[F1-PP] What is this Here? (Atzo, Vale) {Complete}

[Atzo 0]

Atzo sat in the tavern Contemplating life as he tends to. The world seemed so vast and unrelenting at times. There was so much that didn't, and couldn't make sense. He shook his head surely there was something he could do to make this a little easier. He looked down at his glass the white wine seemed to be perfectly still, the world around him froze. He took in his surroundings. “There is nothing more to do here than learn.” he thought to himself as he sipped his wine. “Embrace the suck” he then proceeded to say to no one in particular. He was attempting to convince himself to stop over analyzing the importance of life. Though this was a tougher task than one might think. If only there was something to distract him from the cold light of reality. At least the wine was pleasant, It hadn't occurred to him until then just how good it was. He thought he should probably commend the bartender for it in the future.

@Vale

Edited February 25, 2017 by Atzo

[Vale 1]

Vale waltzed into a random tavern in the Town of Beginnings, her natural strut was easily apparent regardless of which direction someone were to view her. For once the tavern was rather busy, the only open table sat across from a red head sipping on something in a cup. Vale loosely shrugged as she decided to take the table without much of a second thought. Her purple scale gauntlets that were meticulously crafted by the Blacksmith Mr. Tealeaf for her were something of an honor to wear. After a moment of trying to get around some people and staff she managed to reach the small table for two, and promptly took the chance to sit.

Instead of ordering food, she dropped her right hand in order to summon her inventory. She shifted the page to reach her consumables page and withdrew a water that was pre set inside of a cup. The waiters and waitresses noticed her do this, causing them a bit of grief as they knew she would be a pointless table to try to serve. Vale was honestly okay with the idea, she didn't feel like being in the sun any longer if she honestly didn't need to. She had just finished fighting boars to collect on the gauntlets she was so evidently proud of wearing.

Even though there were easily thirty or more people taking up the tables in the tavern, it wasn't too overly loud in the building. Her ears visibly twitched as she heard a sentence that struck her as odd. Her eyes moved up to look at the man that sat the next table infront of her, it was the only direction she could tell the words came from. Her eyes never wavered, even if the man were to look at her since she had no reason to look away. She was positive that it was him that had said it, and she wanted to know if that was true. And if it was that man who said it, she wanted to know the underlying reasons of it.

[Atzo 0]

A woman, looking to be slightly older than Atzo, had entered the Busy tavern. It was quick to see that she was headed his way. He looked around, It made sense for her to choose the table next to him, seeing as it was the last remaining open table. Atzo took a sip of his wine as the purple haired woman sat down. He watched as she opened her menu and grabbed a cup of water. She suddenly looked up at him intensely. It made him a little uneasy the way she did so. He got up and waked over to her, extending his hand “Hi, I’m Atzo” He said a slight smirk on his face masking his unease. “Who are you?” His voice was light hearted and pleasant. He smoothed out his voice as he talked, seeming humble but confident. He glanced around the tavern quickly before turning back to the woman. Awaiting a response.

@Vale

Edited February 22, 2017 by Atzo

[Vale 1]

The man had finally taken note of the girl looking at him, it was pretty quick to deduce that this was the man that had made the comment she heard. The voices matched perfectly. She was quick to note the slight smirk that was on his face, Vale was pretty unsure the meaning behind the smirk but, she wouldn't pay much mind to it. This red headed man had greeted him with his name, so she would return so in kind, "A pleasure to meet you Atzo. The name is Vale." She responded in kind, she opened her hand as she pushed the chair open, "I see you're in the mood to converse with someone, take a seat." she stated as he grabbed her cup of water to drink.

She closed her eyes and brought the drink up to her lips, letting the water slowly flow into her mouth. Once she was satisfied with it, she placed the cup down and opened her eyes to look back at her. Her Amethyst eyes glistened in the light that was shining through the shutters of the window. She watched ever motion the man made, it was a habit of hers from her upbringing. It allowed Vale to generally get a sense of emotion behind peoples actions, but it was to be seen what exactly what she would be getting herself into. She crossed her leg and simply waited for him to make his decision, or move.

