Episode 28 - Ode In Pink
Episode 28 — Ode In Pink
Twenty-First Day in the Month of Silvergrass (January 21) in the Year of the Dragon
Floor 8 — 8 p.m.
They were still clearing floors at a breakneck speed. Eliminating the 5th Floor's boss had only made Kibaou angrier at Kirito, Asuna, and the Wondercolts. He was mad at Agil, but too afraid to press the friendly giant over it.
Lind was able to be reasoned with. Kirito and Bladescape had spoken with him during the new year’s party. They had pulled him aside. He was more mad at Kibaou than them. He was envious of the flag, but glad he wasn't hurt by not having it. He was somewhat concerned about their blitzes through the floors, but Kibaou had his foot on the gas. Lind was trying to steer the out-of-control car.
The Eighth Floor was 9th century northern European architecture. Grasslands and gnarled forests covered the floor, with some steeper terrain like mini mountains. The fourth day on it was coming to a close and the boss battle was planned for the next day.
The boss strategy meeting had gone well enough. Bladescape was the only Wondercolt in attendance. The others were working on crafting. They hadn't had much time to do that with how fast Kibaou was pushing everyone. No one was gaining levels quickly. A floor might get a player a level, but that was all. By Knightstar's calculations, Kibaou and Lind were on track to get to level 25 on Floor 25. That would be a disastrous match up for levels.
The week before, the Wondercolts had commissioned armor and it had come in the day before. Diemond helped design it all. At her current skills, Diemond could only make Bladescape's armor and Doombunny's gear. A lot of the payment came from the guild vault, which had been filling up quickly thanks to the field and floor boss raids the Wondercolts had been participating in. They went with the maker of Natora's armor set, copying it for everyone else, and upgrading it to heavy armor — full chest plates, armored arms and legs over the chainmail, and a salat helmet — for the tanks. Their shields were still mixed and matched, but there was a certain charm in the variance in their shields.
Doombunny was in a golden dress with blue tights under a navy blue cloak with a hood. The clothing was able to be reinforced and even had enhancement slots, which Diemond could do with her sewing skill. She had made Doombunny a blue leather holster for her throwing knives that was strapped to her right thigh and secured to her belt. Doombunny had just upgraded her throwing knives set, again. Bladescape was certain that she had at least 30 throwing knives on her, ten on the outside, immediately able to be grabbed with the others in the pouch, and likely an inventory of over 300 knives. The knives were easily lost or broken, having low durability once thrown, so logically she would save her older knives so long as they had sufficient damage statistics. She carried two daggers, an ultrafast slashing knife strapped to her lower back, and an all-around fighting knife for the tougher monsters which was located on her left hip.
Bladescape was in blue leather lamellar armor, with gold stitching to hold the plates together in the right order. As much as things were often "point and click" in SAO, some things could be done by what was known as "the craftsman way", like stitching together Bladescape's armor. She also had yellow leggings with blue jackboots. She had reinforced leather gauntlets dyed gold. On top of it all was a blue duster that added another layer of armor. It was trimmed in gold and had their guild emblem on the back. Currently she wasn't wearing a cape because of the duster. Of course, she still had her circlet and it was only growing stronger as she leveled up her Search Skill.
Diemond also made the accessory pieces, like the capes for their metal armored members, as well as their belts and pouches. Diemond had found someone to make them custom buckles, a simple pass-through design with a horse head in the centers. She had upgraded their capes to not only be trimmed, but made new ones with their guild symbol on it, along with the golden trim. The capes not only looked good, but had defensive properties. Everyone except for Bladescape and Doombunny wore capes.
At the inn, everyone was back except for Konpeito. She had gone off to get ingredients to bake, and that meant she had to use whatever was available for baking, typically at a shop or NPC home. Those days always ended with plenty of fresh food for them to enjoy. Bladescape was outside leaning against a tree as she waited for her to get back, both for the food and to cover the boss strategy with everyone at the same time.
