Ryo

Ryo held his palms out. "Hey, that's fine," he said, confirming that it was alright for Teion to not share her dream with him. It was probably better that she didn't anyway. She then mentioned that she was stuck in the past. "I think we're all stuck in the past. I mean, I'm trying to forget what I've done and become someone different from who I was after all." Ryo said, still trying to find the courage to seek forgiveness. Teion then posed him a counter question. "What did I dream about?" He repeated. "Well, nothing special really. I mean,  it was special, to me that is. Just a run of the mill sort of thing, ya know?" Ryo said, lying his cheeks glowing pink. Ryo crossed his legs and leaned on his knees, hoping that Teion bought his bold lie and wouldn't notice his tells.

Ryo leaned back in his chair, his plate now empty of food. Teion had explained that she had a confusing dream, where she had seen Beatbox die, and someone else she didn't even know. Ryo pondered the thought. He wasn't a major of dream science or anything of that sort, but he did know that that kind of dream wasn't good. "So, who killed them? In your dream I mean." Ryo asked, pressuring on with the question as he added his plate back to his inventory. "And what do you think about? The future or the past?" Ryo asked, further pondering the idea. It would also help him figure out what he had been missing if Teion would give him an answer. And hopefully, after all of this conversation, a walk would be in order. Again he would keep his dream a secret, unwilling to share his more intimate dream with the woman he just so had to have sat across from him.

Ryo chuckled. "Yeah here's hoping." He said, taking another bite of his food. he chewed it for a moment, then swallowed before speaking again. "Still though, if I'm trapped with someone. I'm glad it's you." He said giving Teion a warm smile. Ryo was curious though. "What kind of dream was it? If I am allowed to ask, that is." He said, not wanting to sound to upfront about it, but he needed something to talk about and subjects were becoming harder to grab. He felt like he already knew about Teion and her history. But he didn't know a thing about her future. What she wanted, where she saw herself, where she wanted to go. None of it. He couldn't place her ambitions other than just trying to survive another day. He ate another few bites from his plate, unsure of what to ask her next.

Ryo had a fork full of egg halfway to his mouth as Teion apologized for him. "I'm sorry?" He retorted. "I mean, if you don't want it, I'll eat your portion." Ryo said joking. He ate a few his eggs, moving on to his pancakes. "Look, cooking is what I like to do. It was a passion of mine for a long time. And if I get to do it again, for a pretty girl who enjoys it, I'll keep doing it." Ryo said, making his point clear to her. He enjoyed cooking, well enough to actually study it and at one point make it a career of his. Ryo looked up at Teion and remembered his dream about her. His face flushed a brighter red as he thought about it more. He shook his head and went back to his food. "You sleep okay? Normally I can't get a good night's rest when I sleep on a couch." Ryo said, asking Teion and trying to get his mind off of his lewd dream.

Ryo sheathed his weapon as Hestia began her attack. He was already confident that she would kill the warg, and get the drop. And wasn't surprise when exactly that happened.  Ryo clapped at Hestias performance, and kill. "That was a nice clean kill, congratulations." He said complimenting her. "That's it then? Lezz'go" He said, eager to get the quest completed. He followed Hestia talking to her about all the food ideas he had in store to make for her and Teion. He talked about what to make depending on the time of day, and weither or not itll be sweet. This continued for most of the walk until Ryo realized that he was beginning to ramble the same things over again. Ryo cut his ramblings short, and laughed. "Yeah, I am kind of excited. It's not every day I get to cook for people other than myself and enjoy it." He said sheepishly.

Ryo went to attack the Warg. The warg dashed forward a few feet, underneath Ryo's feet causing him to fall on his face, and roll over. "You didn't see that." He said, raising a finger at Hestia. Ryo picked himself up off the ground, dusting himself off. "I swear to god though, I'm going to destroy this Warg if it's the last thing I do." He said angrily to the beast. Ryo fixed his hair, as he thought a thought. Would Teion be upset about a date? He meant, he had already taken Teion out on a date, albeit by accident. He remembered the awkward moment clearly. He had learned that her last boyfriend had died, and he took advantage of that to get a date with the woman. "Hestia, that thing is still bleeding. Can you just like, tickle it or something and let it die already?" He said, tired of the entire encounter.

