Scene #1915:

Owner	Pose
Tomoe	SBC Glocken was huge, it was a fully functional city that had been laid out by the Cardinal AI and the devs for GGO, with later alterations by players as they built and altered various parts of the city to their own needs. There were many places to hang out, pubs both run by NPCs and PCs, and Eisen was hanging out at one of the latter sorts. It was a fairly high end place, far as PC run places went. Clean, nicely lit wonderful feed windows and the owner was said to be making enough to pay the rent in real life off running this place. Still after her stunt with Xiaomu's character she's getting more than a few looks from other patrons as she enjoying her self sitting at the bar. It was funny she mused how easily she could be Esien or Tomoe? Yet being Sheena Armstrong was harder than either really. She sipped at her drink and poked at a plate of wings while she waited. Still for any issues? The fact she could pig out in VR and ... not gain an ounce had honestly done wonders for her health. She was considering a science paper on it for school, well if she was really still going. She'd kinda just not even given post secondary education much of a thought. She was finishing up what high school she had left after getting out of SAO and wasn't sure she wanted more later.
Xiaomu	If Eisen is already getting some curious looks from those around her, how much more attention will be shown when Kanokon happens to wander into the exact same pub? Which is exactly what happens while Eisen is sipping her virtual drink. If character models showed how much you were carrying in your inventory, she would probably have a bulging backpack slung over one shoulder, too - but Kanokon looks roughly the same now as she did for her BoB match, with the addition of a utility vest type of thing for additional armor and ammo storage. She actually doesn't seem to notice Eisen at first, either, trudging up to the bar, laying some money down, and asking, "Do you have fried tofu? Or inarizushi, for that matter ... ?" What kind of pub does she think she's in, again?
Reker	The door to the pub suddenly bursts open, and Reker is standing in the doorway, "Hey bartender, buy everybody a round on me, the soon to be winner of the Bullet of Bullets tournament!" Yup, ever since sign up day, Reker has been parading around Gun Gale Online declaring himself the uncrowned winner of the tournament. Most people tend to brush him off, but if anyone has been following chatter on the forums and the GGO subreddit, they'll find that he's been getting somewhat of a following among the players, after his strong showing last year.
Kirito	"They don't have EVERYTHING." A player who walked in just after Xiaomu remarks in a soft, amused voice. Kirito has definitely gotten down this whole 'speaking somewhat androgynously' thing down, if it can be called that. He strolls in smoothly, slinking over towards the bar to seat himself near Eisen. None of his weapons are equipped, just his usual black attire.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis is already here, idly browsing forum chatter while she awaits the arrival of others. As Reker shows up, she raises a glass and flashes him a cocky smirk. "You'd better ease up on that, in case someone knocks the wind outta your sails early." She winks, grinning like the arrogant jackass she is. All in good fun, mind. She likes playing up the rival, and she approaches Reker, giving the more experienced player a fistbump emote. "What's the word, fellas?" She asks, nodding to Kirito when he arrives behind Xiaomu. Joining the gang, she gets settled in and peers alertly. Sharp eyes may notice she's upgraded, despite what her desc says. Her outfit's more akin to a sneaking suit, and she sports an eyepiece and a bandana as well as a tactical vest.
Tomoe	Eisen looks up at Xiaomu comes in she grins a bit. " Hey good to see you my friend." That gets looks and a chain of screen caps that are going to cause a bunch screen caps. The forums will be buzzing about this later. "I think they might have something like that." THe Barkeep looks up to Reker and Xiaomu. "I might." He notes as he calls to the kitchen to see whomever is back there has something like that on their cooking skill list or not. Meanwhile Alexis gets a look over. She smireks a bit at Kirito and replies to Alexis. "Turning some heads starting some rumuors, waiting on Pendragon." If anyone saw the end of Esien's fight Kanokon? They would have a good idea of the storts of rumours. However Eisen does't seem put off by it.
Kirito	Kirito's making a ery weird face, but briefly, in answer to Eisen's reply. Yeah, not gonna say it. he's not that crazy. "Meeting like this instead of at Agil's place doesn't happen too often. What's up?"
Reker	"I never make promises I can't keep." Reker says to Maaka, grinning in her general direction before he moves over and grabs a chair, turning it around and sitting on it, leaning over the back and returning the fistbump, "So what's the deal, Eisen? Why'd you want us all to come on down?"
