we've got our objective, and Sinon's managed to memorize the gist of most of the stuff she was reading from a script she googled (ok, yes, that's what she was doing, sue her), and oh my god Zephyr I'm so sorry Demetrius is a bit of a /jerk/ so let's go find those guys! Oh, they're like, right outside the castle. Record needle screech. "I think th- I mean, O... methinks this production somewhat abridged, either for reasons of setting... or a boggled translation...?" she suggests to Staren. Who is in a dress. Alright, alright, alright.
Annie Sandberg	Annie just grins as Asuna kisses Kirito, putting away her flute. She thinks they might have skipped some parts in the story- wasn't there something about a donkey head?- but it was understandable. This was a quest, not a complete performance. In any case, she's not really sure what to do next... but as she's supposed to be the queen's assistant, she figures she should just follow Asuna.
Staren	The fitting room only has dresses, because /of course it does/. At least high heels haven't been invented yet. Staren at least finds one that doesn't have a train behind it, though it's kind of poofy and has pearls and stuff on it. Somehow he finds a crown and a (possibly ceremonial) sword though. /Amazon queen/, right? And a colorful blue sash. "...Wait for us to regather? Aren't we all here?" He looks around, nodding at Sinon. "Well, they can't count on us knowing our lines, so I guess it's more... freeform?" Auron's not acting, though, he's searching, so Staren follows after, hiking up the dress a bit to walk fast. "That kind of take-charge attitude must be how you led an army to defeat us. Good going, king. Err, duke. Wait, so if you marry me, does that make you king of the amazons? Or prince-consort?" He rubs his chin thoughtfully. "I don't know how this works. I haven't read the play in ages."
Reker	"Gasp, I have been cheated on!" Reker cries out, though of course he's just messing around. It seems the illusion is over, as they are dropped out of their costumes and back into their real avatars. "I sure hope that's not you and Asuna's kid, Kirito. Because that'll just get awkward."
Staren	And then Staren loses the dress and is back to looking like a JRPG character. Well, okay. He shrugs and drops his hands back to his sides.
Sinon	Sinon all of a sudden seems to shrink in on herself a little, maybe, and she almost misses what Auron is saying. "Yes... I guess... support ticket... complain on reddit or something." Could it be something to do with the discussion on the radio? Nah, couldn't be. She may be looking at Asuna and Kirito, off in the distance.
Auron	Nick Bottom. Auron remembers Kirito having that name. So he'll head back to where they were, and then in the direction he saw Kirito head off in. He should encounter Kirito sooner or later! Thankfully he has a mount, so the ride should be faster! Though he's sure to dismount before completeing the quest objective, because as hees the avatars of the others have returned to normal, he assumes his mount will change back into a flying one at some point in a moment or two.
Kirito	'Nick Bottom' is startled out of his singing by the approach of Asu-tania. The Fairy Queen gets a not-at-all-fake look of astonished, dumbfounded captivation. Kirito's not had a good chance to see Asuna's avatar change very well, and she leaves him stunned silent, a bit gibbery, until she grabs him. His eyes question 'what ARE we doing?' Moments before he is smooched on the cheek and EVERYTHING CHANGES AGAIN. Yui's peeking up from his coat pocket at the procession. Beaming, but also quick to point out quietly, "You're doing things out of order, mama!" "I'm completely in favor of a sequence break." Kirito says, tone a bit goofy now. And still embarassed as hell. He's blushing.
Asuna	Shush, Yui, mommy's breaking game sequence to end the quest. "That's because I know the play this is based off of..." She turns to look at Puck, who grins right back at Asuna, before he begins to speak. "The changling is given to King Oberon! So soothed, he will reassure and love his wife, and the faeries will bless the Athenians once more, without fear for war between husband and wife, all due to a donkey's kiss!" Someone, somewhere, is laughing. "Please, take a gift from me as well, for assisting us on this quest to happiness." EVERYONE, INVENTORY: A one-time use item that grants a magical super-regeneration of MP. Useful for the heavier magic users in the party, like Asuna. With that, Puck bows and wanders off, to approach another party that is approaching.
Sinon	Thankfully, this means that Sinon won't have to act needlessly cruel towards Zephyr for the sake of larping! She just doesn't... KNOW if she can 'do' cruel, you know? It would be a little too mentally jarring after really understanding and coming to terms with what Sinon and Shino were, and what they now are, and who she is. She doesn't really have time in her head to think about any of these things, though. As this confusing quest comes to an end, after some trekking and fetching and a costume design minigame you didn't see but I assure you it was fantastic, in the end of things, let's just conclude things by saying that we were clearly unpaid beta testers without the 'beater', and we'll write a helpful support ticket to the ALO devs so they can fix things up a bit. And that Sinon is now stricken with a worry that will persist through the upcoming party.
Karian Icefang	Karian watches this and......just facepalms. He clearly had seen enough. He shakes his head and turns, walking off a bit. "I doubt there's enough alchohol in the world to fill the emptiness I feel from this..." He muses. Still, quest complete.