Ryo unequipped his leather jacket, letting his sleeveless shirt cover his body instead of the heavy jacket. On other floors it was fine, but this one just made him miserable. "That's the spirit Spenc." Ryo said, complimenting his friend. "I'm more than confident that you can do it!" Ryo said, giving his confidence in his friend. Ryo's shoes buried themselves in the sand as they walked. Spencer introduced himself to Teion, and vice versa. A few seconds later, Spencer asked him another question. "Oh, it's fine. Haven't really done much except with it. What with being busy and all." Ryo admitted sadly. He had joined another guild and had nearly abandoned it completely. They even had a Christmas party, that he avoided going to. He had no right to be there, not until Jomei knew the truth about him and the things he had done. Ryo sighed, letting the sand envelop him, none of it caused damage just mild irritations.

ID: 94987 CD: 4

Ryo gave the idea a quick thought. "That's, actually not a bad idea." He mulled the plan over in his mind some more. Invite Teion over for some Valentines Day sweets, invite Hestia over and her girlfriend. They would converse and mingle some and then leave. Leaving Ryo and Teion alone, in his house, on Valentine's day. It was such a simple idea, but it could work if he played his cards right. but what could he do? What would he make? His thoughts ran wild. Cholate strawberries came to mind. Something simple, and sweet made sense. "Alright, mark your calendar. Let's make it a date." He said, giving Hestia a joke. He prepared to attack the Warg, but it heard him coming and pressed low against the ground letting Ryo's blade sail over it and dashed away. "Are you kidding me!?" Ryo cursed his luck, still unable to his something that couldn't move.

Ryo did his best to weave and dodge the Venom Snapper, but his long and heavy blade only slowed him down. The Venom Snapper manage to get a good clip in and leap back. Ryo's HP regen kicked in, and he was closer to a wolf. So instead of going after the snapper for the second time, he figured a dead wolf would serve a better purpose. His katana was brought down, and the undamaged wolf was brought to pixels with great ease. Now Hestia could focus a bit better without having to worry about another mob on her. "Alright. You were right, this is way too easy." Ryo said, not even remotely worried about the wellbeing of the two in this fight. The fight was child's play. His basically undid all the damage the Venom Snapper did to him with natural regen, and he still had his antidote effect in play. "Now that you mention it, a double date doesn't sound so bad. But I mean, we're not dating so would that be a good idea?" He asked aloud, still trying to avoid the warg. "A bit of a hand here?" He asked, annoyed at the creature.

Ryo laid still, fast asleep on the chair unmoving except the steady breathing of his chest. He stirred slightly as Teion draped the blanket over him. Ryo's body began to shift some more, becoming a bit more restless. His body moved, and Ryo began talking in his sleep, albeit only slightly. Amongst the various sleepy groans, and yawnings a name was given out. "Teion..." He said, giving a sleepy smile, before rolling back over in his chair. Minutes would pass before Ryo sat up in the chair, the blanket falling from his torso and onto the floor.

He looked a bit confused, he didn't remember the blanket being there. He looked over at the couch, eyeing the Teion reading a book. "Good morning lovely." He said, still half asleep. He stood up, grabbing the blanket from the floor and giving it a quick fold. He went back into the hall and set the blanket on the foot of the bed. He moved from the bedroom and into the kitchen where he began to prepare breakfast for the two. His brain had to think carefully back to the sleepy hours of last night to remember that they had decided on pancakes for the second time. That worked for him as he still had some batter left over from the day before.

A few minutes in the kitchen and a much better breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and eggs were made. Ryo again brought a plate to Teion with appropriate sides. A choice of sweet maple or strawberry syrup and fresh fruit were provided to help the meal along.