[Atzo 0]

Atzo gladly took the seat “The pleasure is all mine” he said with a warm smile. Observing her, trying to analyze her. He took note of everything she did, her drink and its position on the table, the movements of her eyes and mouth. He left no ground unchecked. While he was doing this he came to the realization that she was doing the same. He took a sip of his wine before speaking. “So, Madam, what's your story, If i may ask? It is rare for me to find someone that sticks around this floor for more than a quest. Not that I have seen much.” He gives a slight chuckle. He finished of his wine and motioned for the bartender to come and pour him another one. “Can I get you anything?” Atzo asked Vale. It was meant as a friendly gesture more than anything else thought he was curious if she would act similarly to him should the roles had been reversed.

[Vale 1]

(Will edit when I get home)

The red headed young man didn't hesitate to take the seat right infront of Vale. It was almost as if the man was hoping such a thing would happen, but that was merely a speculation that Vale came to the conclusion of. From Vale's perspective and scanning the man over, when her eyes met his she was fast to realize that he was doing much the same. Not much longer after he took his seat did he strike up conversation, something she was expecting. Vale raised an eyebrow at the start of his question then lowered it along with her cup, "I recently just acquired my Martial Arts skill from the second floors. And I much enjoy the atmosphere of the Town of Beginnings, reminds me a little of home." She explained, her purple scaled gauntlets reflecting the light from the sun. She closed her eyes when he offered to obtain her anything from the menu, "That won't be necessary. I am not one to have my meals paid for." Her quick rejection had no hostile emotions, it sounded as though her tone were more matter of fact, "What say you? to both questions you asked me." She asked as she opened her eyes slightly as if to seem that he was the only person in her sight.

[Atzo 0]

Atzo watched as Vale spoke. He was curious as to how she would take everything. Atzo showed curiosity when she mentioned Martial Arts but let his questions stay in his mind “I am alright on food and I have my wine so I will be good for a while” Atzo said with a chuckle “As for my story, I have spent most my time here in search of my older brother. I more prefer the mountains on floor two myself. The overlooks are absolutely breathtaking.” Her serious overtones were all too familiar to Atzo, not in the fact that he had seen them before in others but that he used them regularly. He thought for a second looking vale up and down once more “I am sure you have stories, though if you are as similar to me as it seems you are, you won't talk at a place like this, surrounded by people. So, that being said, How about we go for a walk through the woods or mountains. I don't mind as to where it will be for us to go"

[Vale 1]

Atzo followed suite with that Vale said, declining the offer of food paid by the other. It didn't bother her any, she was pretty aware that every man didn't find it fulfilling to have their meal paid for them, by a woman no less. He explained his love for the second floor, "I would have to agree. The mountains are more preferable." She left the topic of his brother alone, she would probably inquire more if he were to continue bringing up his brother. And she would probably end up sharing her story, ultimately she would end up sharing her history as well. Vale closed her eyes and took a sip of her water listening carefully as he inquired about her stories.

The red headed young man asked if Vale was interested in talking more out and about rather in the cramped space of the travern. She had originally decided to get out of the sun, but being out and about conversing with someone else would help keep her mind off the sun. And ultimately today was more of a relaxation day, she shrugged, "I don't see why not. Most of the people in here are NPC's anyways. But, you're right. If people are going to have a more private conversation, it would be better to have said conversation in private instead. How about the Grove here in the middle of the Town of Beginnings?" She responded in kind, thinking it was the safer option for the both of them. Vale didn't know what this man Atzo could do, but his questions and direction of conversation could be somewhat negative at it's core.

[Atzo 0]

Atzo thought for a moment, “I have never been to the Grove” he replied, curiosity in his voice. “I would be happy to go there though. I agree that it would be safer to stay near the town of beginnings and the safezone therein.” He smiled and stood up, pushing in his chair. “This woman seems to be cold though I feel that has more to do with distrust then with her true personality though that has yet to be seen.” Atzo thought to himself “I am sure that I will be soon to learn the true nature of it though When that will be I am not sure of.” He finished what was left of his second round of wine, and took it to the counter. He nodded at the bartender before waiting for Vale at the door. “It is strange to see someone as she is act in such a way, she seems to be pessimistic, I don't blame her. But you have to embrace the suck or you will live in a constant state of despair.”

