[PP-F1] Meeting the apprentice <Itzal, Mossino and Adhae>

[Itzal 0]

The training with Alisa was going extremely well.  They had doubled her exercises like he warned her and she took on the challenge with flying colors.  In no time she was strong enough for the parkour basics.  Itzal set up the training course which he could rearrange each day.  It was made up of wooden beams, rock walls, ladders, monkey bars, and many many other random yet useful builds.  At first Alisa was extremely clumsy and, well, butterfingers.  Now however she was beginning to make progress.  Itzal worked with her each night and day on her footwork, where to place them, where to avoid, and taught her when, where and how to grab onto things when jumping.  He showed her where and what to look for when climbing a wall.  All this continued each and every day for the past week and though she was progressing very slowly she was indeed progressing.  He understood of course as it took him years to master.  In fact he was very impressed by her progress.  Then again though, he never had a teacher while she did.  So far the goal was for her to reach the red flag on the other end of the course without touching the ground.  So far she would either fail terribly, almost make it, or rarely, and recently, make it.  Like tonight.  Itzal smiled and hugged her from the side.

"I won't lie Alisa, you're really impressing me.  I'm real proud to have you as my apprentice."

[Mossino 0]

Alisa smiled lightly as Itzal praised her. The last week had been hard. She was pumped to start training parkour, yes, but it was so immensely difficult, more than she had imagined. Of course, with Itzal's guidance she was able to progress steadily. Hell the first time she went up the stairs to start the course she slipped and fell off. It was a stupid move to make, but she was able to laugh at her own stupidity most of the time.

However, that was all in the past, and she had finally just successfully completed the course. It was a grueling challenge, and had taken a long time. But, she had finished it, and that is what mattered...Being pulled back into reality from Itzal's words, she gives him another smile, "Thanks! I'm..just still thankful you decided to help me out senpai!" She still talks rather quietly yet excitedly in her French accent. It was getting late, about time to set up camp. And after that grueling exercise, she was already yawning to herself.

[Adhaerere 0]

 Adhae stepped out of her shop into the cleanly paved street in the Town of Beginnings. She stretched her arms above her head and yawned, looking up at the sky and seeing it was late. She often lost track of time when she was cooking. Today was one of those days. She patted her mouth with her hand as another yawn snuck up on her. 

 As she walked down the road, heading to nowhere, she started thinking about the recent events in her life. She'd met up with Itzal, one of her friends from her first few days in the game, and had caught up with him a little bit. She wanted to talk to him more and meet some more of his companions. He hadn't introduced her to anyone yet, and Adhae certainly hadn't met enough people in SAO. Not nearly enough. She wanted to have scores of friends on her list. This was her usual in MMOs; having to take a few minutes to scroll down to the bottom of her friends list. As the extroverted person she was, this was one of her more important goals. She decided that she'd ask Itzal herself to meet his friends. Pulling up her menu and finding her sadly short friends list, she clicked his name and started writing up a message for him. 

 To: Itzal

 From: Adhaerere

Subject: Let me meet your friends!

------------------------------------------------

 Itzal sonny! Are you busy at the moment? It's been too long, and I want to meet your friends. Let me come say hi to them.

I'll bring a cake.

Sincerely,
   Adhae

[Itzal 0]

Itzal grinned at Alisa.  "You're welcome Alisa."  The praise was definitely approved.  She had done well in such a short time, though it would still be a while before she made it to advanced parkour.  And he'd have to break her fear of heights if she had one.  He hesitated as a message suddenly popped up.  A message for him at this hour?  He read the message before smiling.  "Hey Alisa?  How does cake sound?"  He tapped her shoulder before making his way out of the forest and handed her a bottle of water to refresh herself with.  Seeing as how the message didn't tell him where to meet, he was assuming that it would be outside the city.  "An old friend wants to meet some of mine, so I'm going to introduce you to her.  She's a cook too so maybe she could give you some pointers, I don't know.  She's real nice too.  I think she'll be waiting for us at the city entrance ok?"  As they walked out he switched to his twilight cloak.  Adhae hadn't seen it before so he figured it was time.  As they approached the city gates he saw Adhae and waved to her.

