[PP - F1] Lazy Days

[Takao 0]

Takao reclined against the back of the bench that he had claimed for the moment and stretched his arms out to either side. He exhaled a long and clearly audible yawn as he settled into the wooden seat, and a relaxed smile slowly grew on his face. A two foot tall reptilian-looking monster laid supine beside him on the bench, happily eating a large sandwich. He didn't often give himself days like this, where he just woke up and lazed around without any kind of responsibility. He knew he had plenty of work left to do in preparation for the boss fight, but stressing himself out and working himself to exhaustion weren't going to do him any better than taking a day off. The City of Beginnings had a fairly large park for players to enjoy, a way to take their minds off the terrible consequences of their involvement with the game, and said park was exactly where Takao had decided to spend some of his time relaxing. His armour was unequipped, leaving him in the black high-collared shirt he wore under his normal getup, his usual trousers, and his usual boots. His sword was laying against the back of the bench behind him, within his grasp but out of sight.

"I should probably be out questing or something right about now..." He mumbled to himself as his eyes closed and arms came to rest behind his head, providing him with just a bit of cushioning. Reminding himself he still had some sort of responsibility that he was neglecting felt just a little bit better than denying its existence entirely.

[Xion 0]

Xion sighed as he walked around the town of beginnings, the boy had literally nothing to do as his shop was a relatively quiet place and he had no quests to be completing so he had decided that a walk might be a good idea. As he walked he hummed a little, taking in the fresh air of floor one as he did. "If only the real world were this nice" he said to himself, remembering the general crap weather of Britain. The boy continued to walk until he reached a nice little park area with several benches and a small fountain. The boy decided to sit down on one of the benches, before noticing that there was a player on the one next to him, it was Takao,  a friend of Xion's who had helped him complete the <<Earning a living>> quest. "Hey Takao how are you doing?" he said before looking at the reptile next to him "So you have a familiar now, nice.Maybe I should get one" he said with a chuckle. 

[Takao 0]

The subtle sensation of additional weight on one side of the bench prompted Takao to open one of his eyes and glance over to the source. It seemed to take his brain a moment to process the sight of a familiar face, though once he had realized who it was, he suddenly sat up and grinned widely. "Xion! Hey man!" He said, the sudden raised tone of his voice startled the monster beside him. "I'm doin' good. Been really busy lately, but good." He said, still grinning as he settled against the back of the bench again. "How 'bout you? How's the blacksmithing bis' treatin' you?" His tone was just as friendly as ever, or perhaps even a bit more so. Seeing a friend after spending so much time in solitude on the higher floors did wonders to eased his gregarious nature to rest. His mouth pursed slightly at the mention of the familiar, and adopted a pensive expression for only a moment as he contemplated telling Xion of how much trouble acquiring the monster had turned out to be, though he ultimately said nothing about the matter.

[Xion 0]

Xion chuckled "Only one customer so far, but I did sell a perfect sword, made two in fact, I have the other one here if you want to see" he said with a smile as he drew the Slicing Maelstrom and laid it on the bench. It was a dark grey blade with a yellow core, the blade was dotted with little yellow marking that look light lightening, the hand guard was of an angular lightening-bolt like design and the pommel stone was a gem than glowed yellow as electricity arced across the blade every now and then. "Turn out I'm better at smithing than fighting" he said with a slight chuckle as he looked at Takao, before realising that he was probably talking far too much about his sword. "Sorry, I'm just really proud of this one. Anyway, I heard that the lead group found the floor 11 boss room, and that a certain person is part of the raid group" he said, of course he was referring to Takao, while the thought that his friend was strong enough to be part of the raid group, he also feared. Feared that he may lose one of his few friends in this world. "Just don't die ok?" 

[Takao 0]

Takao's eyebrows pulled upward with interest as Xion spoke, and his green eyes carefully examined the blade that was laid across the bench. The monster beside Takao had expressed some curiousity in the weapon and climbed up onto Takao's shoulders for a better view. "Aw dude, that's sick! Two perfects already? I'm still just usin' good old Lightbringer." Takao pointed with one hand over his shoulder to the weapon that leaned against the back of the bench. "I'm gonna have to order a weapon off you sometime soon, somethin' that's better for PvP. Lightbringer's good for monsters and all, but not players so much." His words fell off his tongue naturally, as if he wasn't talking about weapons that could potentially be used for the murder of another person. His intentions, regardless of how his words made them seem, were still pure. He wanted to be better equipped to defend himself and others if need be. Takao's attention flicked over at him at the mention of the boss raid, and his eyebrows quickly furrowed while his eyes widened slightly. "Uh... Wait, that kinda information's just floating around, for real?" He quickly averted his gaze to the ground in thought, one of his hands moving to rub his jawline. "Aw man... I hope Youno didn't find out already. I wanted to be the one to tell her."

