[PP-F5] In the Wake of An Apocalypse

[Teion 0]

And so the young woman cried. She cried until the feeling of emptiness was all that remained, and she felt as though she'd run out of tears. Her forehead pressed against Shield's broad shoulder as she gave a few final sniffles and sharp inhales. Finally, when she felt as though she could face the man once again, she carefully pulled away.

Leaning back to sit herself upright, she gave a final pass over her face with the backs of her hands and palms to dry the lingering moisture. Her eyes were dull and unmotivated, angled downwards as she hesitated to look at Shield's face. "S--" She had only barely made a sound when her voice failed her. She let out a tiny breath and tried again. "Sorry. You didn't--" This time she stopped herself and tried to change the order of her thoughts. "We don't really know each other," She recalled his earlier words. "so I'm sorry you had to deal with this, but... Thank you for coming. For doing this anyway." Teion spoke softly, surprisingly talkative for how completely drained she felt. She felt a thanks and apology were the least she could offer him. If Shield hadn't been here, if she would have been alone when she listened to that recording crystal, the damage would have most certainly been worse.

And yet, despite the comfort and support the man had offered her, Teion felt the small amount of unease that her heart was still capable of after the whole ordeal. She had aired more than a couple of troubling thoughts during her outbursts, and reflecting on her choice of words in the heat of the moment left her a bit uncomfortable.

In the middle of her thoughts, the sound of the storm reached her ears, drawing her attention back to the rest of the world for a brief moment. Her hands rested in her lap, her fingers beginning to fidget lightly among themselves. "You can stay a bit, if you want." She had taken longer than intended to speak up. "At least until the storm dies down." She added on weakly to clarify the invitation.

[Shield 0]

As she spoke, shuffling together her thanks and her apologies, Shield was working his way up onto his feet, offering her a hand to allow her to do the same. Once she was up and stable on her legs, he took a step closer to her and wrapped his arms around her back in an actual hug. He didn't hold on for long, because he knew she was already embarrassed, and from the sounds of things was kicking herself for showing what was normal human weakness. Still, he gave her one good squeeze before he released her and spoke.

"All I had to 'deal with' was a person who's grieving," he said simply. "If you think you need to apologize for that, then that's honestly a little silly. If you two really cared about each other, then I wouldn't expect anything less than what I've seen today. So don't feel like you have to feel embarrassed or anything about any of that."

He waved his hand through the air between them as if to sweep away the ridiculous notion. He then rested it on her shoulder and helped guide her to the nearby bench, gesturing for her to sit before doing so himself, facing forward so that they were not looking at one another. He listened to the sounds of the storm for a little while. It was a little bit soothing to him, in a way.

"There's a practice in Jewish tradition called 'sitting shiva,' which comes from the Hebrew word for 'seven,' I believe," he spoke aloud to the emptiness of the room. He continued staring ahead, giving her a minute to herself without feeling like she was being examined or scrutinized. "I'm not Jewish, nor are any of my family, but it's a tradition that makes a lot of sense. The name refers to the length of the practice. Basically, when someone loses a loved one, a friend or relative will offer to stay with them for a week. Yeah, we don't really know each other, but the absolute worst thing you could do to yourself right now is to be alone with your thoughts for long periods of time. Honestly, I could use the company too. I don't need to stay the night or anything, and we both have to run our shops during business hours, but you'll have pretty steady customers to keep you occupied during those times, which is much better than having nothing to occupy you at all."

The panes of the windows creaked under the unusual air pressure of the storm, but they showed no sign of excessive straining or cracking. It was just the result of a little blustering.

"If we don't have anything to talk about, we can always take out a chess board or do something simple, even just grinding for materials, just to pass the time and keep your mind off of darker things," he added, shrugging along with his words. "Like I said, I don't much like the idea of being alone with my thoughts right now either, so you're not going to be a bother. But I think it would be good for you. We've got some time until the storm clears, so use that time to think about it at least. I know we keep saying we don't know each other, but don't use that as an excuse. Everybody needs people, and it sounds like you don't have a lot of them around right now."