She normally wouldn’t have been outside, watching for Konpeito, but her friend has been slowly deflating since the fifth floor’s boss battle. She had lost almost all of her daily pep. Missing the new year’s party, albeit a distraction, was not something Konpeito was happy about. So instead of waiting inside around a table with food and drinks, able to trust that Konpeito would find them, Bladescape had to ensure her meandering friend didn’t slip by them, straight to bed.
“I’M BACK!” Konpeito exclaimed from behind Bladescape. The direction implied she had just come from the teleport plaza that was on the edge of the town.
Bladescape’s jaw dropped. She was unsure what she was looking at. It was not the Konpeito that had left to find flour. Her axe wielding friend had ditched all of her brand-new equipment except for her axe, Thicket's Bane.
Now Konpeito was wearing a short chainmail shirt over a dull blue tunic. Both the tunic and chainmail shirt only went a little lower than her hips and barely covered her shoulders, leaving her arms bare except for leather vambraces, which were backed by fur, and rough, leather fingerless gloves. Her boots had a fur lining and she was wearing brown leggings. A new leather belt was wrapped several times around her true waist and tied on, no buckle. It had her typical pouches on it, plus some new ones.
What was even more confusing and concerning than the drastic change in equipment, was the tattoos on her bare arms. On her left bicep she had an eight armed spiked symbol, surrounded by a complex weave of knot work. The inside of that arm had three lines, with a crisscross pattern web among them. On her right arm, opposite of the symbol, was the relief of a cupcake, using the knots to define its shape. The inside of the right arm had another symbol, with several lines jutting off the center line at various angles.
“WHAT! DID! YOU! DO!” Diemond stammered. The others rushed out of the inn after hearing her screams. They all stopped, surprised at the transformation.
“I went Viking!” Konpeito exclaimed.
“Are those tattoos?” Malus asked. She was not the only one concerned about Konpeito’s sanity.
“Don’t worry, Die,” Konpeito said, ignoring Malus. “I didn’t get rid of what you made or the other gear. You can have it back, but I decided the look wasn’t for me. I think the Viking look is better!”
Knightstar sighed. “That is a misunderstood word. Viking simply means a journey. Often it was to raid or war, but it was just a word that meant a form of travel. Also, real Norse people didn’t wear furs, especially to battle, and they wore full sleeves of mail for protection.”
“But I like my fox cape!” Konpeito whined as she turned around. A red fox pelt was pinned at the rear paws to the chainmail at her shoulder blades. It wasn’t more than 10 inches wide, but almost 4 feet long. “Besides, in SAO, the stats are the same with or without sleeves.”
“And the tattoos?” Malus pressed, stuck on that revelation.
“Aren’t they awesome!” Konpeito exclaimed. “The player was pretty good. You can only see the ones on my arms, but I have been getting them done over the past week. They mean things, important things, except for the cupcake, but that design is pretty obvious: I love cupcakes!”
“Do you even know what you put on your body?” Thunderborne snarked. “Or did you just go for what looked cool and what the player said they meant?”
“Oh please TB, do you really think I am that dumb?” Konpeito asked. She snorted. “Of course I know what they mean. After all, I am half Danish, half Irish, half Scottish, two thirds Celtic, and all awesome. I know all about my family history and past. Have you not been to my house? My mother does traditional embroidery and my father traditional wood carving. Our couch is Argyle!
“For the tattoos, the one on the outside of my left arm is an ‘Aegishjalmur.’ It means protection and power. The one on the inside of that arm, is the Web of Wyrd, and the runic shape pattern of weave symbolizes that the past affects the present, and that the present affects the future. The design on the inside of my right arm means strength. I also had them touch up my Vegvisir, or pathfinder tattoo, so that I will always know the path ahead of me. For the cupcake, I almost went with a Celtic style knot, but they are not as abstract as the Norse knots can be.”