Annie Sandberg	Annie looks surprised at the abrupt ending. It's rather anticlimactic- she didn't get to do anything really. But... it seems that the NPC Puck, at least, finds it funny. And she wasn't given a big role in the first place. "Well, this was fun," she says. "It was nice meeting everyone." And the item was a nice thing to start off with too. "...It would have been nice to keep that outfit though," she notes a bit sadly.
Auron	Puck speaks and the quest is done. From the radio, Asuna knows how to end it, and it's probably better that she did. Because it would probably suck for Kirito to have to walk around looking like a donkey for any amount of time. He checks his inventory and then nods. Not a bad haul. Though he's not a magic-heavy fighter. Perhaps he could trade it with another player? And besides that? He offers a smile. "It was good to see everybody on this side of the code again," he says.
Tomoe	Tomoe knows what play this is based off. She watches as the parts play out she watches puck run off and she notices the item. That thing if she doesn't need it might be going in the vaults of raid guild she' working with to clear the castle. Sure she's a bit behind things but then again whose going to begruge someone like her wanting to ahve fun with SAO, right? She's laughing a bit at this. "Oh we'll find enough for you my friend trust me. Look at this as a chance to sample the drinks of other worlds?" She looks to Sinon grinning setting a hand on her shoulder. "This was a bit of an oddity fo you and Reker but I prefer this to having a gun to one's head ... when your playing. This is what it should be a game, something fun."
Reker	"Well that was weird." Reker says, once everything appears to have worked itself out, "But I guess it's a little different than 'Go kill ten rats'. Not that it's bad." Reker grins, "Still, who's up for some rat killing. Anybody?" He asks, "Or are you guys all way past rat killing?"
Asuna	Asuna eyes Rekers' tail and inches towards it, one hand extended out to grab it.
Reker	Reker appears to be blisfully unaware of Asuna's intent to do harm to his poor, innocent and unprotected tail.
Kirito	As Asuna inches off, Kirito stands up, stretches his arms high, and yaaaaaaaaawns. For around eight seconds. This quest has him so jumpy that he's gotten a bit tired.
Asuna	Asuna hesitates, before she gives in to instinct, the little undine reaching out to firmly grasp his tail and pull on it. Tug!
Reker	Well that is certainly an unusual sensation, as Reker lets out a yelp of surprise and jumps when Asuna yanks on his tail. He had no idea the brain would actually process input from a non-existant limb, even though he SHOULD know that since he regularly gets input from his own non-existant limbs.
Asuna	Having done her job, Asuna turns tail - so to say - and flees before Reker notices who did the job.
Annie Sandberg	"I'm a Puca," Annie says. "So I'll probably play my flute to lead all the rats away, rather than kill them," she points out with a laugh. Then she thinks for a bit and brings up the menu again. "...Is that something I can do yet?" She hadn't actually had time to check yet, with all the excitement over the event.
Auron	What catches Auron's attention is not Asuna's movement. It's the sharp YELP from Reker. He looks over to see the problem... and chuckles. "Now you see why I cover my backside," he notes to Reker with a smirk. To Annie, he notes, "That I'm not sure. I've not seen many Pucas. Though I mostly only do solo quests and the like. The Gatecrashers are the only people on my friend list."
Tomoe	Tomoe says "I was half expecting my avatar to get gender swapped and that would have caused some issues. I wouldn't put it past the PVE devs to do that either." she takes a moment to alter her outfit back to normal she tils her head for a moment. "I'm just yet another Salamander but hey I got to keep towering over the rest of you, it's my job, right?" She moves to gives Kirito a mocking punch to his shoulder. She then sees Asuna and cringes at what she's doing...
Reker	"I've only got a tail because I picked random." Reker says, as he rubs his backside a bit, "But it's cool, I've got a whole lot of agility and strength so I can jump around the battlefield like a lunatic throwing knives at everything." He says, grinning as he pulls one of his knives out and spins it in his hand.
Kirito	Kirito is left somewhat stupefied. Asuna just did the thing that Frika's never seemingly forgiven him for. His eyes are a bit wide... but in the end he just grins at Reker's confusion. Then there's Tomoe elbowing him. He makes an agreeing 'nn.' "Sure, <Miss Giant.>" And he's sure to say those two words in english.
Annie Sandberg	"Okay, so..." Annie said. "Where should we go next?" she asked. "I mean... I just started when I heard about this... I don't really know what to do first! It kind of feels like I'm jumping into a whole new life from the start."
Auron	"How well do you fly?" Auron asks Annie. "Are you still using the flight assist? I can show you how to fly naturally. It's a little awkward to fight and use the assist controller, so it could help you in the long run."
Annie Sandberg	"Oh... I saw you can do that, but I didn't try it," Annie notes to Auron. "I was too busy trying to get here!"
Auron	Auron nods. "It's a bit more complicated than using the assist controller. But flying has a greater utilitarian purpose when you don't have to use the controller. It's easy for me to jump through trees, then fly a short distance, then get back into the trees."
Tomoe	Tomoe says "Well yes I am a giant, just ask your door frames that keep assaulting me when I get up in the morning."