PP - F11 Late Night Run Ins (Ssendom, Jomei) (Completed)

[Calrex 0]

In the eleventh floor settlement of Taft there was an establishment that was about two building floors in size, a respite that was enclosed in the multiple buildings that seemed to densely populate the streets of the settlement. However, this was not like the other drinking facilities or taverns that were on the other floors. This one was more akin to a high-end bar or lounge in the real world, with a handful of bartenders working behind a long counter.

It was here late in the night that Calrex was sitting down at the end of the counter, having himself a mug of ale. After the conclusion of the floor boss meeting, he had let Teayre go on ahead back to the Amethyst Boutique, deciding to spend a few minutes relaxing and collecting his thoughts. He himself had only found this little haven this night, with it being practically empty, save a few players and the NPC bartenders on hand.

With another swig he gave a small sigh, "Alright, better make the most of this time. The next boss raid is going to be happening soon. I'll probably only hang here until Teayre lets me know when she's done with her crafts for the day, then I'll make my way back over."

"Anything else for now sir? It looks like you're about done with that mug of ale?"

"Hm...yes, I'll actually have an Irish coffee please."

The bartender gave a nod as he began to swipe on his menu, assembling the ingredients for the drink.

Edited December 14, 2015 by Calrex

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom entered a tavern he happened to frequent often, he had recently been distancing himself from many people to continue his empowering journey. He looked at the counter and saw a very familiar haired fellow whom he had recently had two bouts against, the third was actually soon to happen. He took the opportunity to walk up and plop his overly armored ass onto a stool right next to Calrex.

"I'll have one of the House special." He shouted to the bartender. He then turned his attention to Calrex without turning to look at the Ultramarine Knight, "Well this is a sight to behold, the mighty Calrex not in the fields helping low end players or taking the time to improve his strength." He chuckled for a second, "You seem a bit gloom at the moment, mostly because you're in here. Need an ear good friend?" He asked.

The Bartender brought both their drinks, which Ssendom grabbed his and took a huge swig of the very dark ale. Dropping a few hundred col to cover the tab of him and Calrex.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei's body materialized in a flash of blue light at in the center of the warp plaza on Floor Eleven, more specifically in the town of Taft. The sun had set, and darkness took over the city, which was illuminated by street lamps and lit windows. A smile crossed his lips, he wished Zandra were here to enjoy the night with him, but she was trapped in her shop all day brewing plenty of potions for the upcoming boss raid.. and the girl deserved a nice rest. Jomei turned his head to look at the owl on his shoulder, "I'm probably going to go find a pub somewhere, you can head home if you'd like." With that, the small brown bird spread its wings and took off into the night sky. Jomei watched until the bird was no longer visible, before placing his hands into the pockets of his casual town clothes and strolling into the streets of Taft. 

It was not hard to find an eatery or bar in this city, since it was almost as densely populated with buildings as The Town of Beginnings. The irishman stopped in front of a place unlike a usual pub he would go to, for it seemed slightly more high end than a medieval looking tavern. With a shrug of his shoulders, he decided he would give the place a shot and entered the door. The place was mostly dead, given multiple NPCs behind the counter and players scattered at different tables. At the end of the bar, however, he noticed two sitting next to each other, the backs of their heads looking rather familiar. "Hey there lads, didn't think I'd find anyone here." The man said as he approached them, taking a seat next to Ssendom. Turning his head to the bartended closest to them, he raised his hand, "I'll just take an ale, please." 

[Calrex 0]

Temporarily lost in his thoughts, it seemed that Ssendom had decided to pop in at the perfect opportunity to plop down next to Calrex. The bluenette jumped for a second as he turned to see the heavily armored brunette next to him as he gave a small laugh, "Geezes Dom don't spook a guy like that with an ale in his hand, heh."

Finishing off the last of his first drink he slid the mug back towards the bartender's side as he gave a smirk, speaking in a lighthearted tone, "I'm sure the lower level players will be ok without me being there to...shoot I probably should get back down..."

Giving a laugh he looked to see that his Irish coffee had been prepared as the NPC slid the mug over to him. This time the vessel was see-through, showing the brown liquid beneath the layer of white foam on the top, "However, this time I'm actually doing quite alright man. It probably doesn't show on my face just yet, but that's because I spent the last few weeks without a single good night's rest. I'm fixing that now. How have things been with you though? The last times I've seen you we were either crossing blades or listening to boss pla..."

Looking over he saw yet another familiar face sit down next to the man known as the Dreadnaught, "Jomei, long time no see!"

Taking a swig of his drink he tasted the mixture of coffee, whiskey, and milk froth slid across his palette as he gave an exhale afterwards, "So how have things been with you two?"