Ryo chuckled. "Yeah, it's been a good while. Sorry for not messaging you. I was trying to clear my mind of a lot of things, and got caught up in some kind of event thing with Teion." Ryo said, trying to explain his absence to his friend. Ryo looked at Spencer took out a scarf, and an umbrella. The umbrella made sense, but the scarf did not. "We're to go out, and find some missing supplies. Most likely, is that they were lost when a sandstorm hit. And if I learned anything from desert levels in video games, is that when we get there another sandstorm will hit our location. So there's gotta be a cave nearby it. So it should be easy spotting it." Ryo said, hypothesizing most of it. Ryo removed his jacket, unable to bear the heat from it anymore. Spencer had a scarf on, and Teion friggin lived here. They had to be demons is a past life.  Ryo thought to himself as his feet shifted sands below.

ID: 94937 CD: 6

Ryo lay awake, his chest hurting. He gripped his chest, trying to choke back his sadness. It was a joke, all in good fun. And if so, why did it hurt so? After hours of lying awake, unable to shake the feeling of dread, and sadness. He offered to share the bed as a joke, he didn't expect her to actually say yes. And he was the fool to take it seriously. His hands shook, and Ryo knew that he needed to walk or something to get this out of his head. He stepped out into the hallway, and the first thing he noticed was that Teion was uncovered and the fire was dying. He sighed and grabbed the blanket from the bed, and covered up the violet-haired woman. He stepped over to the fireplace and tossed in a few more logs to get it back to its normal size. Ryo sat down in the chair across from Teion and watched as her shoulders dipped up and down from her breathing. "I wish I could show you, just how much I can love you." Ryo said to himself, believing that Teion was asleep. Ryo relaxed more, his body becoming heavier. He slumped down in the chair, his head bobbing up and down as he entered sleep.

A few more hours pass and the sun of daybreak entered the room, making the floorboards glow as the suns rays touched the grainy wood. Ryo still slept in this chair, finally able to fall asleep.

Ryos face calmed down slightly as Teion began her chuckle. "Oh yes. It was a joke." He said, somewhat solemnly. Of course it was, why would she be serious. He gave a smile but for a different reason that Teion was. She found her joke funny, while he found it funny that he could be so stupid to believe that it was real. Ryo laughed before giving Teion a slight slap on the shoulder. "You had me going for a moment there." He said walking to the bedroom. "I'll see you in the morning. Pancakes again?" He asked. After getting a response Ryo nodded and went into the room and closed the door. The window was open, causing the drapes to move gently in the slightest breeze. Ryo closed the window, the wood squeaking as it did. Ryo sat down on the bed, and lied down his face burried deep into the pillow. His sleep couldn't come fast enough.

Ryo rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "Ha yeah, I figured you take the couch. I'll go ahead and get the bed red-" He cut himself off as he realized what Teion had actually said. She did just say it was alright for them to sleep together? Didn't she? He checked in his words, and was unable to move. He stared out into space as his face turned into a pink hue, then fulley evolved into a deep red. He began to stammer, unable to get words out at first, but grasping at some finally after a few attempts. "I-I-I mean, i-if you're f-fine with it, then, then, then I'm to-totally down for it. I mean sleeping, not like sleeping sleeping. Like, that kind of adult sleeping but like just sleeping. Unless you'd be fine with, but then I would want to make sure that you're okay with it all and I'm just gonna shut my mouth now " He said, trying to remove his foot from his mouth. But where did that attitude of hers come from anyway? Was she actually wanting to sleep beside him, or was she just going along with his joke. Ryo calmed down, albiet only to speak. His face remained warm to touch, and bright red. "After you then?" He asked, holding out a hand for Teion. 

Ryo smiled at Teion as he hungrily devoured his meal. "Really? You mean it?" He asked with a hint of sarcasm in his tone. Despite the shadows in the basement, today was a fairly nice evening. The two had shared something interesting about one another, they shared a fine meal, and they were sitting together. Ryo was happy. Here he was with a wonderful woman, that he loved who enjoyed his cooking. Ryo couldn't help but smile as he ate.