[Vale 1]

Vale got up leisurely, her natural strut was easily noteable to Atzo since the man would be walking behind her. Her build was easy to be descerned that she was very fit in the real world, Atzo admitted he had never been to the grove, "Well there was a gal there named Ms. Hannah, I had to retrieve a crystal for her from the depths of a cave on the first floor. But getting to walk in that grove just made one feel so relaxed. Natural shading from the tree's, and it breaks up the monotony of the browns, reds, and whites of the town by putting some green around." She turned to smile at Atzo, intentionally trying to throw him off his gaze of her body if he were gawking or oggling her.

She turned her head back forward to keep on the path she had committed to walking after having left the entrance of the tavern, "I thought the idea of staying in a safe zone was not only for me, but for you as well. I've gone out of the safe zone with someone that was morally questionable. And I wouldn't want to put someone in that kind of situation." She explained to him, hoping to put a different sense of the reasoning behind why she chose the grove inside town vs taking a stroll out in the middle of the plains and woods. Vale looked back at Atzo, "So tell me a little about yourself, and I'll share in kind. Quid Pro Quo."

[Atzo 0]

While they walked, Atzo never seemed to look directly at Vale, his eyes were always sort of fixed on some kind of non-existent point though he nodded as though he was listening. “I agree that it would be smart of us to trade of the information” he said in response. Even though he didn't seem to, he had full observation of his surrounding. He never ran into anything. “I assume you want the truth in this regard so I shall be truthful. I have never experienced an emotion of my own. Some would call me a mirror, I say I’m ever changing emotional clay. I don't truly understand most emotions that people have. I am known, however to be a very good leader, a smooth talker, and a complete sociopath, You can see me however you want.” as he talked he speed his pace to be along side vale. It made it easier for him to hear her that way.

Edited February 24, 2017 by Atzo

[Vale 1]

Without a shadow of a doubt in Vale's mind, this man was definitely an intriguing one. He opened up with the fact that he was a Sociopath. Either he was trying to get the woman to distance herself away from him, or he was completely and on hundred percent honest and upfront from the get go. Well, Vale was far too stubborn to get talked out of a situation, she was more of a think first until punchy-punchy happens, then everything else went out the window, "Well that is certainly an intro. But nevertheless, I appreciate the truth and honesty you have given me." She replied just as Atzo had caught up to her so they were walking stride for stride with each other, "I guess it is my turn. And just as you have, I'll give the utmost amount of truth." She expressed

Vale stretched as the Grove came into eyesight, "I was a Martial Artist in the real world, and since I have such a passion and love for Martial Arts since I was making a career of it. I chose to take up Martial Arts in this world as well. I'm what some would call, a go getter in it's entireity." At this point the two of them were crossing the threshold into the grove, the greenery of the spot plus the intentional decorations of the fences and everything made it all the more beautiful to when entering, "I love cute and adorable things... Until I need to bring my fists out. Then I love cracking faces." Her blunt honesty could be heard from miles away with that comment.

[Atzo 0]

As they walked Vale began to speak. It was odd the way she seemed to shift. “So you are ether in in kill mode or cute mode then?” Atzo asked genuine curiosity in his voice they walked through the grove, the lush greenery was striking. “This was a good choice Vale,” Atzo said “The scenery is magnificent.” He looked around examining the leaves they were definitely based on some aspect of reality though looking closely there were some minor discrepancies between the real world trees and the ones here. Suddenly Atzo stood back up and look at Vale his eye full of curiosity “Vale, if you don’t mind me asking, What does genuine happiness feel like? I have never experienced it myself, but I have always wanted to know what it was like.” he turned away as he realized the how weird the question was and walked over to a flower, to examine its structure 

[Vale 1]

Vale chucked slightly when the man commented which mode she could be in, it was a particularly on point. She always would remember the time she would lay on the ground on her back playing with her cat at home, "It couldn't have been put in a more gamer way, huh?" She followed up with another chuckle. Blinking as they came to a walking stop, she was loosely just keeping pace with the man the whole way though. The decision she had made was noted, which cause nothing but a smile to appear on the girls face. She had a rather, unsettling meet with a morally questionable person. This kind of setting when meeting someone new felt much more composed and relax, "Yeah, I frequent here a lot since the grass is warm. And that tree gets to see the morning rise." She pointed to a tree on a small hill not too far from the entrance of the grove.