Some people might hear those last words and take them to be a little rude, but right now, there was value in not dancing around difficult topics. He felt like he needed to call things as he saw them. Hopefully she would understand and at least appreciate the honesty, if not the bluntness.

"Besides," he continued, leaning back on the bench to look at the ceiling of the smithy, "I think for not having gotten to know each other a lot before this, we kinda get each other. Neither of us are usually very big talkers, and we take the things that we do seriously. The visit has been... hard, but it hasn't been bad for me in any sense. We're both kinda grieving. It's going to feel like this for a while now. I mean, there's a reason that sitting shiva lasts for a whole week, right?"

[Teion 0]

It was amazing what the simplest of human interaction could do to a person. Teion had stood frozen in place as she registered the man's embrace, though her shock stemmed more from the unexpectedness of his actions rather than discomfort. He pulled away and offered her more reassurance. The words elicited a very small and weak smile on the woman's face, but a smile nonetheless. She gave a slight nod in acknowledgement to his point, offering no resistance when he then guided her to take another seat.

Teion's hands rested in her lap, still coated with uneven marks of red leftover from their fight. Her health bar had risen since the duel's conclusion, but it would be a few minutes longer before she would appear unscathed once more. Meanwhile, a heaviness was draped over her like a weighted blanket. Luckily, she needn't dwell on the feeling for too long before Shield provided another distraction with his words. She listened silently to his description of a tradition she had never heard of before, feeling a dulled sense of intrigue when he explained it in detail. Her eyes drifted between basic pieces of furniture. Weapon racks and armor displays that were rarely occupied lent an emptiness to the smithy, serving as a reminder of how little she'd focused on her profession in past weeks. Perhaps some more crafting would do her well--channeling her leftover feelings through the creative outlet had the potential to benefit her in more ways than one.

It was strange to hear Shield offer his company to her. Specifically for somewhat regular intervals over the span of a week. It wasn't as though she thought of him as lacking compassion, but rather that such offers were foreign to her. She felt a faint sense of apprehension, but it quickly subsided. The man was respectful and considerate, and despite them not knowing much about how the other worked, she felt some truth to his words. They did kind of get each other. She found herself leaning back as well, pulling her eyes away from the sight of empty displays and other lackluster works she had been unable to take pride in. The end of his words gave way to silence, and she found herself unsure of what to say. The more she thought about it, the more she came to agree that loneliness would be the thing to destroy her. Perhaps Beatbox had seen that.

She drew in a long breath through her nose, allowing the air to escape through a crack between her lips after holding it inside of her for a second. Her thumbs lightly pushed against each other while she opened her mouth to speak. "Well," Her voice was steadier, similar to when she had first greeted the man outside of her shop. A sense of weariness was present in her tone, but otherwise it seemed as though the loudest of her emotions had run their course.

"I think you're right. About a lot of things." She realized the vagueness of her comments immediately after they left her. "You can probably put some pieces together. I... There are a couple of people from the real world that I know here." She began to speak a bit more slowly so as to avoid stopping and restarting her sentences as her thoughts came together. "All of us changed pretty quickly. Eventually we fought, and even after things blew over I resented them for what they did. I felt like I was better off on my own." Hearing herself, she thought her actions sounded cliche and rather foolish. And yet, she couldn't imagine reaching out to the Endilix twins again. After their last encounter, perhaps it really was best for her to simply move on. "So, that's the me you're used to." She admitted. "I stopped trying to make friends. I just kind of wandered, and tried to get through life here." She took in another sharp breath, trying to avoid more words of self-pity. "Anyway, Beatbox-- He was almost as stubborn as I am." There was little point to her words. She spoke mainly to fill the silence, but it felt natural, and it felt as though she simply needed somewhere else for all the stray thoughts to go.

[Shield 0]

"You're in for a storm," Shield said, his voice low and quiet. It was not a growl. If anything, it seemed like a tone of gentle warning. "Grief is never linear track. Each day is going to be its own struggle. There are going to be times when you want to be by yourself, and there are going to be times when you can't stand to be alone. I find the latter to be much harder to handle."