"Adhae!  It's been a little while!  Hows it going?"  As they grew closer he gestured to Alisa.  "Adhae this is Alisa, my apprentice.  Alisa, this is Adhae."

[Mossino 0]

Alisa took the water bottle, drinking from it graciously, in her own little world until she heard the word 'cake' mention. She quickly looked over and widened her eyes, "Yes please I'd love cake I haven't had cake in so long!" Alisa smiled lightly, putting away the bottle of water was she walked with Itzal. She totally forgot Itzal knew other people than her, Jonathan and Kaiser. It would be interesting to meet someone new! This was more friends than she has had in...well...ever...Thinking about it actually made Alisa a bit sad, but she quickly got off the subject in her head, wasn't worth it to dwell on her badly used time.

She didn't really talk to Itzal on the way, but she did listen to what he had to say. So his unnamed friend was a cook? That's great! She needed a few tips of setting up shop and such.

A few minutes would pass until Itzal and Alisa arrived, and she was able to get a good look at the woman standing across from her...The first thing..she noticed was the..slight...tiny variation of the foot and four inch difference between Alisa and this other woman, whom was introduce as Adhae. She was a giant! Which was rather cool its in own remark, but scary in others. Alisa stood behind Itzal, but she gave the woman a bright smile, "Hallo! Nice to meet you!" She...didn't really know what else to say.

[Adhaerere 0]

 "Hello!" Adhae said loudly as soon as she saw the pair. She violently waved her hand and sped walked to them, only having to take a few steps due to that height of hers. She listened as Itzal introduced her to his companion. "Wonderful to meet you, Alisa." She extended her hand to shake the girl's, and smiled wide at her. You could count almost all of her molars with that huge smile of hers. Finally, she was meeting some of Itzal's young friends. This one certainly was young; she was more a girl than a woman. She had only met a few really young people in this game, and was excited to get to know them more. For the time she would spend in this game, she knew the strenuous conditions would cause some great character changes in the people she met. Guiding young people's development had always been one of her passions, and she decided she would help this girl if she ever needed anything.

 "So! How did you meet Itzal? And how close are you two?" She looked between the two of them, withdrew her hand, and set it against her chin while supporting her elbow with her other hand. "What kind of build do you have and how old are you? What's your favourite colour?" She paused here, realizing she might have scared the newcomer a little bit. She tended to have that effect on new people. Her bombardment of questions would usually be too much, and decided to stop before she went on some more. But you can't blame Adhae for being curious. 

[Itzal 0]

Itzal smiled at Adhae as she greeted them.  He felt Alisa's presence behind him and knew that the shell was reforming.  He looked at her with the look she knew.  The look told her that she was safe and there was no reason to be scared.  He looked back at Adhae as she released a flow of questions.  And while he was able to process them with ease he knew that Alisa would have trouble with them.  She needs this you know.  Yes she needs this, but not this fast.  It's too much for her to process at once.  She doesn't have a quick mind like me, let alone a split personality to help lift the load.  Well, uh.  Ok you got me there.  But still don't interfere anymore.  She needs to know that you're there, but she also needs to know that she can do this.  Now, listen and obey!  Oh brother here we go again.  Silence!  Ulises speaks!  Now, step aside so she isn't hiding behind anything.  Second, pat her on the shoulder and give her a wink, before stepping behind her.  This allows encouragement as well as the push she needs.  ......... Alright I'll do it just to shut you up.  Heh heh.  I'm getting better at these debates of ours.  Just. Just shut up alright?  He did as Ulises said and stepped out of the way, patted her shoulder with a wink, and stepped behind her.

[Mossino 0]

Alisa was taken back some from the ton of questions that were dumped upon her. Normally she would shy away and just stammer out of the conversation at this point. However, Itzal silent comforts to her made her smile lightly. Adhae didn't seem like a bad person, and her voice was rather calming to listen to. Taking a deep breath she quickly answered her questions, speaking in her soft French accent.

"Uhm, we met a few weeks ago when I was feeling rather down, and he uh, helped me. We're uhm, friends, and he mentors me?" She stated softly. Even though she was half comfortable talking to someone new, she still sounded rather nervous.