“How do you even know that?” Thunderborne stammered, shocked at the information dump. “It's one thing to know history, another thing to know tattoos!”
“Well first off, silly, these are iconic symbols that are not just tattoos, but used in a lot of Norse craftsmanship. Most of our family heritage knowledge is Celtic, but the other part got Maud interested in the Viking Runestones, which is what she is getting her doctorate on, so I learned all about it from her. And yes, Knightstar, they are the Viking Runestones, because that is mostly what they contain, the tales of that Viking. In modern times, we do call the Norse Vikings, and that is okay too!
“Well, technically Maud is studying the stones the sagas are carved on, but she had to learn all about the Vikings in order to understand why they were carving on them. She also needed to know what they were carving into them so that she could understand why they chose those particular stones. You don’t just write on a stone without making sure the stone can properly convey the message and not all stones can remember a message.”
“Fine,” Diemond dramatically groaned. “I will do what I can to make you new gear, like the shirt and leggings, in our colors that fit this...look. I won’t even dare to call it style.”
Konpeito hopped over to embrace and thank Diemond. She insisted the fox cape was staying and then skipped away.
“We’re gonna encourage this?” Malus asked, looking specifically at Bladescape since she was their leader.
Bladescape shrugged. “I won’t say encourage, rather allow. Look, we just need her focused on the task at hand. As long as she is focused and wearing our colors, it doesn’t technically matter what she looks like. I know Diemond, you want us to look unified, together, and I, we, appreciate that, however, Konpeito was getting rather mopey and losing her energy over the last few floors. Even her hair was losing its usual bounce, but now she is skipping and happy again and those curls are stronger than most springs."
“I don’t know when I will forgive her for this,” Diemond spat. “You are right, she has her spark back, which she had lost, but we just upgraded her equipment and it was expensive. This change is just so...uncouth. It lacks culture, refined culture. The fur and leather look tries to take the spotlight every so often, so I am familiar with it, but it never gains popularity because it is stupid. It stays on the fringe of fashion society for a reason.
“Sadly she did get one thing right, SAO’s armor system doesn't differentiate between sleeves or sleeveless armor. If combat skirts are the same as defense pants, well the idea of a combat skirt is just as stupid, but that doesn’t matter. The system is the system and it isn’t the real world when it comes to cuts and contusions to the body. If her arm gets severed, the strike would sever it with or without armor actually being there. I can keep her protected and looking like she currently wants to.”
“Ultimately, it is Pinkie Pie,” Doombunny said. There was a hint of distaste on her tongue. “In a week or two she might decide she wants something entirely different. As annoying as that would be for you after doing all that work, she might not stay with a style we all question. Hopefully she will go back to the stuff we just got for her."
“You don’t like it?” Diemond asked. “I mean, I am the fashionista, but the others are only concerned about her mental faculties-”
“She is wearing a fox on her back!” Doombunny exclaimed. “It was a cute fox that had a life in these woods, or some woods, and probably had a home and a family. Now it is no longer darting through the underbrush, free, but swinging off the back of a bounding bubble named for a colorful candy! That is hardly a fitting end for such a majestic creature.”
“Well, when you put it like that,” Diemond said. She just finished with a shrug, unsure how else to finish the statement.
“The Norse warriors were known for their Dane axes,” Knightstar said. “The axes were not as big as what is in SAO, and she currently doesn't have a Dane axe, but those two handed axes could sever limbs or heads in battle. Some records include the axes splitting chainmail with ease. Ignoring historical accuracy, I don’t think the look is bad for her and it would be the most appropriate for her weapon choice. The tattoos are surprising and her red hair is better left to the Celtic side of the family. She would be better off with a blonde or brown, but it isn’t entirely bad.”
“Don’t give her any ideas,” Malus warned.