There was a faint and steady chittering rising in the background from light particles of sand and grit bouncing lightly off of the windows, but other than that, the bare shop stood in relative silence. Shield kept his eyes forward, his hands sitting on his knees as he tried to retrace his past experience of loss. From the sound of things, Teion had lost friends, but never really at the hands of death before. It would be best to know more about the beast she was going to be grappling.

"There are going to be a lot of days where you wake up and think to yourself 'what happened isn't okay,' or 'I wish I could go back.' Those are both very fair thoughts to have," he said, though the hesitation in his tone said that 'fair' didn't just mean that was the end of the matter. "Still, those are brick walls. You can't get around them. Something doesn't have to be 'okay' for it to be. It just is. And there's no sense in lingering on the desire to return. Those thoughts can be obsessive, which is why it's best to not be left alone with them, at least not right away."

There were deep lines under his eyes, though whether they were from exhaustion or if he really suddenly just looked older was hard to say in the dim light of the closed shop. His thumb ran over and over again along the folds of fabric on his knee, tracing lines along the textured edges of the rough material.

"And be patient with yourself," he added with a heavy nod of his head. "There will be days even as you start to move on when you encounter places or thoughts or things that have reminders tied up in them, and those will be things and places and thoughts that you hadn't made peace with yet. Those moments will feel like back-sliding, like you're losing progress and ripping off scabs, but like I said, it's not a straight line of progress. It's a little like..." he cast his thoughts about for a good analogy. This shop reminded him of his own, which brought to mind his tools of appraisal, in particular his jeweler's loupe. "It's like shining up a gem. There are countless facets, each of which needs to be shined up. Sometimes, you turn it and find a few sides you missed, but that doesn't mean your work so far was a waste. You just found one more part that needs to be addressed."

[Teion 0]

The reality of Shield's words gradually sank into her core. Teion leaned back, looking up to the slotted wood ceiling. "You're not a stranger to this kind of stuff, huh?" If he was, the woman would be amazed. It felt as though every word he picked out, every phrase and analogy held a familiarity, like they were born from experience more than anything else. And so, she let out a heavy breath. Likely one of countless more to come, as the days ahead of her would drag on.

But she wasn't aiming to pry into Shield's own life. She wasn't even sure how she felt discussing her own. The most painful pieces were the unfinished ones. His sister was still out there...probably. Before the thought of the unknown girl could begin to eat away at her, she gave a light shake of her head. Perhaps that was something she could bring herself to share, but not now. Not when she was still feeling so lost herself.

"I feel like I would much rather be fighting a floor boss right about now." She said with a tiny, bitter smile as she stared off into the distance. She assumed Shield had his fair share of experience with the beasts, although she had never taken on anything more than a field boss. She suddenly wondered if she should be setting her sights a little higher.

[Shield 0]

Shield gave another slow nod at Teion's guess as to his familiarity with these matters. He wasn't sure how much he should get into things, but he also suspected that she would probably not ask even if she wanted to know. He settled for a vague response, and if anything caught her interest enough to ask, he would answer what he could.

"I've been around for a while longer than most of the players around here," he replied, shrugging slightly. "In general, the older you get, the more people you lose. Relatives, grandparents, friends... It's inevitable. Even things aside from deaths. Honestly, grief is grief. It isn't always a person that you lose, but a way of life that you might love and now miss, or even just a separation from a living person... or people... that can't be overcome."

He stared down at his hands, willing himself to momentarily stop suspending the disbelief that most players avoided to keep their sanity. The hands in front of his face were not his own. They were phantoms. It was like seeing his rib cage in the mirror and momentarily understanding that it was his skeleton hiding beneath his skin. Yes, intellectually, he knew that was always the case, but to make the sudden switch from 'a skeleton' to 'my skeleton' called mortality into the forefront of one's mind. He looked at the mental prison that was shaped like his body, and for a moment, he saw it for what it was. It was the thing keeping him anchored to this world, away from the life he left behind.

He pulled his mind away from that spectacle, thinking over her observation of preferences of what she would prefer to fight.