"Erm...build...?" She questioned, she had heard of the word, but didn't really know what it meant, "Sixteen and Dark Red, though pink is really cool as well."

Alisa rubbed the back of her neck nervously, not really knowing what to say after. She just kind of shyed away.

[Adhaerere 0]

 Adhae's face brightened as the girl spoke. She was so adorable. Adhae's hands came up to clasp together in front of her chest. "Well I'm glad you two met. Red is a good colour, and by build I meant what are you allocating your SP towards. Is it damage, evasion, stealth, mitigation? I am a tank myself." She smiled and stepped forwards with one foot, turning her body at an angle. She snapped her fingers and pointed it at the girl in a finger gun, the sun conveniently glinting off of her chestplate, Luster. "This ol' thing keeps me and my friends safe. I'm more of a support class, I guess. With my Cooking profession I can make items that restore health or give you more energy or anything like that. I love cooking and--" She stopped abruptly as she realized she was forgetting something. "Oh yeah! I brought cake." 

 Grinning wide, she pulled up her menu with her left hand and quickly swiped through her inventory. Once she found the Vanilla Cake, she tapped the icon on her screen to make it appear in her hand. The brown paper box was a little big, so she quickly used her other hand to steady it. "Here we go." 

Spoiler

Name: Vanilla Cake
Profession: Cook
Rank: 2
ID: #66340
Roll: 7
Item Type: Dessert 
Quality: Good
Tier: 1
Enhancements: None
Description: This cake is a small affair, sitting in a brown box about 8 inches square and lined with white-spotted red tissue paper. The icing is vanilla, the cake is vanilla, and the filling is vanilla. It's a vanilla cake. That's it. It's got little to no decoration, just a little bit of icing around the bottom in a fancy little round blob design. 

-Vanilla Cake

Edited September 2, 2016 by Adhaerere

[Itzal 0]

Itzal laughed as Adhae asked which build she was.  "She's my apprentice Adhae.  She wants to be a dps but she's also considering practicing stealth as well.  For now though, I'm teaching her parkour.  It's remarkably fast process, for usual parkour training.  She learns fast I'll tell you.  She'll be getting her first equipment soon too.  And once I reach level twenty five I'll be updating my own equipment.  Just one level away dagnabit.  So close."  When Adhae pulled out the cake Itzal shut up.  There was a moment of silence in Itzal's mind as both Felix and Ulises breathed in the rich smell of the divine cake.  If Itzal had any weakness.  Any at all.  A weakness that wasn't fatal that both he and Ulises shared.  It was food.  Heavenly delicious food.  His eyes locked on the cake and didn't turn to anything else.  His eyes were just a tiny bit wider and he couldn't help a smile crawl to his face.  He fought a war against his body which tried to, on it's own accord, reach out and take the cake to begin eating.  The result was his hands twitching a little bit.  He wasn't going to be rude and he waited for Mossino to take the first slice.

[Mossino 0]

Alisa gave a smile towards Adhae. She seemed really nice and easy to listen to, someone she could definitely around him. The only thing odd about her was her extreme height, coming in at a scary way bigger than Alisa. She always wanted to be tall, but she was stuck at this tiny, tiny height. Which, worked in her favor, yes, but being tall is better.

However, none of that was important because there was cake. In front of her. Delicious vanilla cake. She hadn't had a cake in a long time. But she loved cake, so this was a dream come true. Looking up at Itzal and Adhae for permission, she quickly takes a spoon or utensil that she presumes came in the small box. Quickly she takes a small bite of it..."Mhm!~ Its really good!" she states, rather happy.

[Adhaerere 0]

 Adhae smiled warmly at Alisa's obvious joy from the cake. She always enjoyed it when other people ate her food and were happy about it. The best way to share a good moment with someone is over a good meal. It loosens people up, makes them more open with you and easier to talk with. Seeing Itzal force control on himself, she laughed softly and pulled a few plates out of her inventory. "Oh, don't hold back Felix. Eat your fill. It's enough for all of us. Actually, let's go over to my shop. I have tables in there and some refreshments, I think," she said with a wink. "This way!" Closing the lid on the box and putting it back in her inventory, she turned to walk back into the Town of Beginnings without looking back to see if the two were following. Adhae had a habit of expecting people to follow when she went somewhere. 

