27 october - forward dated challenge! Asuna + Shuri
27 October - forward dated Challenge!
Asuna Yuuki + shuri
g | complete
Atlantis was weird, that was for sure. It wasn’t quite like she had imagined it would be, considering all the strange occurrences and the confirmation from others who had been brought there that that was the norm. The picturesque paradise was gorgeous, but she could have done with cookbooks throwing eggs at her. At least she had escaped waking up bald. As strange as it was she was happy to be here instead of someplace more dangerous, and boy was she familiar with dangerous worlds.
Asuna had woken up in that maze and while it had been a shock to discover she wasn’t in her own bed anymore she had been working diligently to get out. She wasn’t sure if someone had broken in and carried her there or if she was magicked there… there was no telling and she chose not to overthink it. It was what it was and she needed to figure it out. After turning a corner she saw the table with pumpkins and some jack-o-lanterns displayed around the general area. “Oooo! Pumpkin carving!” she said excitedly as she hurried over to grab one of the pumpkins to start her own. Maybe it was a minor distraction in the bigger picture of the maze but she wasn’t about to pass up this tradition!
Oh, Atlantis, the ways in which it made life interesting. Shuri had fallen asleep in the vault working away when she woke up in the maze, the ‘magic’ or perhaps just science they didn’t understand yet fascinated her, she wanted to figure out everything about it. However, currently being in a maze made it a little bit more difficult to study such things.
Starting along a path she first ran into a rather creepy looking scarecrow that made a horrible sound, escaping she took a few turns when she heard a voice, taking one more turn she saw not only pumpkins ready to be carved but someone grabbing one to start.
“Pumpkins!” Shuri said with a small bounce in her step. “This has got to be the coolest maze ever!” Somewhere in her mind, she wondered if this was a distraction or a test but she decided to go with the fun of it. “Hi!” She said greeting Asuna.
Everything Asuna had seen of Atlantis was both confusing and spectacular. In some ways it reminded her of SAO and how the levels could change, but Atlantis only seemed to offer up strange occurrences as opposed to Very Dangerous Things like when she was stuck in the virtual world. She would take minor inconveniences any day over possibly dying for real inside of a video game.
Grabbing a pen she began drawing the face she hoped to carve. It was something silly and childish, probably completely opposite of what Kazuto would have done. She laughed after finishing, admiring her handiwork.
Before she grabbed one of the knives she looked over when she heard someone else approach, offering a bright smile. “Hello!” She looked back to her pumpkin and began carving. “Exciting maze, huh?”
Picking out her own pumpkin she took a seat next to Asuna as she looked over her pumpkin trying to decide what to do.
“Atlantis has some of the most interesting situations,” she responded looking at the face Asuna was drawing. “It likes to surprise us, and keep us on our toes,
“I’m Shuri by the way.” She offered a free hand.
At least this place offered up some entertainment, even if some of it wasn’t always enjoyable. Asuna was used to being stuck somewhere without a way out, or being required to figure out her own way out. And she had to admit the maze itself had been a lot of fun.
“Seems to be the way of things here,” she responded. “I”m just glad nothing is actually trying to hunt or kill me here,” she laughed.
Asuna offered a bright smile and reached over to shake Shuri’s hand. “I’m Asuna. Nice to meet you.” She returned to working on her pumpkin. “Have you been in Atlantis very long?”
“Are you from somewhere where things try and kill you often?” Shuri asked. “Sometimes things here are in the killing business, or rather attempting to kill, but most of the strange things are harmless.”
Smiling she nodded. “It’s nice to meet you Asuna,” Shuri had to pause to think about how long she’d been there. “I arrived in April, so I’ve been here a few months, time here does seem to go by very quickly.”
Asuna nodded at the question, “Yeah, pretty much every world I’ve been stuck in has tried to kill me in some way, even my real world.” She grinned, “Like angry cookbooks and turning into pumpkins. I’ll take that over being hunted down.”
“You too,” she said in return. She had cut a hole in the top of her pumpkin and started taking out the insides. “Oh wow,” she said, glancing over to Shuri for a moment. “Is anyone else from your home here with you?”
“You’ve been stuck in a number of different worlds?” That interested her a good deal. “Yes, turning into pumpkins is one of the stranger things that I’ve seen, along with people turning into stuffed animals.” That one she hadn’t seen but she’d heard and seen pictures.
Smiling she started doing the same with her pumpkin. “Yes, my brother is here, along with a number of the avenger's it seems, and Okoye, she’s from my home though, not the general avenger's world.”