Xiaomu	Kanokon grins, waving to Eisen. "Hey, good to see you again after the way you blew me up right out there in public!" she says cheerfully. If she knows about the rumors (and she does), she's very cheerfully not caring at all - or at least, she's not caring about the rumors. She nods to the barkeep, and listens for the official word on whether she can get fried tofu here or whether she needs to log out and dig into her RL stash of the stuff. And while she's doing that, she turns to grin at Reker, an almost predatory look if it weren't for her overtly playful attitude. (Or maybe that just makes her look more predatory?) "You better hope they honor your credit on that, champ-in-the-making, because you don't have that title yet. How many of us have you actually gone through on your way to the top so far? I know you and I have yet to meet in the field of honor ..." She does wave to Kiriko and Alexis as well, but her attention's already shifting back to the bartender.
Alexis Maaka	Alexis just continues the wry grin, before she orders up a drink. Doesn't mean anything given the digital format, but it does help settle a mood as she begins listening. "Who's Pendragon?" She asks, head tilted.
Tomoe	"Pendragon had something to tell us and an items for us. HE didn't want to go to Agil's for some reason and I have no idea. I didn't push it, you know how the old man can get some times, right?" She looks to Kanokon and seems chipper enough. "It was a pretty explosive end, you got me pretty good there too." She looks over to Reker for a moment seemingly amused. "Don't count yourselves champion just yet." She's about to say more at this when the Barkeep returns. "Seems we can have it for you." So our dear foxy lady will get her snack however a man's voice can be heard. "I heard that." The man there is a big man, about 6 foot, buzzed cut flat op, dark shads, tank top, bandoleer, cargo pants and a smirk on his face. Pendragon seems to be here. "Good to see you kids here, I got some information that might be of interest to you. Who am I? I'm Eisen's old man."
Reker	"Hey I'm not the type of guy to back down from a challenge." Reker replies to Kanokon, "None of you guys were playing last year, though. I got into the top ten then, and this year I'm going to win." He smiles at her, "But if you wanna have a go, I'm always down for a duel."
Xiaomu	Kanokon grins even wider, sliding a generous tip across the bar along with the actual cost of her fried tofu. Then she turns to look at Pendragon. 'I'm Eisen's old man.' Reker is going to have to wait a bit before Kanokon answers him, because she actually looks kind of sheepish now. "Eheheheh ... were you watching my match with her, by any chance?" If the engine allows for an anime-style sweatdrop, she is all but abusing that /emote function right about now.
Alexis Maaka	Well, this got awkward. Alexis kinda just eyes the tall and beefy man, and then looks between him and Eisen for a second. "Okay then..." Luckily she seems content to not press the issue, but a meeting with parents isn't what Alexis had in mind with this job at all. "Alright, so what do you got for us then? What's the word?"
Kirito	The engine doesn't have emotes, Xiaomu! But Seed-based VR seems abnormally receptive to emotions and exaggerates them. Chances are, an anime-style sweatdrop is quite noticeable if Kanokon feels like that! Heavens knows, blushing tends to be pretty luminescent... Yeah. Hiding emotions is pretty hard in FullDive because any you DO show at all... Spotting Pendragon, Kirito raises a hand in greeting. "Yo! Information's one thing I'm pretty short on. Whaddya got?"
Tomoe	Tomoe says "Ya, and most players here don't have my response time and I'm not the fastest person in the GU either." She notes, she honestly expect other SAO vets to be the people to relaly worry about in the finals if she were honest with herself. Pendraon gets up to the bare and sits down. He takes a moment to look over Xiaomu his face is impassive as he looks at her, and then a smirk forms on his face. "I did, I think you taught Eisen, quite the lesson." A beer nut gets thrown at the back of Pendragon's head by Eisen a moment later. "Hey!" "I'm not your keeper. You always been the PVP monkey doing about whatever you thought it took to win short of cheating or hacking." Eisen turns bright red and there's now a sweat drop by her head or maybe here isn't but one could picture such. "Look I got an quest item drop in my shop the other day that might be of interest to you. Odd that someone would sell it cheap but? They said something about the boss might be glitched or just way too powerful for their squadron to handle, and would rather get some cash out of it than a mess of repair bills. You kids seem to be looking into the strange stuff and I keep up with the goings on off world." He is an ally to the Union after all. Eisen goes back to being mortified by her father's reaction, hey he's not setting anyone on fire.
Kirito	A lesson, huh? Kirito can't keep the quirkily screwy expression from his face. Bleeeeaaaargh. "Go on?" Pendragon now has Kirito's attention. The youthful swordsfighter spins around on their chair, gaze now fixed firmly on Pendragon!
Alexis Maaka	"What's the quest item?" Alexis raises an eyebrow when talking begins, resting her chin against her fist as she listens with interest. At the moment she couldn't give a rat's ass about the back-and-forth between father and daughter, "Come on, out with it already. We don't got all night."