After he had finished he re-added his utensils to his inventory. It was nice not having to clean things anymore. Saved precious minutes of time. Ryo dusted the crumbs from his sandwich off of himself and the couch and stood up. He stretched and let out a small yawn. His torn clothing stretching with him. "Aight, question time. You want the bed or the couch?" He asked Teion. "Unless you wanna share the bed, I think this one is big enough for two bodies." He said, taking the last option as a joke more than anything.

Ryo stared at the fire as it grew and he listened to Teion. He chuckled with her, as he took the spot next to her. "I had no intention of hurting your pride." He explained. "I saw you get drug down there into that hole. I panicked. My body acted before my mind could, and I did everything I could to make sure that you were okay." He admitted, not sure if that statement was going to sting at her pride or not. "I'm not the best, whenever I'm alone. I need that outside source telling me 'good job' or 'keep it up'." He said, leaning back on the couch. "I feel like I rely too much on others at times." Ryo admitted, his face turned into a shade of red. Ryo placed a hand on Teions thigh and gave it a pat as he stood up. "Hungry?" He asked as he made his way into the kitchen. "I found some supplies here, most likely left after the last person who owned the place." Ryo explained.

Ryo grabbed a few utensils from the kitchen and went to work. Grabbing a pot from under the sink, and filling it with water he placed it on the heater. Letting the water heat, Ryo produced a few tomatoes from his inventory. Using the menu shortcuts and his skill in cooking he diced one, and turned the other into a paste. When the water was at the correct temperature, he added the tomatoes, alongside some stock and pepper. He stirred it, whilst he produced his pan from earlier. He set it on another burner and buttered it. He grabbed bread he found earlier and began to toast it. when the bread was about half finished toasting, he added cheese and another slice of bread. He flipped the bread over and toasted the other side.

A few more moments of cooking, Ryo appeared around the corner, wearing a small apron around his waist. He presented a bowl of soup and a sandwich to Teion. "Here ya' go." he said. "Soup should warm you up and the bread will be filling." He said, offering Teion the food.

Ryo raised an eyebrow at the second guild invite. He looked at it, and back to Spencer as he accepted the guild invite. "Fine. I mean, if you want me that badly I have no choice but to say yes." Ryo said now noticing his new guild tag and emblem appear. "Believe me, I noticed the flirting," Ryo said, taking another sip of his drink. "And I'll have you know that I'm perfectly fine with you coming on to me. Taking the compliment is what I do." Ryo said, chuckling. "So, what do I win? A secret of some sort? An eye for an eye, so to speak?" He asked, placing his elbows and leaning on the table. "Wha? Not give me one? Spencer, I'm saddened." Ryo said sarcastically. "And after the secret, I told you, I'm not going to get one in return?" Ryo said, jokingly adding pressure onto Spencer. Ryo opened his eyes and saw that Spencer was becoming visibly uncomfortable. "Hey, I don't mean anything by it." He said standing up. "I'll be seeing ya' Spenc. Should be getting home soon." He said, before turning to leave.

Ryo let Teion climb the ladder first, keeping an eye out for anything else that may have lurked in the darkness. His gaze shifted back and forth as he tried to keep a trained ear on anything else that moved. When Teion had climbed the ladder fully, he waited a full second before climbing up the ladder himself. Using his foot, he closed the opened trap door, the door slamming shut. Ryo quickly stepped up to Teion, examining her body. He let out a sigh of relief. "Oh thank goodness. you're not hurt." He said, letting out a sigh of relief again. Ryo took Teion's hands in his own. "Don't say that," Ryo said, looking at Teion. "You're not useless. You've no idea how much you've already saved me." He said, lovingly. He reached up and moved a strand of hair from Teion's face to behind her ear. He leaned in and kissed Teion's forehead. "You're precious to some people, try not to lose sight of that." He said, before going to check on the fire by adding more sticks and logs.