 It only took her a few minutes to reach her shop. For Goodness Cakes. She smiled again as she read the sign above the door, reminded of the pun and the person who suggested it. She held the door open for the pair, only turning back to see if they'd followed at that point. 

 "Here it is. I'll head in the back and see if I can find some drinks back in the kitchen." She walked in behind them and patted a table for them to sit down at. Pulling out the plates and cake box again, she laid everything out for them and bowed, looking just like a waiter with her white blouse, black bow around her neck, and black pants. "Enjoy," she said with a smile, and headed into the back. 

[Itzal 0]

Itzal politely took the plate and was about to dig in when she suggested they eat at her shop.  He nodded eagerly and before they began moving again he scooped another piece and chewed on it intently.  Itzal hadn't seen Adhae's shop in a while and he knew that it had probably changed since the last time he'd been there.  As they approached the town of beginnings he opened his menu and equipped Niger Natio, cloaking his entire body and giving off an intimidating look.  As they walked through the streets the npcs and players backed off, knowing all too well of his reputation.  In the town at least.  Besides Adhae's shop there was only one other place he visited.  Other than that he kept this intimidating appearance so that he wouldn't have any trouble walking around.  The people made a path for the group as they walked, whispering and muttering to themselves about why two pretty girls were accompanying the dark figure they all knew.  As they entered the shop Itzal took a deep breath, allowing all the wonderful smells to fill inside him.  They sat down and Adhae handed them the plates, food and utensils.  Itzal thanked her and as she walked away he looked at Alisa.

"We split the cake?"

[Mossino 0]

Alisa was about to indulge herself in probably the best cake she had ever eaten. However, Adhae stopped them, requesting that they venture to her shop, a small bakery cafe.

.

.

.

That sounded great! She could see how a kitchen looked in close detail! Excitedly, the girl followed Itzal and the giantess Adhae towards the shops in the nearby town. It didn't take long before they were seated at a chair, cake in front of them, and some drinks.

Alisa gave Adhae a large smile, "Thank you so much this is great!" after taking a quick bite of the cake and making a, "Mhmmm" sound, she asks, "...If its not too much to ask, I really want to be a cook too, could you train me?" she asks tilting her head smiling at the woman. To be honest, this had a double meaning. She wanted to learn how to cook in this game yes, however, she really wanted to get to know Adhae better was well. The woman seemed really intriguing and well...Alisa didn't know how to describe it.

[Adhaerere 0]

Adhae exited the kitchen a few minutes later, carrying two lemonades with her. She set one in front of Itzal and one in front of Alisa. She then pulled up a chair and settled down, prepared to see them eat the cake. She didn't want any herself. Smiling at Alisa as she commented, she said, "No problem, you're welcome to have as much of the cake as you want. You should eat it quickly so Itzal doesn't take all of it." She grinned and glanced at him, and directed her attention back to Alisa when she brought up the training. Her mouth formed a little "o", and she clapped her hands together in front of her. "Of course! That would be fantastic. If I could get a cookbook, I could do an even better job. I should do that soon." 

 "Speaking of cooking." She planted her elbow on the table and set her chin in her hand, giving Felix a pointed glance. "Itzal, I want materials. You being such a high level, you probably have endless amounts. I want to buy some. How much would you sell a bunch to me for? I've got 1200 I'm willing to spare. Here you go." She smiled and pulled up her trade window. "I'd agree to give you a few of my Good items that I craft in the future toooo." She was sure this would make him give her almost anything. 

