[PP-F2] Random Encounter (Setsuko)

[Rebekah 0]

She traveled up to the second floor in search of some peace and quiet from the busy over-crowded town of beginning. There was no space for her to do anything without wasting half a day getting away from the big crowds that are everywhere. She continued exploring further into the woodland, looking for an amazing view, and more importantly stronger monsters.

[Natalia 0]

On a cliff overlooking a waterfall and lake atop the High Fields of Crossing, deep within the mountain's woodlands, Setsuko sat, her legs dangling over the edge. Her amber eyes stared into the water beneath her. Then, they drifted towards the waterfall, before moving back to the pool of water. She had to be at least two-hundred feet high, high enough to break most of the bones in her body upon impact with the water's surface and cause her to drown a miserable death, at least in the real world. I wonder if the results would be the same here.

Wind rushed past her. Her long, black hair wavered with the wind, bringing her to tilt her head back to move the hair from her face. A tear slid across the soft skin of her face and sideways across her right cheek, pushed by the wind. She raised her hand to wipe it away, but a second followed. Then a third, a fourth, and a fifth. Solitude brings out the emotions of even the most stubborn of people, it seemed. Attempting to draw a deep breath, she found herself hyperventilating, eventually gasping for breath. It took a minute, but she was able to calm herself down. Slowly, her eyes began to shut.

I'm sorry, Dad.

[Rebekah 0]

She looked up at the amazing scenery around her. She had never visited these parts before, and she thought she spotted something on the edge of the cliff above. Rebekah took another look, this time paying a lot more attention than before, there was a girl sitting right on the edge of the cliff. It was not a good idea to startle her as she was hanging ever so dangerously on the edge.

Rebekah knew she had to get up onto the cliff, since she does not know why she is hanging there by herself. She thought about yelling, but she could not possibly yell that high. However, she spotted a trail that can lead her up to the cliff, as she makes her way up.

[Natalia 0]

From above, Setsuko's eyes were distracted by a figure that seemed to be looking at her, before following the path up to her. She watched the figure for a little while, until her sight was cutoff by the terrain. Setsuko scoffed. What could another player possibly be doing wandering around here? Her thought was flawed and she knew it. Fact was, the High Fields of Crossing were one of the more popular places for players to hang out, specifically couples. Beauty was all that brought Setsuko here, however; that, and the gentle ambiance of nature.

Setsuko's amber orbs found their way back towards the pool below her as she sighed. She supposed she'd just linger around until the player arrived at the peak.

[Rebekah 0]

The trek up to the top of the cliff did not take long, but it felt like an eternity for her. Perhaps she was distracted with the view the whole way up the mountain, as she hiked up the trail. Regardless, getting to the top of the cliff was her primary priority. She thought she heard that somewhere around these parts would be very popular for meeting up with people, but she has not seen a single person since leaving the town on the second floor.

As she finally made it up to the cliff, she noticed that the girl she was staring from far below was still here. She had finally made it up here, the view was spectacular, as she took a second to catch her breath to look at the view before talking to the girl on the cliff.

[Natalia 0]

Footsteps came from behind Setsuko. Curiously, she turned her head to confirm that it was the figure from below. I know you, don't I? She looked over the girl a couple of times, before she remembered: she had placed a custom order. "Rebekah?" Setsuko asked the girl, though it was more for herself, as she was trying to put a name to the face. Yeah, that has to be right. Her gaze met the girl's, but she didn't move from the edge. "What are you doing here?"

[Rebekah 0]

She was still staring the beautiful scenery when she thought someone had called her name. No, wait, someone had called her name and she looked around and saw the girl who called her name. It was Setsuko, the blacksmith that she had asked to create a custom sword for her. She looked up at the her and said, "I been exploring these woods myself, but have not seen a single person around, until I spotted someone up the cliff." She stopped and took a second to double check, there was nobody else around.

[Natalia 0]

Setsuko took the coincidence to be just that: a coincidence. She turned her head forward and stared back into the water, rocking her dangling legs back and forth. "That would be me." Her words came out a little cold, but not her typical 'heartless' cold. It sounded more forced, as if she was attempting to mask her emotions. With a deep inhale, she yawned, and rubbed her right-hand's fingers on the smooth surface she was seated upon. Her other hand remained resting on her lap, and her hair continued blowing in the oh, so chilling wind.

"I apologize. Your weapon isn't completed yet." Setsuko answered the question that she figured Rebekah had on her mind, though she didn't doubt that there would be another, more obvious question following. Instead of answering it before it was asked, she simply waited to see if it was the question she expected.

[Rebekah 0]

"That is okay' she replied. She was not in a rush for her weapon, her current weapon is still very viable for the time being. She noticed that she tried to force an answer. Usually, she would keep to her own business and not press the issue further. However, this time she was interested to find out more.

She took a sit down nearby on the cliff, and took a moment for her to find her words. The way she spoke, put her off her train of thought for a while, there was something about how she spoke. She did not know exactly what it was at the moment but she decided to ask anyways. "Is there anything bothering you?"

[Natalia 0]

Setsuko couldn't help but chuckle at Rebekah's question; it was similar to the 'why are you so close to the edge?' she expected, but it wasn't. There was a moment of silence, other than the ambiance. How am I supposed to respond? She deeply inhaled through her nostrils, and slowly exhaled from the mouth. "Am I that easy to read?" An apathetic chuckle left the girl. Few had ever called her out on her like Rebekah had just done. Does she sense how I feel, or is she simply asking out of consideration?