"I think that if you couldn't handle my thorns, then trying to take on a floor boss right now is a surefire way to see Beatbox than either of you want," he said, his tone heavy and laced with foreboding. "If that's something you want for the future, then by all means, you can work your way to that point, but the next floor boss raid is only in a matter of days. Even if it were possible to train your level up by then, I wouldn't recommend it."

 

[Teion 0]

A sad, ironic puff of air escaped through Teion's nose while the corners of her mouth turned up into a wry smile. No, she didn't want to walk the same path as the swordsman. His want for validation and urge to protect left him with far too little regard for his own well-being. She wasn't as loved as Beatbox by any means. There would be few who would mourn her death. But even so, she couldn't allow herself to lose her sense of value in life.

Teion dropped her head, mulling over Shield's words. "Nobody could ever take his place. Not really. But I think... it's only fair that someone tries to fill out the gaps a bit." She had no idea if she was frontliner material. Not now, of course, and probably not for a good while, if she was serious. But after the wounds began to heal and her level would steadily rise, perhaps there was a chance that she could find a well of courage hiding somewhere inside of her.

"But that's for another time." She breathily thought aloud, leaning forward now and resting her forearms against her knees. She pulled up her right palm so as to place her cheek in it and her head rocked gently to the side.

[Shield 0]

"That's what guilds are for," Shield said matter of factly. "It's not any one person's job to make up for anything. The Ascendants talked, and we do plan to step up our recruiting and training. If you would also like to step up, by all means that's an admirable pursuit. But don't feel like you have to," he concluded. There was a slight edge to his tone as he finished his thought.

The last thing we need is for players to step onto the battlefield and risk their lives before they're ready.

There seemed to be something more behind those words though, aside from just the obvious topic of combat ability. He couldn't quite place it, but the little scoff before her comment seemed to speak volumes about a story about which Shield had not read the cliff notes. There was a small debate in his brain about the potential harms of prying deeper, but with a reaction like that, it was likely fueled by something significant. It might help him be a better support to her.

"I'm not sure if I understand you fully," he admitted, his eyes focused downward onto the palm of his hand where his other fingers traced shapes on the skin. "Is there something more to that thought?"

The ball was in her court now. He wouldn't press it if she refused to swing, but he figured he might as well loft her a serve anyway.

[Teion 0]

Teion was suddenly reminded of the Celestial Ascendants--of guilds in general, really. It was as if she had forgotten the amount of coordination, teamwork, and planning that really went into clearing floors. She had already arranged a business deal with Sey, but a tinge of guilt touched her heart when she realized how little she had been doing to uphold her duties as what she called herself, a 'dedicated blacksmith'. That title was far from fitting as of late.

She blinked when his words nudged at her earlier statement. Her mind felt like such a jumbled mess and she was uneasy trying to put together a coherent explanation. Her fingers began to slowly entwine and curl around each other as she mumbled, "Mmm...it's..." Her shoulders fell slightly while wrestling with her thoughts. "It's almost like..." She tried again after a few moments, "if a member of a raid group...dropped," While she was only pulling from her knowledge of other games she had played in the past, it pained her to use such a comparison. "and they were left with a hole, they might try to find someone who can do the same role. But it's putting a different piece into the hole that doesn't perfectly fit into all the crevices." She listened to herself ramble on.

Teion pulled one of her hands from fidgeting with the other up to her collarbone, grasping for a section of violet hair to twirl around it. At the same time, she felt an anxious knot forming in her stomach and gave a small clearing of her throat as if to try and loosen it a bit. "Sorry, maybe I just didn't use the right words. I'm not good at this." She mumbled out.

[Shield 0]

Shield shook his head, dismissing the notion that she had failed to answer the question. It had been a vague question. There was something in her tone that made it seem like she was saying more than the face value of her words, but whatever it was, it would have to wait for another time. This was likely more than she was used to speaking period, let alone about such big, painful topics.

"Don'e let yourself worry too much about all of that," he finally concluded. "It's never one player's job to completely fix those sorts of situations on their own." Reaching over he placed a hand on top of her fingers to stop her fidgeting. "We work together, otherwise the odds are stacked too heavily against us. You don't need to do his part. Just do your part, and when possible, increase your abilities so you can do your part even better."