Xiaomu	Kanokon makes a face. "A glitchy boss? Those are the worst," she grumbles with an air of most unhappy experience. "Have you checked the forums on the official site? Any reports about it?" Yes, she's more concerned about the possibility of a quest-related boss being glitched than curious about what the item or the quest might be. (Given the crap she went through trying to fight Sundarin, though, can you really blame her?)
Tomoe	Pendragon smirks orders a drink and then downs a bit of it before he contiunes. "It's an distress becon, from the old war. As for the forum? The blue posts have been saying the boss is functioning as intended but no one's figured out how to kill it. I half expect it might just be a thing to keep the most hardcore players busy. Not the first time I seen an MMORPG do that." He notes Eisen listens but is still suffering from the debuff, parental unit. "The drop table isn't known as no one downs it but given the level on the quest? It likely be hardware that would make the BoB more interesting given your plans there. If you want it? It's on the house after all you got my little girl back to me." "I'm NOT LITTLE!" "Your not even five six! You are tiny to me!" Eisen just fumes now.
Reker	"You know most of the time if nobody's figured out how to beat it, it's usually it has some kinda mechanic that most people don't see coming. But you'd think people would have started figuring out the mechanics by now.." Reker rubs his chin a bit as he thinks about it. He'll have to look into it if they take it.
Alexis Maaka	Rubbing her chin, Alexis nods curiously. "Could be, yeah. You'd think it would've been patched by now if it was a glitch, but you never know." She says. At the very least it'll be a start, to get status. Status means people might be willing to talk, and that means leads.
Xiaomu	Kanokon scowls briefly. "How long has this particular quest been part of the game? And what level range are we talking about, endgame content?" No, she doesn't particularly buy the 'working as intended' line, thank you very much. "I think you can safely color us interested, though ..." She glances around at her fellow Gatecrashers. "Right?"
Kirito	"Hoh? So even the top-levels can't hack this one?" Kirito knows a challenge when he hears it. Eisen, if she's paying attention despite all the fuming, knows THAT tone of his - and the sharp-eyed shift in his gaze is unmistakable as well. he ends up nodding to Reker. "Well, who knows what the devs have in mind... I've heard about raids beating bosses that were supposed to be invincible before."
Tomoe	Pendragon contiunes on. "It's not drop that comes up too much, given you need an unlock item for it. That would be why I think. Either way it's yours now if you want it. From what I know Kanokon? It's been here since launch." That's the really odd thing about it. "Well then..." He pauses for a moment to check his inventory for it. Meanwhile Eisen comes out of parental burn mode to see? That yes Kirito has got that tone, it's a challenge that's being laid out. "True there was an old japanese made MMORPG likely from before your were old enough to game or even born? That had a boss when someone beat it finally after a 24 hour seige with several high end guilds they claimed they exploited it altered the boss. I don't think it's that, the boss has never been changed." Eisen finally speaks up. "So old guy how about the item hummm?"
Xiaomu	Kanokon groans, reaching up to rub her forehead. "I knew I recognized this ..." Thankfully, her fried tofu is served at about this moment. She starts nomming happily, listening to the further discussion.
Reker	"So when do we want to hit it?" Reker asks, as he looks at Eisen, "Or should we scout it out for a bit first before we go for it? Try to gauge how much firepower we need to bring on this thing."
Alexis Maaka	"Agreed. We'd be better off watching another group do the raid, get intel on this thing's attack patterns if possible." Alexis says, swishing her own drink a little before taking a sip.
Kirito	Kirito's eager to see, so he scoots off his seat and approaches. But aside from eagerness he remains quiet... That is, until someone suggests they wait for another to give it a shot. "It's not a death game. I'll take it head-on. We can gather all the data we need."
Iria	Meanwhile, Iria's been mostly listening in from the side. She hasn't really said much, just sipping her drink and looking a bit out of it. Apparently something happened with Fujikurow and she's mighty pissed about that. Nevertheless, she is paying attention. "It's not gonna be easy, but we have to do it," Iria comments after a moment. "I'm willing to help out however I can."
Tomoe	Eisen just kinda looks to Kanoken as she gets her Tofu. She sighs and nods. Pendragon opens up a trade window with Eisen and gives her the item with out much fuss. "You have fun with that, and no it's not. I'm glad that sort of thing is over." Eisen smirks at Kirito. "There's my friend, welcome back to the world of the living. We can grab information from other attempts I think." Eisen pause at Iria's artrival and give her a nod.