Asuna nodded in response, “Yeah. The first one was a virtual reality game for about two years. The game’s creator decided it would be a fantastic idea to trap all of the players and make them have to fight to the death until someone finally beat the game. My boyfriend, Kazuto, ended up beating that game. And while the rest of the survivors were able to come back to reality I was stuck behind when Sugou, a man my mother wanted me to marry, trapped me in a second version of the game because he somehow gained control over the company. Again, Kazuto got me out of there and defeated that game. And the other two times before now I was stuck in this hotel with all these doors that lead to different worlds, and I was able to gain some of my old skills I gained while in SAO. And the world before this was called Skyrim, which was extremely dangerous.” She took a breath and smiled at Shuri, “And here I am now. I will never complain about my life being boring.”
She smiled brightly at Shuri, “That’s wonderful. I’m glad you have some familiar faces to keep you company. Who are the avengers?” she asked curiously.
Shuri wasn’t exactly sure how to respond to all of that as her eyes got wide and the mechanics of how someone would stick someone in a game started to cross her mind. “It does not sound boring, although, stuck in a game sounds complicated, did you still have control of yourself or was someone else somewhere with controls? Or was it a combination thing?” She asked thinking of the dangers and the possibilities.
“Oh, Captain America, Thor, Iron Man, Hawkeye, The Hulk, also Bruce Banner when he isn’t being The Hulk, Black Widow, Scarlet Witch, among others, there are those like Bucky, my brother, and more.” She didn’t think she wanted to list everyone.
Asuna wasn’t sure how it all had worked, only that she had been stuck against her will and there was only one way out. “I could control myself inside the games, but I couldn’t wake myself up in real life. My family actually moved me to a hospital since they didn’t know how long I’d be stuck. So I was taken care of around the clock.” As much as she didn’t miss it she still enjoyed diving into ALO since it was no longer a trap.
Asuna frowned, trying to recall of she had heard any of those names before. She shook her head and looked Shuri with an apologetic expression, “I don’t recognize any of those names, I’m afraid.”
Shuri nodded as she tried to think of the logistics of it. “So, it was basically your mind stuck in the game while your body was still out of it,” she stopped as she blinked away the thoughts. “Sorry, I don’t mean to pry, it’s just interesting technology, and technology is sort of a hobby of mine.” It was more than a hobby but she didn’t feel like she did as much here in Atlantis. Too many big fish in the pond problem.
“That’s perfectly okay, there are a lot of people here that I have never heard of, I believe that’s one of the things that makes this place so fantastic!” She meant it too. Asuna nodded in response, “Yes, exactly. But I could still feel and I slept inside the game and I could actually taste the food. It was strange and wonderful, despite being trapped against my will.” Asuna smiled and shook her head, “It’s alright. I don’t understand entirely how Kayaba managed to trap fifty-thousand people inside of a game. It wasn’t even my NerveGear to begin with. It was my brothers and I jumped in before he had a chance. Serves me right,” she said with a grin. “Do you build things?” she asked curiously.
With another nod she glanced back at Shuri, “Yes, there are a lot of people I don’t recognize here. I haven’t seen anyone from my world so for now I think it’s safe to say I’m the only one. What’s your world like?”
“You could taste the food?” Shuri said as she stopped looking at her pumpkin and pretty much put it down. “That’s amazing.” She couldn’t help it as her mind went 100 different directions. “Well, the being trapped against your will is not good, but it sounds very interesting, especially at those numbers!” Shuri was a little overwhelmed as she tried to solve the problem. “I do, I guess you could say I’m an inventor.”
Nodding, it seemed more she didn’t know than she did. “I am from a place called Wakanda, a small country that for most of life was kept hidden from the rest of the world. My brother is the king and I run the Wakandan Design Group.”
“Yeah, it was pretty wild,” she said. “I can still remember the taste of this sandwich I would make for Kazuto. He requested it a lot,” she laughed. She shook her head, “I mean it’s an experience I’d never want to go through again, but how we were able to experience so much and it still feel real was amazing.” Asuna could have lived without the actual killing of so many of the other players, however. It had been Kayaba’s sick game of playing god. “Oh? What sort of things do you invent?”
Asuna thought for a moment, “I’ve never heard of Wakanda either,” she said with sincerity. “I wonder if our worlds are in different universes. I learn all about those at the last two worlds I was trapped in before coming here,” she explained. “A king?” she asked, her eyes wide with surprise. “So that means you’re a princess?” She set down her knife and smiled, feeling a little embarrassed. She brought her hands together and bowed forward as they do in Japan and smiled sheepishly when she raised back up. “Do people call you by any titles here I should know of?”
“Can you get the sandwich here? It seems we can get any kind of food from anywhere here, not that I’m sure if you want to, but in case.” Shuri smiled at her next question.
“A few things, my brother's new Black Panther Suit, I’ve improved a lot, oooh! Some Sneakers that are soundless and just exciting, and some medical technologies that can help those fix those who might need, well fixing.”