He gave her hand another pat before returning his own to his lap. Out of the corner of his eye, he glanced at the items that had been left behind. Something clicked as he glanced over them, and he suddenly realized what the gems were.

They must have been working on the Dragon Hunter Anthology. I guess without Beat, I'm stuck without anyone to do those quests with. It's a little soon to suggest taking someone's place on that kind of journey, but as she catches up to where I am, that is a possibility. For another time and another conversation though.

[Teion 0]

"M-mmm." A mumble hesitated in her throat. Teion gave a small nod with his words and the constant motion of her fingers was calmed with his touch. A sense of discomfort--as that and weariness were all that were left in her--still lingered, and she had to actively deter herself from beginning to play with her hands, clothes, or hair again. Taking in a deep breath through her nose, she exhaled slowly. Still leaning forward, Teion laced her fingers and cast a quick sideways glance towards Shield before looking back down at her hands.

"I don't think I make good company. I'm not sure what we could do, or even talk about. But if you want... I wouldn't mind if you came to visit." She almost felt a bit guilty at the thought of Shield coming to the harsh desert just to be a nearby presence. But after thinking about, Teion had come to the conclusion that she really had no one else. Tracking down the twins was a bad idea, even if she somehow managed to succeed. The only other name that came to mind was Piera, and Teion hadn't been able to get a hold of her for weeks now, which brought another thing to worry about to mind.

[Shield 0]

"That a fact?" Shield said after her comment on the quality of her company. "Well, I don't mind company that isn't particularly talkative. Don't worry. I don't need you to entertain me or impress me." He stood and put his hands on the backs of his hips, arching his back and pushing with his hands to stretch. "Well, it doesn't seem like this storm is calming down any time soon. If I'm heading back, I may as well do so sooner rather than later. I think we both need some rest."

With that, Shield took out a teleportation crystal from his menus and took a moment to glance over at Teion. She was fidgeting, but she seemed to be done with her tears, at least for now. With a slight nod, he turned towards the door.

"If you need anything, you know how to contact me," he added, his tone heavy with all of the possibilities that came along with grief. It felt uncomfortable leaving her alone, but knowing what he knew about her, she would be needing some time between now and his next visit.

"Take care," he said, adding, "and I'll see you tomorrow."

With that, he crushed the crystal in his hand and vanished in a flash of light. Meanwhile, on the eleventh floor, Shield materialized in his little one room house. It was as empty as ever. The unruly-haired man slumped onto the couch, both hands burying themselves in his hair. With nobody else around that he needed to be strong for, he finally let his resolve crumble. His shoulders shook silently as he let his own floodgates truly begin to open. Lilith slithered a little ways out of his sleeve, her tiny face an inch from his own and flicking his forehead with her tasting tongue. All the while, he sobbed noiselessly into the stillness of the room which was interrupted only occasionally by the soft roar and popping of the fire.

Edited August 31, 2017 by Shield

[Teion 0]

It took a while for Teion to pick herself up from the bench. Whistling winds and creaking boards were the only sounds left to fill the silence after Shield disappeared, and their sporadic noises did little to calm the woman's tired mind.

Eventually she would get to her feet and walk solemnly over to the counter once more. Her hand reached out towards Shi's Talon at first, freezing in mid-air for a second before she slowly wrapped her fingers around the hilt. The sword felt heavy when she lifted it, as if the black steel carried the same weight that had been pulling down on her heart for hours now.

With the items Beatbox had left behind placed carefully in her inventory, Teion lay silent and motionless in bed during the night that followed. Her glazed eyes stared ahead as she reflected on the past hours in somber silence. She hadn't bothered to change her clothes, thin taut fabric clung to her body underneath her leather bodice. She could only assume that feeling lost would be the norm for a while. What did she usually do to pass the time? Lately, she would go out and 'play the game'. Questing, leveling, farming--whatever managed to keep her busy and give her some kind of benefit. But now, when even the most basic tasks felt exhausting, she wondered what she would do to try and distract herself from her thoughts. She spent the remainder of the night staring listlessly off into the distance while a dark, dreamless sleep awaited her.