“I have to second allowing it,” Natora said. “I know it ruins the image of us that Diemond has worked hard for, which I totally appreciate and love, but is one of us looking like a female Viking warrior a bad thing? Especially when she feeds us better than we could buy almost anywhere? If it keeps her happy, focused, and our bellies full of good food, I say we let it slide.
“It may be rash, but the more I think about it, I don’t think her mind is crazy. Or any crazier than normal. She is finding her warrior self in SAO, and apparently it is a Viking, or, what did you call it Knightstar, norde?”
“Norse,” Knightstar said. “The name ‘Viking’ was later given to them, but they never called themselves Vikings. They were not a kingdom or empire like we think of when we think about European history, rather a region with various settlements and cities that shared the same ideas, culture and language with strong connections between the three main groups. Many of them changed religion and became Norman to separate themselves from their heathen kin. They are infamous for their raids and their longboats, which is what the word ‘viking’ means, to go on a raid. Although they didn’t raid out of necessity as once believed. They grew plenty of food, fished, hunted, and owned livestock. Their raids were complicated and may have had more to do with religion than necessity.
"Actually, they would have been raiding villages and cities with this style of architecture, the ninth Century northern European style of the middle ages. Mostly stone walls, with either thatched or shingled houses. The cities would have been fortified with packed earth walls and wooden defenses."
Knightstar sighed. "Norse women were known to fight to protect their homes and hunt, although they probably didn't go to war. There is one account, but the reliability of it is questionable. The more appropriate word for her would probably be a Valkyrie. Technically they didn't do combat either. They are female demigods who choose who dies in combat and take the slain to Valhalla. The sagas vary, but usually they just are simply maidens who ferry the warriors who died in battle. Some depictions of them include weapons, but mostly spears. I don't recall any depictions of them with axes, but a few are armed with swords and shields. Modern depictions have them as female warriors, often scantily clad, who go berserk and slaughter their enemies. They typically wield axes, but also shields, spears, and swords."
"So a Valkyrie?" Diemond asked. "Is that what we are going to call it?"
Knightstar rolled her eyes. "Now that I hear it out loud, that idea is dumber. Just let her call herself a Viking. If she really does know the history, and it sounds like she knows it better than I do, she knows about the Valkyries. She would have called herself a Valkyrie if she wanted too."
"It sounded like she had some other tattoos we couldn't see," Natora said. "I kind of want to see all of what she had done."
"Let's please not encourage that," Malus said. "I'll consent to going with the flow cause it's improved her morale, but let's not encourage marking her body, virtual or not."
"What exactly are you afraid of?" Natora asked. "That she takes on this warrior imagery more and becomes an even better fighter, or do you think you will lose your friend as she finds herself in here?"
Malus narrowed her eyes at Natora. "I'm afraid that when this all ends, she won't come out of it the same."
"None of us are coming out of this the same!" Bladescape exclaimed, letting out some rage she didn't realize she had stored up. She sighed. "I don't want to see her go off once we are free and get the same tattoos and lose our happy, laughing, sugary sweet friend, but we need to be able to have a friend to lose in the real world."
"Maybe we all should get tattoos," Thunderborne said.
"Rainbow Dash!" Diemond exclaimed. "Don't even entertain the idea. My porcelain skin won't ever have ink touch it and neither should your skin. Tattoos are nasty and uncouth. They don't make you look cool either."
"That isn't a bad idea," Natora said. "We could get Wondercolts ones. That might take the edge off her wanting to get more. Although, I don't know what a Wondercolt would look like."
"Let's not go that far," Doombunny said. "Tattoos are painful."
"None of us should be making big decisions like this y'all!" Malus exclaimed. "Let's just get to bed and deal with this tomorrow. We can see how she is doin in the mornin and if we need to make any course corrections from there."
Everyone started to head inside the inn. Knightstar stayed back along with Bladescape.
"You caught it too?" Knightstar asked.
"Possibly," Bladescape said with a slow nod. "That depends on what you mean by ‘it’."
"Konpeito said 'touch up' about one of the tattoos, but not where it was."