-1200 Col

[Itzal 0]

Itzal began eating his half of the cake, desperately trying not to shove it all down and simply savor the taste.  With each bite warmth filled his body and filled his empty stomach, which was strange as he felt no hunger before.  Even Ulises was craving it all and was tempted to ask Alisa for a slice of her own, but Felix' manners and understanding of wanting to keep all their slices kept him from pushing it.  He listened to Alisa talk to Adhae about teaching her and he looked up.  "Hey!  What about me?" he said sarcastically.  After a moment for their reaction he laughed.  "nah, all I could do is teach you how to burn stuff.  Maybe even destroy the tools to make food."  He turned to Adhae as she told him she would buy mats from him.  His eyes widened at the gesture but he was more than happy.  "Well I need the col so..  How about I sell them for one twenty col each?  So ten mats for you."  He pressed two buttons and the trade was complete.  He smiled as he watched his col meter go up a little and his materials go down.  He wasn't worried.  He found materials very easily.  In fact he heard about a skill recently that increases how many mats you found.  If only there were something that made finding col easier.

[Mossino 0]

Alisa continued to eat the cake happily. She had no other input and the other two were talking about, she just wanted to enjoy her cake. It was the most delicious thing she had ever eaten. Perfectly made icing and the batter was just right. Better than any other cake she had ever consumed before. And she could only thank Adhae for such a wonderful dish. She took a few more bites and then sat the fork down, leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of lemonade. Bliss. Perfect Bliss. Delicious cake, good lemonade, nothing could be better.

With a large smile, she excitedly stated, "That was the best cake I had ever eaten! Can I order another at some point?" she asks, tilting her head in question towards Adhae. She may have disturbed their conversation, but it didn't matter. Cake matters were more important than anything else.

[Adhaerere 0]

 "Thank you very much Itzal. I'll use these materials well." She smiled wide and accepted the request, looking forward to the new items she'd be able to make with the mats. Perfect. She turned her attention to Alisa next. "Oh sure. I'd be up to make anything you want. I've got plenty of time to make cakes and such, and I figure I need more practice with certain things. I can also add buffs to a cake if you would like to use it in combat. I can give you more loot, more energy recovery, more anything." Setting her hands in her lap, she looked at the pair.

 "Tell me a little bit more about yourself, Alisa. What's your story?" Adhae set her elbow on the table and rested her chin in her hand, looking up at Alisa with perfect attention. "How'd you get to SAO?" She stopped there again, wanting to give the girl time to respond. She was expecting a longer response now that she'd been softened up with cake. Food always made lips looser. 

+10 Mats

[Itzal 0]

Itzal decided to lean back after he ate his portion of the cake.  He was wondering how one would eat cake during combat.  Cake was large and filling unless it was a cupcake.  He chuckled at the thought of pulling out a pink cupcake in the middle of a boss fight, sitting cross legged on the floor and eating it in the midst of the raging fight.  It was a funny thought he had to admit.  He didn't speak up as the question was directed to Alisa, not Itzal.  He realized that he didn't know much about her real life history.  Sure he knew her origin but nothing more.  He began to recall how he ended up getting into SAO in the first place as well.  How he was completely and totally immersed in video games to escape the onslaught of bullies.  How his sister would walk in and sit there watching him just so he wasn't alone.  How he used parkour to escape their cruelty.  And then when immersive virtual reality came out the whole world changed.  For once he could actually, for real, jump into the virtual dimension and become powerful, able to do what he wanted without worrying about being bullied by others.  Power, strength.  And yet.  Not far into his journey he met Verus and Adhae and they changed him for the better.  They became his friends and he quickly learned that power was nothing without others.

[Mossino 0]

While it was true food made lips looser, as Adhae had said, Alisa was already comfortable around Adhae. Her motherly aura was rather calming to someone like Alisa. However...there wasn't much to answer. Alisa's story, was what she considered, horribly dull and boring. She hadn't really told anyone for that reason...but...hey, she was asking and she had to say something.

With a light smile and chuckle towards Adhae she begins to tell her horribly dull tale. "Well...this won't take long. Erm, to make a short story shorter...big anime fan living in France, got a chance to take a vacation to Japan, jumped on the opportunity, saw SAO first day on sale. Bought it, and uh...here I am...I'm just glad the game had a translate feature..." with a sigh she finished her story. Again, it wasn't much, but she believes her own details aren't that important. Her story is most likely far less interesting than Adhae's or Itzal's.