The next day, Teion wasn't sure when she had finally woke up. The sun already hung high above her roof when she squinted out of the tiny window that decorated her storage/bedroom. Her shop was closed, as it had been for the past few days, and more often than not even up to a few weeks prior. She thought about dragging herself out of bed, but immediately questioned what the point would be in doing so.

[Shield 0]

The morning hit like a boulder, Aincrad's artificial sun filtering through the window of the little house at the base of the eleventh floor's mountains. As much as it made the backs of his eyes ache, Shield knew that he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep. He sat upright, dragging his feet under his knees to support his posture as he tried to force his brain into a state that was cognizant enough of the world around him to function.

Dragging his fingers unsteadily through the air, he summoned up a communications window, creating a fresh message to Teion. He tried to think of a way to ask how she felt, but such questions tended to come across as trite and were easy to brush off. Instead he settled on something simple and concrete that might serve as a good yardstick for a grieving mind.

Quote

Did you sleep?

He forced himself up onto his feet despite the protests from his head which told him to crawl back into bed. Although the previous day had been rough for him, with repeated instances of taking care of others, he did not envy those over which he had been watching. Teion especially would not have an easy time of today.

Shield made his way over to the neighboring building which was Beat's closed and abandoned shop. He took out a few eggs and a hunk of boar's belly from the food materials bin and tapped the meat with the carving knife to reduce it into strips of bacon.

[Teion 0]

Teion had been staring with half-open eyes at the structure of her smithy. Nothing else had presented itself for her to focus on, nothing else came to distract her or keep her preoccupied. Sleep refused to take her back. For a long while she had simply been alone in a quiet room with her thoughts.

The somewhat familiar chime that played in her ears was plenty to rouse her back to reality. She didn't have to wonder who the sender of the message she had received was once the memory of yesterday's events resurfaced. After navigating her menus and pulling up Shield's straightforward message, she tapped on the option to reply. A blank text box hovered above her for a long while as she thought of how to respond. It was a simple question, leaving one to think a simple answer would suffice. Normally, Teion was much more expressive and wordy when communicating through texts, a habit that developed years ago. Staring up at the keyboard in front of her, however, she had no motivation for friendliness. She let out a sigh through her nose, finally lifting a finger to press a few keys before hitting 'Send'.

Quote

Yeah

The menus disappeared and she was left staring back at the rafters on the ceiling. Her head fell to the side and she looked through the open door to the rest of her workshop. Yesterday she had thought about how she wanted to work her way up to the frontlines, and today she couldn't be bothered to stand. Shield was right. She had several instances since waking where she wished that yesterday had just been a bad dream. That she could pull up her friends list and send Beatbox a message. That she could call him over and he would say her name with a smile.

Teion felt a lump forming in her throat and hot tears stinging the corners of her eyes. She brought up the back of a gloved hand to wipe them away, rolling over onto her side as she tried to combat the rolling waves of emotion.

@Shield

[Shield 0]

A sharp knock rang through the shop, accompanied shortly by a familiar voice from outside. The sounds were muffled through the door, but the words and identity of the speaker were still distinct.

"It's me," Shield called out, looking either way on the flattened, sandy landscape around him.

It's already getting on with the day and she didn't open her shop. Looks like it's a good thing I decided to come over first to check on her. She may have slept, but the brevity doesn't seem to indicate that she did so for long, or at least not peacefully, which is about what should be expected.

He peered carefully through the window, and sure enough, the inside seemed dark and desolate, not unlike the night before, only with two fewer people inside to take up space. He waited patiently, looking to the blue, hazy sky, the edges of which seemed to have sandy clouds encroaching upon their borders. Even the sky seemed to be covered in sand up here.

This may be a long week. Then again, such weeks usually are.

[Teion 0]

It would have been untrue if Teion said she hadn't been expecting Shield to make a reappearance. After all, she had given him permission to do so, and he seemed like the type of person to always follow-through on his commitments.