Ryo's feet hit the soft ground of the earthen cellar, the sudden stop forced Ryo into a roll. Ryo's hair came undone and had displayed itself now untied. He unsheathed his katana, slicing one shadow demon in two as he came out of his roll. That was one, but there had to have been more. but first, he had to find Teion. He could see her in front of him if he squinted. His eyes hadn't adjusted to the light just yet. A sound from his left and another quick slice from his blade rendered another shadow being in two. The cellar was dark, Teion was most likely immobilized by fear. "Dammit! Teion, I'm almost there!" Ryo shouted, his voice carrying in the empty room. A quick half spin cut down another two demons with ease. Ryo took another three steps before his back was smacked by a shadow demon. Ryo winced at the suddenness of it and turned to face it, his feet sliding into the dirt. Ryo lept forward, almost changing his momentum entirely to swipe at the demon. his blade connected and it too died like the other. Another slash at his back, and as he turned another hit him. They were swarming him. hitting him from different angles.

Ryo's blade moved as if on its own as he cut a path towards Teion. He swiped killing the two there in front of her and turned to face the rest. Ryo's clothes were town, and red lines on his body marked the damage he was sustaining. "Teion. Hang on just a bit longer. I'm almost done here." Ryo said, flashing her a confident smile. The demons had fallen into his trap. Between him and the demons was the light from the floor above. Idiot monsters didn't bother shutting the door. As they came to attack him, they were clearly backlighted, allowing Ryo to slice them down with ease. After a few moments no more came. "Alright, I think that's the last of 'em." Ryo said, sheathing his katana. He turned to Teion, kneeling down to face her. "Let's get back topside, shall we?" Ryo said, offering Teion a hand. Red scratches marking his face and arms.

Ryo was in the kitchen, examining its contents to see if he could any materials to make any food. His stomach was starting to ache for not eating anything other than those pancakes the other day, and he was sure that Teion was starting to get hungry as well. He peeked into the living room, hearing the chair squeak against the floorboards. Teionwas moving the chair, most likely just trying to get it closer to the fire to be a bit warmer. Ryo shrugged it off as he went back to work in the kitchen, trying to work together a meal of some kind. A loud crash was heard, and Ryo jerked his head back over to see Teion being grabbed by hands made of darkness. "Teion!" He cried out, leaping up through the window in between the two rooms. But, before he could grab the woman and save her from the hands, she screamed as she was pulled into the inky black beneath the trap door. "Dammit! Teion, hold on!" Ryo said, leaping into the black.

Ryo rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah. But I don't think we're underground anymore," he said, trying to get a good look around at the surrounding area. "I think we exited, like some kid of water run-off, or tunnel of some kind." He said trying to think of a logical explanation as to why the pair was suddenly outside now. Ryo's head snapped to his left, his skin turning col and the hairs on his body stood on end. "Did you hear that?" Ryo asked Teion, in a hushed whisper. He listened in, trying to see if he could hear the sound again. "Must have been nothing, probably just my imagination," he said, looking back at Teion. A few more feet into the forest and the remains of a campfire could be seen. Ryo knelt down and checked the coals. Not even remotely warm. "Looks like this spot hasn't in used for a good while." He said aloud, looking back up. "Say, you see that?" Ryo asked Teion, noting a dark shape in the fog. "looks like, a building or something. We can probably hang out there until the fog rolls over. Can't be doing well if we just wander around." Ryo said, taking the girls hand again.

The cabin was, fairly decently sized. The porch had a nice overhand that secured a swinging bench, and the front door was cracked open. Ryo pushed the door, and the door responded with a loud creak as it slowly opened. Ryo took in the first few steps. "Hello, anyone home?" he called out. He shrugged as he received no response. It was a bit dark, no thanks to the fog outside, and the time of day. The pair must've woken at an odd time, which made sense as they couldn't see the time of day in the tunnel. Ryo stepped over to the fireplace and started the fire instantly filling the place up with a warm orange glow. "There we go. Much better than the cold outdoors." He stood back up and dusted off his hands. "I'm gonna take a look around real quick, see if there's anything noteworthy here." Ryo said. "I'll be just a holler away if you need anything," he said, walking down the hallway. The kitchen was open, with the wall being ocnnected to the living room with a large window so that either room could see one another. Cabinets line the walls, and a sink was full of clean dishes. At the end of the hall was another door, that opened back to the misty forest. Two doors on the left, however, lead to a storage closet of some kind, and a bedroom. The bedroom had a single window and a large bed. Ryo shrugged his shoulders again and made his way back to Teion. "Not much here, but whoever was here left in a hurry." He said, looking at Teion.