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom laughed when Calrex was talking about the low end players being alright without him, then more so when he changed the thought to really needing to get back down there. "Ah, I know what you mean, I am rather satisfied that I didn't inquire the assistance of strong people such as yourself back when I was getting stronger. I am honestly surprised I have come to be able to stand to you blade for blade." He praised his friend, He then listened to him after he got his Irish Coffee.

Calrex was interrupted by Jomei whom promptly plopped himself down right next to The Berserker, "Didn't honestly expect to see you Jomei." He brought up his hand to shake his red-headed friend, "But it is good to see you again since we traversed the swamplands together." He said with a smile.

He looked over at Calrex who asked how the two of them had been, Ssendom shrugged "I am about to do my next Solo Clearing Fields in the deadplains of the Thirteenth floor. I would Clear the Fields of Tartarus again but unfortunately with the Mods update, I have lost my Night Vision skill which is rather annoying but it gives me a reason to explore the entirety of the floor so it has it's benefits." He said grinning, "Will probably aim for... I don't know... Two, maybe Five Hundred Thousand col. I'll inform you about it later. How about you two?" After gloating a slight bit he asked.

[Jomei 0]

"Aye, its been awhile since I've seen both of you." he said with a chuckle, reaching over to shake Ssendom's extended hand. He laughed at Ssendom's mention of their trip to the swamps, "Yeah, quite the trip that was."  The bartended placed the glass filled with the amber drink in front of Jomei, who gave the man a nod. He brought the glass to his lips and downed a good portion rather quickly. He placed the drink back on the counter with a relieved sigh, it had been awhile since he had gone out drinking. "I haven't been up to much actually.. much less than usual. Been taking it easy." He shook his head with a smirk, "Although, I should really be preparing for the upcoming boss fight" the man shrugged his shoulders and took hold of his drink again. Recently, the man was beginning to lose interest in fighting on the front lines and clearing the game, for he was beginning to live a somewhat more peaceful life. "How about you guys?"

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave a nod as he listened to both Jomei and Ssendom speak, "Yeah, I lost a few of my skills as well in the recent update, but I've gained quite a few things in the process. I actually ended up taking up Battle Healing and Block in place of the skills I once had and even had enough points left over to take on a few of the new mods that were discovered. I'm not as evasive as I was in the past, but I've certainly made up for it with some overhealth and other capabilities."

With another swig he of his drink he continued, "Other than that I've been pretty busy just on the upper floors. Ever since Teayre became an orange player I guess I went into protector mode or something, hence the lack of sleep for a few weeks. Other than that I've just been at the grind as usual, trying to keep myself useful in the boss fights, heh."

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom leaned forward drinking his dark ale, he seemed to be relaxed by the intense bitter flavor which had garnered some respect from the bartender who rarely had the house special ordered. He closed his eyes and laughed, "It's rather amusing that most people are no longer surprised by my insane col farming idea's. Just a few months ago it would have been considered impossible to farm one hundred thousand col in just twenty four plus hours. I intend to make five times that amount in less time." He gloates as he made an insanely ridiculous claim.

After he finished gloating and finished drinking his Dark Ale, he looked over at Calrex, "So Teayre killed a green player?" He asked with a slight bit of surprise as he had done some fighting alongside the Red Headed woman. He then looked over at Jomei, "And I know how you feel. Me and Cal here have been pushing ourselves to the limit to stay Front Line worthy." He mentioned as he made a motion for another Dark Ale to get brought to him.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei chuckled at Ssendom's crazy mat farming skills. "Hah, I wish I had that kind of money. I'm barely ever able to get anything from hunting mobs.. but maybe thats because I usually don't hint on the higher floors." he brought the glass to his lips again, this time taking a much smaller sip. He looked over at Calrex who mentioned Teayre being an orange player, "Hm? She killed someone?" He mentioned lack of sleep.. so it probably would not be the smartest thing to ask about details. "Don't get me wrong.. I want to stay up there in the front with you guys. Its just hard to keep up sometimes." he chuckled. "I'm lucky I've survived this far.  But now I have something.. someone, important to protect. So the idea of staying back is in the back of my mind."

[Calrex 0]

Calrex gave an affirming nod when Ssendom expressed his surprise as his wife's change in player status, "Yeah, I'll spare you the details, but a person in her real life showed up in the game, a person that caused her much anguish in the past. So, she decided to attack first. In any case, other than that she's been pretty much the same. The only other difference is that she had to move her shop of course."

With another swig of his Irish coffee he saw that it was halfway gone, "Dang, I should probably slow down and savor this a bit."