The woman almost felt like pouting, as childish as it was. She had managed to prevent the floodgates from opening and keep her emotions more-or-less in check, but she was feeling just as apathetic and lethargic as the previous night. Regardless of how miserable she wanted to feel for herself, Teion knew that she couldn't ignore the person waiting outside of her door.

First sitting herself up, she swung her legs over the side of the bed. Her toes found the wooden floor, and she rubbed one last time at her eyes before pushing herself to stand. Overall, it had taken a minute or two for Teion to finally get to the door when she pulled it open. There stood the same tall brunette that had done his best to ease her pain the night before. She forced a tiny smile to her face, at least to indicate that she was thankful for his visit, and stepped aside so that he could enter. "Hey." She greeted him simply.

[Shield 0]

"Hey," replied Shield with a tip of his head. He stepped inside and took a quick look around before turning back to Teion. "Seems like I caught you resting, which is honestly not a bad thing for you to be doing. Go and lay back down if you like," he said, giving her a gentle nudge towards the back of the shop. "I've got to tend to my inventory and organize a few things, so don't worry about having to entertain me. If you're tired, go lay down."

With that, he took a seat beside the counter of the shop and opened up his menus, thumbing through items and moving them from one section to another. He had a more than modest sum of tier three items in his inventory that he needed to put up for sale in his shop, if nothing else to clear some of the clutter in his pack.

"Don't worry," he reassured her, knowing that if nothing else she would likely be slugging to comply. "I've got plenty to do out here."

He made a little shooing motion with his hand before turning back to his work.

[Teion 0]

Teion's mind was still weary, but she didn't think it was that sluggish. She blinked, both surprised at Shield's urging and unsure of what else she would have expected from the man. She felt a bit uncomfortable at the thought of going back to lazing about, and as if he had predicted her reluctance she watched Shield give a small wave of his hand.

A small frown rested on her lips after she had crawled back into bed. There was something nagging at the back of her mind telling her that she shouldn't be resting while there was a guest in her shop. Given the circumstances, however, she had little fuel for the businesswoman in her. So, for a while at least, she tried to simply take solace in the presence on the other side of the wall. She lay on her back, staring up at the ceiling for some time with her fingers laced together and resting on top of her stomach. She wasn't sure how much time had passed when she opened her mouth to speak. "Hey... Is there anything you do for fun?" She asked in a small voice.

Teion had often struggled with the answer to that question herself. Gaming had always been her hobby in the real world, aside from an occasional movie night with her cat. Had Sword Art Online existed as they all believed it would have, she was positive that it would have consumed her free time. Living in, and being surrounded by, this virtual world continued to grow more mentally exhausting with each day instead.

[Shield 0]

As Teion returned to her bed, Shield set about to work on the main floor, keeping the noise to a minimum as much as possible as he set about cleaning. It wasn't that dust or grime accumulated in the virtual space, but every human space, whether virtual or otherwise, tended to accumulate clutter. Some shelves were cluttered and unorganized. Others were altogether bare. Regardless, he kept his bumping and scraping to a minimum.

Having a clean space can't fix things, but an outer mess does contribute to an inner mess.

humming to himself to both cover the sounds and keep his mind occupied. Without realizing his choice of songs, his mind had settled upon the same song that his daughter had sung ad nauseam years ago, the sparse lyrics that he remembered sliding in and out of his mind without laving any real footprint behind.

I know you... hmmm hmmm hmmm... once upon a dream...

It was a lilting waltz of a tune that he more or less remembered, though unless someone was incredibly familiar with classic children's movies, they might struggle to place it. By the time Teion's question broke his rhythm, he had already cleared most of the clutter and straightened out the displays.

"The last time I did something for fun, I couldn't wake up from it," he joked, though he was sure that humor could only go so far. "In all honesty, most of what I do for fun is to try to make a name for myself as a merchant. I've more or less hit a wall there. The mercantile skill tree isn't as vast as for item crafters, and I've long since maxed it out."

He turned armor stand in front of him slightly more towards the door so that it would face towards inbound customers. Stepping back for a moment to get a better look, he stepped forward once again to straighten the helm that rested on its false head.