The teenage girl brought her right-hand and left-hand together in the center of her lap, interlacing her fingers. "It doesn't really matter." Setsuko did her best to evade the question.

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah looked out at the view below the cliff. To be honest, she was not a good at reading people, but she could feel that Setsuko's answers were a bit forceful. She decided not to continue to force the issue yet, as there was no point. "Your answers seem a bit forced" she replied as the breeze started to pick up a tiny bit.

She continued to sit down for a while, and did not reply for a while. The breeze felt nice after a long walk up, and she decided to change the topic to something else, hoping she might open up a little bit. "The view is spectacular, isn't it?"

[Natalia 0]

I'll have to give you that one, Rebekah.

Setsuko shook her head, a faint, humored smile replacing her previous expression as Rebekah shifted the topic, probably in an attempt to get Setsuko to slowly open up. I'll play along, for now. She nodded her head at Rebekah's question. "Indeed, it is. Nothing like a beautiful sight to get you to contemplate the meaning of life." A chuckle followed her words, though it was hard to tell whether or not it was a legitimate one. For some odd reason, Setsuko had a feeling Rebekah might win the emotional battle.

[Rebekah 0]

Well, at least her answer was not that forced this time.

She sat there, and felt a bit relieved that she did open up slightly, albeit to a completely different topic. At least she made a tiny headway in, as it was better than just ignoring her completely over this. She knew how it felt, she never really opened up to people in real life, yet most confided to her for advice. However, with Setsuko, there was a decent opportunity that she might not get her to say anything more. It would be a first for her, but if she does not want to, there was no real point forcing the issue. "Is this the best view you seen so far?" she inquired. However, she was still interested in trying to get to know Setsuko.

[Natalia 0]

Well, is it the best view, I've seen so far? That was actually a question Setsuko had to ponder. There were an abundance of beautiful views she had the opportunity to witness, and only they had only been across the first nine floors. It was a challenge, but Setsuko found her answer. "It's close, but no." She replied to Rebekah's inquiry. "The glades and the fourth floor are superior." She had spent a lot of lonely nights in the beauty of the glades; had she felt romance towards someone, that's probably where she'd marry them.

"What about you? Seen any prettier sights?"

[Rebekah 0]

Rebekah had wanted to go up to the 4th floor for quite sometime. Someday, she'll explore there eventually. She looked around, this was the best view she ever seen, since other than exploring the desert, she had not left floor 1 to explore much. "I would love to see the glades one day" she replied. This was a good view, she thought about if the 4th floor is superior to the second, than she thought about the higher levels. "Do you often go exploring by yourself?"

[Natalia 0]

Once again, Rebekah caused Setsuko to smile with a chuckle. This one was different, though, it was as if Setsuko was almost mocking her for asking the question. "I'm not exactly the most friendly of people." Was her first response. Rebekah had managed to avoid provoking Setsuko, but not everyone could accomplish such a feat. "Most avoid me, some approach me, few stay with me."[ That number had sky-rocketed to a whopping four over the past few weeks, but in a game with ten-thousand players, it was still miniscule.

Setsuko paused for a moment, calming herself down by focusing on the gentle sound of the flowing water and its eventual crash at the bottom of the pool. Why am I telling you all of this? Perhaps she was just being a good blacksmith, and not wanting to push Rebekah and her order away. "So yes, I mostly travel alone."

[Rebekah 0]

It felt like she was battling an uphill climb trying to get her to open up, she was not the most unfriendly of the people that she had meet. She was quite normal in her opinion, as Rebekah never really expected for someone to open up. Even she would not open up to someone else in real life, if she met them once before, and they barely talked.

However, it felt like she was slowly opening up, even if it is about other random topics. "Most of the time, I travel alone, but I do not mind going with people" she replied.

[Natalia 0]

Setsuko nodded her head at Rebekah's response; it was the common response in Sword Art Online. Most people chose to level alone until they were invited into a party, in which case then they'd begin to slowly turn away from the life of a solo player. She wouldn't call herself a solo player, though. More often than not, she was with somebody, whether it was desired or not. Setsuko just refused to travel with the vast majority of people.

"Someone close to me died." Setsuko changed the topic, probably to Rebekah's joy. "I think about him every day."

[Rebekah 0]

Her response had completely caught her off-guard. Rebekah was speechless for once, she was thinking about the right words to say after a response such as that, but nothing escaped her mouth. Rebekah had always been interested in becoming a solo-player, but a lot of things are a lot easier in a group as opposed to solo.

Eventually, she managed to find her words, "If you would like to talk about it, I can listen, or we can ignore the subject altogether." She had never lost someone that close to her, so she does not know how to react to it.

[Natalia 0]

To be honest, Setsuko couldn't explain herself why she was beginning to tell Rebekah this. Perhaps she just felt she needed to let it out? She shook her head at her own thought, before replying to Rebekah. "Why stop now?" She shrugged, and began to open up for the first time since had entered Sword Art Online. Oh, what the hell? Setsuko figured Rebekah probably wouldn't be the type of person to go blabbing to everyone around.

"It wasn't in Sword Art." Setsuko explained, knowing it was completely necessary for the general point to come across. "It was my dad. He.. killed himself." Her head tilted forward as she stared into the water. "After telling me it was my fault."