Then a very peculiar question escaped the lips of her new found acquaintance, turning her head to get a good look at him, "Genuine Happiness?" She asked back. Vale slumped putting all her weight on one leg, putting the same side hand on her chin with the limp side hand on her hip, "Genuine Happiness is a unique feeling I guess. It's when you sit there with nothing but a smile on your face, there is no rhyme or reason for the smile, you're just in a state of hapiness. As if everything is going right... and there isn't a single shred of fear, guilt, or remorse in you." She hadn't exactly prepped a speech for a sort of question, she would think back on what she said and just begin to reflect on it. Something clicked in Vale's head, she immediately began reminiscing on thoughts from her past.

[Atzo 0]

Atzo stood back up when Vale spoke. She spoke of happiness as something that was without gilt and fear. He had never known such things. He cooked his head, confusion in his eyes. “So, how does someone become ‘happy’ then? How can you feel as though there is nothing to fear? I have never known a time when fear was absent, or remorse or guilt. What is it like to smile with no reason?” He seemed a little upset when he spoke about this. Trying to remember a time that he wasn’t afraid and didn’t worry. He had never known anything like it. “All I’ve really ever known was fear. All that I’ve ever experienced has been tied to the torment that the outcome might bring.”  He started to wonder if he would ever know what it was like to be happy, he knew what it looked like but not how to experience it he knew how to cause others joy but not how to have it himself.

[Vale 1]

It seemed the words that had resonated within Vale when she shared them with the red-headed young man didn't have the same effect. He perused deeper into the undiscovered feelings of true blissful happiness, "How does one become happy... Well it's a matter of perspective... it's about knowing what you want and doing what you can and will to achieve it. Noone said life was an easy road. If everything were easy, noone would end up enjoying it to it's fullest extent." She continued elaborating, it was an odd feeling being the one to give true deep seeded meanings to life itself. These were just her view and what made sense to her, "It's like when my friend became my partner. I went from content to a different level of happiness." She smiled sweetly with a tear beginning to form at te corner of her eye, "When I got down on one knee, asking my partner to be my life partner... And her accepting of my feelings." The tear that had formed slowly stretched it's way down the side of her face.

Vale brought her hand up to rub away the tear that she could feel making it's way with gravity, "Sorry... It's complicated." She iterated quickly before looking at Atzo again, "I can understand only so loosely about always feeling fear. I took up Martial Arts because I never wanted to be in that fear, heck from the age of six I was training in Muay Thai. Eight years later I was winning National's in my age group." She continued sharing with the boy. Vale thought if she could help the boy link his feelings with a deep personal story of her own, it would help him understand the concept better. Vale turned her whole body to look at him, "It was a tormenting thing, putting my body in harms way to achieve goals that would have seemed daunting at first. But because I put myself forward and took it a pebble at a time, well... After awhile the mountain was no longer infront of me. But behind me." She finished with a known inspirational statement, "To achieve happiness, you have to make a goal for yourself and devote yourself to accomplishing it. It doesn't have to be big, but the journey of one thousand miles, started with a single step." She followed up saying, thinking the words might start connecting.

[Atzo 0]

Atzo just kept growing more curious. “So… Achieving a goal can make you haply?” He asked “I have never had a goal I set for myself, my parents always wanted me to complete there goals, if I didn’t I’d get punished. Is that normal?” He then pondered what she had said about her partner. As she was talking about it he kneeled down at the flower patch next to them and began to delicately search through them, identifying the scents and types. “What was it like, having someone who you love? The only person that ‘loves’ me is Ren but I think he only does because I never abandoned him when the rest of our family did. Most people avoided me and hated me, I never had friends or anything like that.” Atzo picked a few flowers and started counting the pedals, they were very well designed something he wished he had seen in the real world.