Upon hearing that Jomei had also found a significant other, at least from the way he spoke about them, he gave a congratulatory smile, "I think congrats are in order then Jomei. Who's the lucky person?"

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom grinned when Jomei showed his surprise to the massive amount of Col he was aiming to farm up, "Ever since that Forsaken Crusader, I have been like a King of Col gaining with my shoulder pads." He stated as he shifted his shoulder around, he turned to look at Calrex who gave minimal explanation even though Jomei and Dom weren't exactly trying to pry the information from him. "Well, atleast he's been taken care of and you won't have to deal with some deranged idiot again. What floor did she move her shop by the way?" He asked Calrex.

After asking his question the bartender placed another house special in front of Dom, "Thanks boss." He said in an appreciative tone, then he heard Jomei had found someone who was special to him, "I agree with Calrex, congratulations are in order. And I am just as curious as the Ultramarine Knight here, care to explain whom they might be and where did you meet?" He finished with a question as he patted his friend on the back while drinking his house special with the other hand.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei chuckled and shook his head as Ssendom continued to, noticeably, gloat about his new ability to farm a lot of col in short amounts of time. Not that it annoyed him in any way, he was happy for his friend. Definitely made him jealous of course. At his rate, Ssendom would probably be able to buy one of the higher end houses in the game in no time... where as it might take Jomei a long time to save up for one on Floor Eleven. Jomei looked past Ssendom as Calrex spoke about his wife and her new orange cursor. Seemed like the reason for her killing another player was justified, to a point at least. "Thats good." Jomei said to him in a low voice. He still was not too fond of player killers.. but then again, he was beginning to think in this world, it might sometimes be crucial. The two men congratulated Jomei on his new relationship, to which he put up his hands in front of him, palms facing out. "Ahehe. Well, I've actually been seeing Zandra lately." he admitted, a warm smile on his face as he stirred his spun his drink in his hand. 

[Calrex 0]

"Zandra huh? That's great! Next time I see her I'll need to give her my congrats as well!"

With another swig he saw the rest of the Irish coffee disappear as he slid his glass over to the bartender, "Thank you for that. I think I'll just get a glass of whiskey on the rocks this time."

Since he had requested a much simpler drink this time the short glass of liquid and ice cubes appeared fairly quickly as the man standing across from him slid it over, with Calrex easily stopping it with his open hand, "I'm fairly sure, at least from Dom and Jomei's response, there still is that stigma about being an orange player. Plus other than subjective benefits of being feared, or 'respected,' there's no logical ups about the status change. At least she said she's planning to take Redemption in the future."

Taking a swig of the whiskey he felt the heat of the liquid slid down his throat. However, the buzz that usually came with it was staved off by the game's rule of being unable to get inebriated.

"So you still haven't answered Dom's second question, where and when did the two of you become a couple?"

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom was rather surprised that it was Zandra who became a couple with his Irish ginger friend, "Well you claimed Zvift for your own, I am proud of you. Tell her I want an order of 20 perfect healing crystals when you get the chance. I'll throw in a generous tip of materials if she does so, solely because she is one with you." He stated with a grin as he removed the Hydra Skull from his head, placing it in his HUD causing it to disappear into his inventory. He turned to look at Jomei as Calrex helped Dom out with his question, "Yeah you never did say where and when you became a couple. Don't leave a brother without answers." He laughed.

He finished his Dark Ale and placed it down, the bartender immediately knew what that meant. The NPC quickly got to work making Dom another House special, "By the way guys, these drinks are on me." He patted the backs of both Jomei and Calrex insisting them to order whatever they wanted to eat or drink, "I won't take no for an answer, just ask Jomei... When I say I am going to cover a bill I won't stand down." He stated bluntly.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei took a sip of his drink and laughed as he placed the cup down when Ssendom mentioned an order he wanted from the girl, "H-hey now, don't go using me to your advantage. I don't want to tire the girl out now. But as great of an alchemist she is, I'm sure thats not too tough of an order for her." The man then took the skull off of his head, which Jomei honestly did not even realize he was wearing until now, and he watched as he put it into his inventory. If he remembered correctly, that was the Hydra skull that Zel usually sported.. why did Ssendom have it? Well, they were part of the same guild after all, it would not surprise him if they were sharing items amongst each other. Jomei scoffed and took another sip of his drink, "Well, if you both really want to know. It was not too long ago.. Zandra had come back from a journey that she made alone, and we went on a quest together. Thinking back on it now, I can't help but admit old feelings I had for the girl started to come back up again.. but I needed to play it smart with the Floor Eleven boss fight coming up, so I pushed them off for the time being, despite her.. telling me she loved me.. Time went on without us seeing each other for a few weeks before we ran into each other again.. I helped her with a quest to find a child down in the caves on Floor Two and.. things just happened from there."  He looked up from his drink at his friends, who were eyeing him down as he told his story. His cheeks flushed pink and he drained his ale. "Yeah.. he's a stubborn one with it. Thanks lad." he said with a smirk at Ssendom, "We all know you can afford it." he winked one of his olive green eyes at him. "Hm. I'll take a whiskey too."