[Xion 0]

Xion laughed a little "Are you joking? The information brokers are having a bloody field day with that sort of info. But anyway good luck, just promise me you won't die" he said, before sheathing his blade and laying back against the bench. "And sure man I can easily make you a sword, just tell me the enhancements that you want and I'll make it. A perfect is gonna cost you 1200 though" he said with a chuckle before looking at the little creature on Takao's shoulder, stroking it lightly. "Awww the little guy is so cute, makes me want to get one" he said. 

Edited August 10, 2015 by Xion

[Takao 0]

Takao's head dropped as a long breath escaped. He ran one of his hands over his face and through his hair before shrugging. "Dang... I haven't really paid attention to them. Guess I should start doing that more often, huh? Oh, and you've got nothin' to worry about, dude. I'm gonna be totally fine." He chuckled lightly and briefly scratched the head of the monster while Xion went on to explain his prices, to which Takao nodded along with. Despite his words only showing honesty and certainty, there was a bit of doubt that rang in the back of his mind, though he was quick to shelve it. "Twelve hundred, got it. I haven't worked out exactly what I want yet, but I'll let you know when I do. Where's your shop at anyway?" When the topic briefly shifted to the monster upon his shoulder, Takao chuckled along with Xion and nodded. "He's a big help in combat too, he buffs me a little bit. He was a pain in the butt to get though, I spent almost four days on floor five."

[Xion 0]

"It's on the outskirts of the town of beginnings, I can show you later if you want" he said, still looking at the small creature "Must be worth it though, I mean after all the trouble you get a companion in this world and a nice little buff, which is worth more than any amount of col in this game" Xion said, reminding himself that he was still a solo player, no guild, a few friends but not much. "And I could think of worse ways to spend four days, for example I spent four days teleporting between floors and fighting field bosses, while the EXP gain was nice it wasn't exactly a pleasant experience" he said with a chuckle. 

[Takao 0]

Takao nodded in response as the monster hopped down from his shoulders and returned to the bench. His eyes followed the monster for a moment until he turned to look at Xion again. "Sure, I should be around later. I don't really have much going on today anyways, just kinda taking the day off." Takao nodded again in agreement after the topic switched back to his familiar. "Oh yeah, it was definitely worth it. I wanted to bump up my accuracy a bit without taking away enhancement slots on my equipment. He's definitely come in useful already, 'n he gets to eat all the sandwiches he wants in return so it's a fair deal!" A laugh escaped his lungs following his statement as his eyes set upon the small monster again, which seemed content with laying where it had been before. "I know the feeling, man. Avalanche was a pain to take on. You haven't found a guild yet or anything, huh?"

[Xion 0]

"Tried with one of the lower level guilds but no luck, no response for over a week" he said with a sigh, maybe it was just because of the guild's low level, maybe they weren't that bothered, or they just didn't like Xion, both were equally possible. "Hey you're in a guild aren't you?" he said, looking at the symbol above Takao's health bar "Are they accepting new members currently?" he asked hopefully, while big crowds was something that Xion didn't deal with well, he still wanted to be part of a guild. Mainly because he would be able to help, to be useful, and also he might find a few friends within it. 

[Takao 0]

A breath escaped from his lungs as he settled in against the bench, his right arm moving to rest over the back while Xion answered him. "Ah, that sucks." He said in response. Takao finally let his gaze wander around the park, idly examining various passing players without showing too much interest. The topic of his guild brought his wandering attention back to Xion, and he nodded in response. "Yeah, the Guardians of Aincrad." Takao answered, which prompted Xion's next question. Takao seemed pensive for a moment as he thought, and then shrugged. "I think so, yeah. It's a guild that helps new players so I'd imagine they're pretty much always accepting new people."