Ryo looked around as a fog began to develop the area. "Yeah, we should get moving." He said, walking deeper into the fog. Ryo was forced to slow down soon after, as the fog thickened immensely. "Damn, can barely see a thing. Teion, here, take my hand." Ryo said, holding his hand out to her. "So we don't get separated." He said. He felt Teion's hand grip his own, and he moved at a more comfortable pace. The temperature dropped as they continued to walk. After a moment, he could feel Teion's hand shiver slightly. Ryo felt fine, more used to the cold ocean's breeze of floor eleven, but Teion lived in the desert, this sudden spike in cold wasn't going to do her any good. Ryo turned to face her and released her hand. "Here, take this." He said, removing his black jacket and draping it over her shoulders. "It's no parka, but it should do." He said, smiling at her. "Shall we continue?" He asked.

The pair continued to walk until Ryo noticed something strange. His footsteps changed sounds. He looked down at his feet and saw that the stone floor had turned to grass. When did that happen, he wondered. The fog was beginning to clear up slightly as well, revealing trees, stumps, and other forest foliages. "A forest?" Ryo asked aloud, still gripping Teion by the hand. 

Ryo moved his hands back and forth in a defensive stance. "Wh-what? no!" he said. "I-I would never do that, I mean, not without permission I mean. I mean, not that I would want to! I mean-" Ryo said, trying to backpedal his foot from his mouth. "I mean, what I meant to say was. that you fell asleep on me, so I took you inside to bed. That's about all I remember." He said, his face practically glowing. He turned his head back away from Teion, trying to gather his courage, and see if he could salvage the conversation. Look, all you gotta do is just say what's on your mind, easy. Ryo took in a deep breath before he turned back to face Teion. "I love you. And that thing you did with your hair was really cute." He covered his mouth and turned back around, practically giving into a silent scream. YOU IDIOT WHY'D YOU SAY THAT? You weren't supposed to say THAT MUCH! He cursed at himself.

Ryo looked over at Teion as she spoke, saying that she did have a good nights rest. "Good. Glad to hear it." He said, running his hands through his hair, desperately trying to control his frizz. He gave up on that and began to tie his hair up into a ponytail if only to get it out of his eyes. He looked up and saw that Teion had moved a graceful hand to put some hair behind her ear. His arms froze, and Ryo swallowed. That was, insanely cute. His face turned a brighter red, and he hurried with his own hair. He stood up, taking the advice of Teion. "Yeah, let's." He said, hoping to find the exit today. How many days had they been down here? Two, three? He couldn't remember. Finding the exit would fix that issue though, and they'd be trapped no longer.

As they walked Ryo could no longer hide the question inside him. He turned his head to look at Teion, but his face turned another shade of red. He snapped his head back, determined to ask this question. "So, did we? You know, actually?" he said, trying to get the word out, but was unable to bring himself to ask it. "You know?" He said, his eyes pleading with Teion to get the hint and figure out what he was trying to ask her.

Ryo's eyes closed further as he was nudged awake. His hand moved lazily to move away the finger prodding him awake. "Juz.lemmy slep sun mor." He said, his voice much deeper as he was still half asleep. He covered his mouth with a large yawn, concealing his mouth as he sat up. He could feel how frizzy and unkempt his hair had become. He looked at his surrounds. Oh yeah, he had grabbed Teion and put her to bed. He looked across the room, but Teion's bed was empty. Was she already outside? He looked beside him, seeing Teion staring at him. He looked down at the bed, then back at Teion. His face filling with blood as he realized that he had spent the night in Teion's bed, rather than his own. He remained in place, unable to move paralyzed by embarrassment. "Good morning." He said, sheepishly. "You sleep okay?" He said, still remaining unmoving.