Bladescape sighed. "Yep. Which means I.R.L. she has that one. Pathfinder I think she called it. The only way she could have gotten a tattoo, legally, at her age, is with a parent present to give approval. Her parents do love their heritage, especially the Celtic side. I wasn’t aware of any Norse blood, but I don’t take either of her parents for the kind to let their kids get tattoos, especially while they have a say."
"But they do care about their children's bonds," Knightstar pointed out. "And Pinkie and Maud share a special bond. As difficult as Maud is for us to understand, they connect. Maud is off getting her doctorate, which can take years and those stones are in Scandinavia, a long way from home. They could have let her get the tattoo to help the sisters feel connected despite their separation. I don't know the last time Maud and Pinkie Pie saw each other. There is a good chance Maud was doing fieldwork over the summer, so she might have missed Pinkie leaving."
"That is a logical explanation," Bladescape said with a nod. "I think, for now, we let it slide. Although I am becoming more interested in all of what she got added to her body and what she might add."
Knightstar snickered. "Don't let Diemond or Malus hear you. They both are pretty clear about their views. Her red curls are classic Celtic, but not entirely Norse. I might have to suggest a hairstyle change, probably to braids and potentially to blonde hair. That would really pull the look together."
"I didn't give you permission, but maybe you should," Bladescape chuckled. "Particularly the braids to get the curls under control. And if blonde doesn't work, she can just dye it back to her normal color and go back to the curls, if they will even allow themselves to be braided.”
"Come on, before we are missed," Knightstar said, heading to the inn.
Finally together and over a purchased dinner, Bladescape explained the strategy, which required taking Konpeito, Malus, Reisenki, Kiefer, and Thunderborne to the Boss Raid. Natora opted to lead the others on a dungeon raid, giving Kiefer a chance to join the boss raid party. With everything settled, they went to bed.
BLADESCAPE: Level 26 — Two-Handed Sword — Searching — Weapon Defense — Leather Armor — First Aid
NATORA: Level 25 — Two-Handed Spear — Purchase Negotiations — Sales Negotiation — Weapon Defense — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor
KNIGHTSTAR: Level 25 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Equipment Appraisal — First Aid
MALUS: Level 25 — One-Handed War Hammer — Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid — Extended Weight Carry
THUNDERBORNE: Level 25 — Rapier — Sprint — Acrobatics — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor
KONPEITO: Level 25 — Two-Handed Axe — Cooking — Weapon Defense — Light Metal Armor — Martial Arts — First Aid
DIEMOND: Level 25 — Mace — Shield — Sewing — Heavy Metal Armor — First Aid
DOOMBUNNY: Level 25 — One-Handed Dagger — Hide — Fighting Spirit — Blade Throwing — First Aid
KIEFER: Level 22 — One-Handed Curved Sword — Slash Weapon Forging — Light Metal Armor — Weapon Defense — First Aid
SORYUTO: Level 22 — One-Handed Sword — Shield — Light Metal Armor — Music — First Aid
REISENKI: Level 22 — One-Handed Axe — Shield — Heavy Metal Armor — Equipment Repair — Metal Equipment Repair
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Good grief, only 5 levels in a month! And since Bladescape can see levels, when she estimates Kaibou falling behind like that, she's probably right.
That idiot is going to get a lot of people killed.
And the thought of Pinkie as a viking warrior has me grinning.
loved the update!
11719070
Viking Pinkie is so much fun. But yeah, no one is gaining the levels they need. It's bad.
11719095
Glad you did! This was a fun side track and character development story.
A lot iof views this chapter, some strong, and some not. At the end of the day, it's Pinkie's choice what she does. If they don't want Tattoos, fine. But they shouldn't try to force her to.
11719108
would not be surprised if Pinkie wound up with an offical title to go with her new look and such XD
11719133
I hadn't considered that. She will get called a few different things, including something from Heathcliff. Maybe I can expand it out.