[Xion 0]

Xion nodded "well if you could put a good word in for me or something I guess" he said with a sigh, he had become stronger as a solo player, but he still had a long way to go, so he figured that joining a guild was a good idea, especially if that guild contained a friend. " anyways, should we go do something or do you want to just stay here and chill?" He asked with a smile. 

[Takao 0]

A small smile grew on Takao's face as Xion asked his question, and he mused at how good of an accidental recruiter for the guild he'd become. "Yeah, I can do that. I can actually introduce you to the guild leader herself, if you wanted to meet her." He mentioned doing something next, although nothing came to mind when Takao gave it some thought. His mind had primarily been on relaxing for the day, so he didn't have much capacity to think of other activities. "I wouldn't mind doin' something, but I've no idea what it would be. Any ideas?"

[Xion 0]

Xion smiled "Thanks, and I don't know I usually go hunting but you don't really seem like you're in the mood for that..." he said, scratching his chin in thought. "We could go get a drink or something. But again I don't really know, shows you how much time I spend actually relaxing huh?" he said with a chuckle. 

[Takao 0]

A gloved hand tapped idly on the side of the bench as he listened to Xion, nodding his head slightly to show he was still listening, yet the look on his face clearly showed he was deep in thought. When Xion had presented him with the options, he took a moment to mull over them, a low hum escaping from his throat as he thought. Takao wasn't a lazy person by any means, and although he had been looking forward to a bit of relaxation, the lack of responsibility made him uneasy. He needed to do something, to make some kind of progress, and sitting around just wasn't doing it for him. When he finally came to a conclusion, he turned his head to face Xion and felt a small grin grow on his face. "How 'bout we take on a field boss?

[Xion 0]

Xion scratched his chin in thought "Hmm sounds nice but there's only one lower level field boss that I haven't beaten yet: The queen, and that I can solo easily" he said, before trying to think of any other field bosses that there were. There was the Banshee and Butcher of the sands, but both of them were far too strong for Xion and Takao to be fighting without someone like Tristan around. "I guess there's guardian of fire, but you're not really a tank...and I'm a weak tank. " he said with a frown.

[Takao 0]

Takao raised his leg and crossed it over his other, his ankle resting across the knee as he listened and nodded. "Those are just the ones with quests related to them. They're the better ones to do though, since they give better rewards." Takao said with a slight shrug. He'd done all the field bosses he could take on his lonesome as well, and had begun to arrange a party for the harder ones. "All the floors technically had them, since they're just harder mobs that block the labyrinths before the boss. Not all of them seem to respawn or have beneficial quests attached to them, though." His head bobbed in a solemn nod to express agreement to the statement about the Guardian of Fire, although he had been considering doing that particular boss by himself as well, likely against his better judgement. "That one's a pain no matter how you look at it. Even good tanks could end up having trouble with it if they don't get good saving throws, and that's before they get to the monster."

[Xion 0]

Xion nodded "Well I'm looking for a challenge either way, the sand shark and Avalanche where easy as hell. If we can find something stronger now that would be interesting" he said with a smile as he got up, stretching a little as he looked up and into the sky of Aincrad, the perfect blue sky, white clouds and brilliant shining sun. "You know for all the pain and sorrow that this world has caused, you have to admit that it's beautiful, heck better than the real world" he said, thinking about what he had on the other side, before pushing those thoughts beside and turning to Takao. "So you ready?"

[Takao 0]

"It does have a certain charm to it, doesn't it?" Takao said as he stood and slung his scabbard over his left shoulder. "I'd still like to get back as soon as possible though." he said as he adjusted the strap and secured the weapon to his back and rolled his shoulders. When Xion turned to him, he nodded, and dropped his hands down to his sides. "Yup. This one shouldn't be too difficul-" he'd started to say before the tell-tale chimes of an incoming private message interrupted him. His eyes fell down to the menu as it appeared in front of him. "Uh, hold on just a sec'." Takao opened the message and briefly skimmed the contents before exhaling something akin to a grumble. "Ah, crap. Sorry dude, I gotta go handle some guild stuff. We'll have to do this sometime later."

[Xion 0]

Xion nodded as Takao looked at the message that he received, explaining that it was about his guild and that he had to leave. "Worry not, I can wait. We must go hunting one day. Although, with your power I doubt that I would be doing much, But still, if not hunting we must talk one day, maybe over a drink or something of the like" he said with a chuckle, resting a hand on the brunette's shoulder as he did.