Smiling, Shuri wasn’t surprised. “A lot of people have not, or had not, heard of Wakanda,” things were changing though at home. “Yes, I am, I suppose, but I much prefer to be called inventor of all things vibranium,” she said laughing. “I’m joking, it really is just Shuri here.”
“I’m not sure,” she said after thinking a moment. “I’ll have to look around the shops and find out. There’s just so much to explore and between training and the surprises Atlantis throws at us I’m always so busy I haven’t had a chance to really explore.”
Asuna looked up at her curiously, “Black Panther suit? Your brother dressed like an animal? But everything sounds so interesting. It must be fun inventing so many things,” she said with a smile. Asuna laughed, “Well if you want to make your official title inventor of all things… vibranium, you said? I’m sure you can pull some strings and have it done.”
“There is so much to explore here,” she agreed. “Even now I feel as though I have not seen it all.” Atlantis often felt like it changed too making it hard to keep up with everything.
Laughing she nodded. “Well, Thor has called him “Cat Man” and I am working on a way for the words to appear above him when he is extra annoying, but no, there is much more to being the Black Panther, it is part of our culture and the panther has enhanced abilities and the protector of Wakanda. He does however need a suit, which is where I come in.” She smiled. “Perhaps, Atlantis is very different from Wakanda though.”
“There is,” she said in agreement, “All the shops, the entire island. Everything is just so interesting and the island is just so much more beautiful than I could have imagined.” Even if she didn’t know many of the other people there or their worlds she had at least heard of Atlantis. It was a myth in her world, but Asuna figured anything was possible.
Asuna laughed, “Cat Man!” She giggled a moment longer as the moment passed. “Oh! We had our own individual menus in SAO and people could learn your name which would float above your head like they do in video games, and your friends could see more information like inventory and skills. It was really neat, but you could still hide it so you didn’t continually have a name floating above your head,” she laughed. She smiled at Shuri, “Your world sounds very interesting and from the sounds of it you lead a very exciting life. I’m from Tokyo myself. The most interesting thing that’s ever happened to me was being trapped inside of two video games and helping solve the Death Gun murders on Gun Gale Online.”
Laughing she nodded. “Don’t let him hear it though, my brother is not as big of a fan of the name as I am.” Shuri said with a smirk.
“There is so much of the world I would like to see, Wakanda, until recently tended to keep to itself, not many of our people would leave, some would, but not all of us. I’ve seen parts of Korea but I couldn’t say I was actually there, I drove a car from Wakanda there, but I wasn’t actually there…” Shuri shrugged as she finished up her cuts turned it towards Asuna. “This is what my brother’s suit looks like.”
Asuna grinned, “I can’t imagine why. Cats are such great animals,” she said with a little chuckle. She imagined her own brother wouldn’t be all too pleased with any nicknames Asuna might come up with for him, even if it was clearly out of love.
“There’s just so much to see,” she said with a nod of agreement. She would have liked to see the world, but Atlantis seemed to have so much to offer. “I think it’s good to get out and see the world. One day when I’m home again I hope to travel. I was in this hotel with doors that lead to other worlds, but I’m not sure where the hotel was located. The last place, Skyrim, was a different universe, and now Atlantis makes three different universes I’ve been to.” Asuna looked at the pumpkin, “Oooo that’s very nice! I love it. You’re very good at pumpkin carving. Mine is, well I don’t do this often so I’d need more practice but,” she turned her own toward Shuri so she could see the face.
“One would think when the God of Thunder gives you a name, you would like it,” Shuri said with a smirk. If Shuri hadn’t picked up on and pestered her brother she imagined he’d have just shrugged it off.
“That is a lot of different places,” Shuri commented thinking about the place with doors leading to different worlds, that would lead to so many other questions. There were so many different worlds out there that she felt like there were endless things to learn about.
“I love that!” Shuri said excitedly. “It’s perfect for Halloween!” She meant it too. “So, I suppose we should probably try and find out way out of this maze.”
“You’d think!” Asuna laughed. “I mean, that seems like a very high honor,” she continued chuckling as she looked for a candle to put inside her pumpkin.
“Yes, and most of them were very dangerous. I advised others not to enter mine without me or Kazuto because we knew the layout. It was interesting though, because it did eventually lead to our real world. And whenever we entered SAO from the hotel we gained back the skills we’d earned in game. It was really very fascinating,” she said in awe.
Finding a candle and some matches she lit the candle and carefully set it inside the pumpkin. “Thank you,” she said with a bright smile. She nodded in agreement, “Yes, I suppose it’s time to figure out the way.”
Shuri nodded in agreement, it was indeed. She’d have to use that argument.
“There seem to be many worlds that are dangerous to enter, at least from the places people are from here,” Shuri was curious about more of them.
“Yes, let’s find out way out of here!” She said standing up and picking up her pumpkin.