Calibrations Spill-Over Post

[thespaceopera]

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→ Calibration post A-M
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Comments

[notmutantbutmiracle]

I do not know if I would use the word "play" to describe what it was that you were all put through.

[huaaaaagh]

...You wouldn't be the first to think that. To be honest, it took me a long time to start thinking of virtual worlds as games again, after this.

Anyway, we made it out, and he died. So whatever his goals were, they more or less ended at the same time as this world.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

He died? Were you the one to kill him?

[Her question is very matter of fact, but her tone is not accusatory. In fact, there is almost a discernible degree of empathy to it. As though she could understand him and his reasons why if that were the case.]

[huaaaaagh]

[He hesitates, uncomfortable again. He doesn't like to consider his death count in SAO, but Kayaba is the biggest mystery in that regard.]

I... guess I was responsible for his death, in a way, but not entirely. We fought in a duel, at the end- he promised that if I could defeat him one-on-one, he'd free everyone and end the game. The fight ended with us killing each other, but when the game ended I woke up in the hospital, and he'd fried his own brain to accomplish something I still don't understand.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda can only shake her head. This man... his motivations and actions just as much a mystery to her as they clearly were to Kirito.]

Sorry, I should not have pried.

[huaaaaagh]

No, it's okay. If I didn't want to tell you, I'd have just said so.

[It's not that he wants to, not really. But sometimes it's therapeutic to get it out in the open like this, right? And somehow, he feels relaxed, despite the topic.]

...I never asked your name, sorry.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda smiles, grateful to him and glad that she had not offended him with her questions.]

Wanda. Maximoff.

I never got your name either.

[huaaaaagh]

Kirito.

[He lifts a hand in a slight and badly belated greeting.]

Sorry you got stuck here.

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[She grins back, friendly in response to his apology.]

It is all right.

[She looks around once more, admiring the beauty of their surroundings. Game world or not, it was hard not to be entranced by the splendor of it all.]

This is not so bad a place to be stuck I suppose.

[A slight pause before she thinks to add:]

Temporarily.

[huaaaaagh]

Haha, yeah, definitely that.

[Really, that sort of philosophy could be applied to anywhere, not just MMOs. But after living in SAO for so long, games are especially... exhausting, long-term.]

I'm not really sure why this happened, but it's nice to have company.

Fin?

[notmutantbutmiracle]

[Wanda smiles over at him, before taking a seated position and then lying back to stare up at the sky. Despite it clearly being daytime, it didn't feel too bright, or hot. She did not have to squint as she looked up at the few stray clouds rolling through. It was so peaceful, so dream-like that it wasn't long before she started to feel herself begin to lull into a deep sleep. Well, after all, who could ask for a more beautiful place to take a nice, long nap?]