More stuff that I've been doing the last few months. This one's also an SAO fic, a one-shot titled The Other Blacksmith.
As a note of interest, this is the reason I asked for advice about "Ooh" vs "Ohh" a while back in the Shoutbox thread. Admittedly this part as a whole is one of the weakest areas in the fic, but here's what I intended to use the advice for:
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We were locked into a stalemate. Now, it was a question of whose skill was just slightly better than the other's.
Somewhere in the back of my head, I wryly thought we probably looked like a circus act. Didn't most of them have some sword juggling shows? And Sinon's aerial Sword Skill trick from earlier could've counted as the acrobatics part. Then which part would I play? Sword dance? I was concentrating so much on moving my sword, I could feel sweat collecting. I hastily wiped away –
Then I remembered SAO didn't have a subroutine for generating sweat. That had just been a ghost sensation. And with a growing sense of horror, I realized – I let my guard down first.
Sinon didn't let the chance pass.
Suddenly there was metal everywhere, air, sky, ground. I yelled out – dodged aside – swung wildly, caught one by sheer luck – stumbled over a sword – dagger skimmed arm – brushed my neck – raised Elucidator – missed – just barely twisted in time – ducked – jumped back – landed bad – sword between feet – narrowly sidestepped – incoming – tried to block – clang!
Calmer now – deflected a sword with control – moved for the one I couldn't – nearly speared on the foot, again – jerked head sideways – block – dodge – block – block – block again –
One last dagger, too close, too fast, too – too low –
I let out a strangled yell and leapt slightly, straight up. The dagger passed through the gap between my legs at a scary height, just barely skimming through without touching anything, and sailed on behind me. If it had been any higher…
The males in the audience let out an "Ohhhhh!" and winced in collective sympathy.
I landed and drew a shuddering breath at the same time – then had to block the two daggers that nearly struck home.
"Oh, gimme a break!" I snapped, voice strained and a little higher than it was meant to be. "I just survived a sex-change surgery here, the least you could do is let me cry tears of joy!"
Sinon's ironic response was, "Stop taking it so seriously, we're just in a game!"
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And here's an excerpt from yet another SAO one-shot, this one relatively slap-dashed and bordering on a parody. Spoilers for for the "Phantom Bullet" arc if you haven't read it (LN vol 5 and 6), though if you haven't read it, chances are this won't be nearly as hilarious.
Title: GLF of GGO.
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In case you didn't know, GLF of GGO stood for "The Girl's Love Fanclub of Gun Gale Online".
The meeting took place in a spacious cargo bay, currently holding dozens of people. The first thing to come to attention was that the room wasn't just big, it was enormous. Shoot a gun from one side, and there would actually be a perceivable delay between the bang and a mark appearing on the opposite wall. In addition, it appeared that someone attempted to create a "Great Hall" atmosphere in the past – the large exit was the kind that should've had an overhead gate, but the spot had been embezzled by majestic, wood-like double doors, not dissimilar to the ones that decorated the entrance to the captain's room in a starship. It was the perfect place to host an auction meet, or a Senate meeting.
Or, apparently, a room-wide speech on the overwhelming pros associated with girls loving other girls.
In an attempt to pretend that some form of legitimacy and seriousness remained in this fanfiction, let us describe to you the proceedings as follows. There was a tap and a slight whine of feedback over the speakers, and suddenly all eyes were on the "podium" – a smattering of crates gathered together and stacked up, with a microphone at the top. It was at the center of the room, so whoever was speaking was surrounded at all sides by the bloodthirsty players of Gun Gale Online, many who killed each other at least weekly, if not daily.
If the person speaking knew all this, he didn't show it, looking supremely unimpressed. "All right, shut the chatter, girls," he growled, prompting a jeer from the crowd. One of the few females in the room cocked her pistol threateningly. "I said shut the fuck up!" he shouted, making full use of his status as the biggest in the room. "Now, I'm sure you all know that I can take all you bitches out, right here, right now, with one hand tied behind my back! That's how much you wusses –"
"Get to the damn point, Grizzley!" roared a man in a military uniform, one of the very few people who could stand being the same room with Grizzley without immediately killing him. This was not to say, however, that they were friends. Considering their respective fondness of camping the other, far from it.
"We could do without yer effing squawking, Serge," Grizzley snarled back, "but fine, let's get this party started. Squadron! Our meeting starts…now!"
He jabbed a finger to the side, and all eyes followed. What appeared to be a regular wall was, on closer inspection, revealed to be an old screen adorned by many cracks. It was, in fact, commonly used for briefing multiple groups at once in a guild war event. GGO lore described this room as a place that guerilla squads in the past had used to effectively co-ordinate bloodbaths in the aliens' homelands.
The logo of Gun Gale Online showed up briefly; dark montages of guns flashing across the screen, a silhouette of a soldier whose shot – BANG! – made the screen split into red splatters. It was an impressive display of viciousness. You could almost taste it in the air, that sheer pressure, that very definition of killing intent. Anyone could've been forgiven for straightening up, for just that moment, into a professional ready to blow off the heads of some poor suckers out there.
This sentiment was promptly broken when the next image on the screen turned out to be a rather well-drawn fanart of Kirito and Sinon kissing each other.
With a melodic, soothing melody scaling up and down a harp, the pictures separated into cherry blossoms and scattered in all directions, revealing the next image: a brightly-coloured, dreamy, and decidedly out-of-context screenshot of a figure with long black hair bearing a Photon Sword at the neck of a blue-haired girl held in "her" arm. It was clear that they were staring at each other in the eyes lovingly, or at least, in a manner that could be considered "lovingly" if one didn't know the story behind their gaze.
Most didn't.
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