[Vale 1]

Vale nodded at Atzo when he asked about achieving a goal having the ability to change ones own outlook on life. He continued to explain a loose amount of his home life and knowing that his parents were very abusive to him, "No... That's not normal at all!" She exclaimed, a worried tone exuding from her lips, "Parents are suppose to be there to watch their children strive for their dreams, and they're suppose to be your primary cheerleader in life." She began to explain, "Look... I know we're now in a death game, but life has given you a second chance to start achieving your greatest desires." She finished saying. Vale watched as the red headed boy began to pluck at some flowers to smell them, his poor self-confidence was unnoticable here as he looked adorable plucking the flowers out of the ground.

He asked just as difficult of a question, but this time focusing on the aspect of love in general. She had a slight step back, she really wasn't ready for another very thought inducing question. She took a deep breath and exhaled softly, "I can't exactly explain the feeling. It was beyond magical I guess." She responded after he spoke, "I can't say I share the same situations, most people didn't avoid me. And I don't know anyone who hated me, but I mean... I am standing here and I don't want to avoid you, and I surely don't hate you. I just met you." She smiled as she said. Vale understtod that the man didn't have the best of home lives, not everyone could have a close relationship with their parents due to natural differing personalities.

[Atzo 0]

Atzo continued counting the flower petals. He was listening to Vale intensely. She spoke of many things that he didn't understand. Things about normal families and dreams. She wasn't wrong when she said she wasn’t avoiding him, though she only just met him. Many people had tried to be his friend but they all left eventually. “Vale?” Atzo asked with curiosity “What was it like, having a significant other? How was it being able to love someone? I apologize if it is too much of a personal question.” Atzo reminisced on his past he remembered everything his father would do to him, remembered how his mother would act around people he tried to be friends with. He remembered Ren and Solomon. Worst of all he remembered the car crash. The thing that locked Solomons fate at his hand. He sat and thought his face still shown the depressed look he had before. He hoped he wasn’t bring vale down but really couldn’t be sure.

 

[Vale 1]

Atzo would not relent with the personal questions, she decided that it would hurt digging deep into her past with her and Yukino. She looked up at the beautiful blue sky with birds flying between tree's, "It's not a problem Atzo. I think it's good to talk about closely personal things to help one slowly move forward in their lives from tragic events." She expressed, "Well it was like having someone that no matter what happened always had your back. Being able to love Yukino." She stated the name as she sat down on the ground, leaning backwards with her hands placed to keep her propped up, "Was honestly the greatest thing in the world. I wouldn't have traded it for anything. We were best friends growing up in school, and when we learned we have feelings for each other. It was everything that was and then some." She continued.

A lot of her explanation probably wouldn't help him understand how to feel it himself, but it would help him get insight on how someone else felt over it, "When I had proposed to her, and she accepted. It meant that we would be together for the rest of our lives. Always being able to honestly depend on each other. Since she had quit physical sports and took up video gaming, it was like I got to learn something new about her that I never knew about. And that was heartwarming, I could share in her passion since she shared in mine for so long." Vale then bit her lower lip as she knew what she was about to say, "We had proposal gifts to each other. I had won an all expenses paid spa day at a world reknown resort from a Tournament I had just won in." She turned to look at Atzo, "Her gift to me was this game. We were only suppose to play for an hour-" Vale interrupted herself to turn to look forward again, "But when we learned that we were stuck in this world. Yukino couldn't mentally handle it, she always had anxiety issues due to worrying about taking over her parents business. Which was a very profitable business, that's how she could afford this game. Well, her anxiety took over and.... and..." She stopped as she took a very deep breath trying to keep her composure, "Without talking to me she ran, I chased her... But she stepped up on the edge of Aincrad.... Then jumped........" Vale had a long pause, "She disappeared from my friends list immediately... And I didn't delete her. So I know what that means..." She wiped away a tear from her eye and stood up, "Sorry for getting emotional... Lets get a change of scenary... I need to punch some monsters." She expressed intently to Atzo.