11719140
hehe, I mean if Kirito can get the title Black Swordsman, I am sure Pinkie can aquire a title too
Agree on KS's calculations. That's a recipe for disaster right there.
Of course she'd scream.
Wait what!? How did I not know this on Vikings!!!
Mhm.
As much as I enjoy learning this from her, sometimes it makes me feel tired/bored as she jut doesn't stop.
This conversation sure went off the rails...
11719223
Yes. A lot of info from Knightstar. She doesn't have papers and classes to dump it into. Also, there are a lot of misconceptions about the Vikings. Lol
Dont know what Knightstar is on about whit the hair.
true many nors men were blond or brunets but everyone know that Tor(proper spelling) the nors god of thunder and litning is a red head and his wife a golddette, yes gold, pure gold.
I don't see Rarity's problem with tattoos. If it were the real world she might have a point, but they're in a game, so they aren't real. It is just Pinkie having a bit of fun.
11719237
Got it, thx.
11719324
Oh, Konpeito will point a similar fact in a episode or two later. Lol. Knightstar is running off her limited memory and absolutely is dumping info. Normally she would dump info into school papers and projects. Now she can't, so her friends get it. That's a point which is noted in the future. Her friends understand.
11719362
A game, yes, but they aren't looking at an avatar, they are looking at Pinkie Pie's body. It's hard to separate the two at times. If Pinkie Pie gets attached to them and used to seeing them on her Aincrad body, and she wakes up without them, why wouldn't she go put them back on?
Also, do you really think Rarity or AJ would be okay with tattoo in a game? To me, both has always seemed like the type who can't stand them period.
I'm well versed on the tattoo debate, knowing people on both sides. I do have one. I never expected this to start that debate. Lol.
Sunset is a JRPG protagonist, going around doing her brooding, tortured MC thing trying to survive the death game.
Meanwhile Pinkie is more like a Bethesda protag, just over here doing goofy sidequests, changing character themes every couple hours and generally having a good time. Real "I'll get to the main quest after I've collected 50 Blue Star Bottlecaps," energy.
11719550
Well said!
I like the image of Viking Pinkie. Time to do some raiding in the name of cupcakes
Things will go south soon and Kibo will get a face full of dung if he lives.
11719624
Viking Pinkie is fun! Who would win; Konpeito the master of cupcakes and laughter, or Loki the god of mischief?
11719639
No one. Loki would just go and party with Kon while he isn't busy with his godly stuff. You know, friendship
Those numbers don't add up at all!
11721525
Are you sure? Doesn't Quantum Physics or Chaos Theory allow for it to be true? I've been watching too much sci-fi after studying.
Kind of an interesting way for Pinkie to go, and it makes sense. If I recall correctly,
Pinkie mentioned the tattoo during her Vignette with Maud. No they discuss Vegvisir while making necklaces out of konpeito (foreshadowing!!!). For anyone that skipped the Vignettes, I'm referring to THIS one.It does bring up the bigger issue of casual clothing and when the Wondercolts are supposed to be 'in uniform'. They're not an army. They're just friends playing the game together. That combined with most Western schools favoring individuality over uniforms in schools. At the same time, they need to present a unified front to retain their raid position.
As for the tattoo arguments, all sides were represented well. Personally, I would only do it to mark a significant event, and have a full understanding of whatever rune or symbol I chose. Either that or get something to show I'm T1D, in case of an emergency. I do find Doombunny's remark a bit funny though,
I mean, they're in a world where they're getting slashed and stabbed on a near daily basis, but a little ink is what she's worried about?
11724178
That vignette was written knowing where I was going to take Konpeito. Lol. Her Viking transition was planned very early on.
Also, Doom doesn't take a lot of hits. Besides, there is a difference between getting hurt on the job and intentionally adding pain when you're off the clock. Lol.
I'm also glad to hear that I represented all of the sides well. That was the goal.