[Calrex 0]

Calrex couldn't help but give a laugh as Ssendom said he was going to buy their drinks tonight, denying any form of refusal, "Oh trust me Jomei, I know firsthand from our duels that Dom's a tenacious one."

Accepting the gesture he then listened attentively to Jomei's story. If he were honest, it sounded like one of those scenarios that would be an ongoing plot within some drama or fantasy story, "A relationship with such tension that anyone watching would think that those two individuals should just get together already and become a couple, heh, well there is more than a fair share of those in existence."

"It sounds like there was a lot going on between the two of you. Nonetheless I'm glad that you two are happy together. I would say 'finally' but I had no idea what was going on, heh."

"Teayre and I didn't have that kind of thing. Literally the night after I met her we became a couple, but to me it seems the more we learn about each other the closer we've become. So it wasn't a normal budding kind of development, but It's something that I guess makes us unique."

Taking another swig of his drink he gave a calming exhale, expelling the heat from the liquid rather than taking it in. With another drink he decided to use the trick that Azrael had taught him a while back, angling the drink just right so that it fluidly slid into his mouth and straight down his throat like a continuous stream. Within a few seconds the rest of the tan liquid vanished as he set the glass back down. Giving a nod to the bartender the NPC quickly refilled his glass as he dipped his head in thanks.

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom laughed at Calrex who was aiming to get a nice dosage of drunk, "I got us covered on meals to take care of the alcohol, get as drunk as you like... It is a special food I made just for said occasions." He finished laughing.

He returned his attention to Jomei who had finished with the story, "I had no idea that you and Zandra had some tension, heck I didn't even know if you two had met each other before. All I knew was you were Jomei, and she was Zandra. Nevertheless, congratulations my good friend." He patted the back of Jomei again, "Barkeep, get this man the good stuff from the back!" He shouted causing the NPC to nod and grin then leave to the back room. Dom turned back to Jomei, "You're going to get Drunk as hell today." He reached forward grabbing his Dark Ale and lifting it, "Cheer's to both of your relationships, may they forever go well." He cheered putting his Drink forward to have them clang their alcohol with it.

[Jomei 0]

The bartender handed the man a smaller glass filled only slightly with a lighter colored liquid. He made circled with the glass in his hand before taking a couple of sips, scrunching his nose at the sudden bitterness of the taste. The irishman laughed, "Seems like a lot of people didn't.. but Zandra was actually one of the first people I met.. When I finally decided to get off my ass and go out into the game at least. From then on we were pretty close, going on quests together from time to time." He took another sip of the whiskey, the drink already half drained from what the barkeep had initially given him. Jomei turned to Dom who stated they were going to get Jomei drunk then, "W-Wait hold on..." he said, before smirking and sighing. "Eh what the hell." He brought up his glass containing the remainder of the whiskey and clashed it into his friends' glasses, before finishing off the drink and slamming the glass back down on the counter. 

[Calrex 0]

"Heh, if only actually getting drunk was possible in the game. I'm fairly sure that's a placebo effect taking place."

With a laugh Calrex clanked his glass with Dom and Jomei's before finishing off his glass of whiskey, setting it on the table, "I think I actually knew you before I became acquainted with Zandra, but like Dom said I never knew the two of you had that kind of romantic tension going."

Giving a friendly nod to the other bartender on hand, requesting a pint of the same ale that Dom had been drinking for most of the night. As the tall mug slid across the counter over to him he simply opened his hand as the handle slid into his palm, "Dang, I guess the game NPCs are good at that trick. I'm just glad it had not fallen over en route."

Taking a swig of the drink he tasted the hops and bitterness characteristic of the ale, as well as a hint of sweetness, but from what he couldn't put his finger on. In any case he set it back down on the table, looking over at his comrades before speaking, "This is just out of random curiosity, but what is your favorite drink, either here or outside of the game? I'm thinking about trying out some new things, since we're here, heh."

[Ssendom 0]

Ssendom grinned and laughed as he wrapped his armored bicep around Jomei's head for a second before letting him go just after the clinging of the drinks, "Ah-hah! There we go!" He shouted then took a huge swig finishing off his dark ale. He sat back down fully as Calrex reaffirmed what Dom had said about the relationship between the two love birds. "I am honestly kind of glad I am no longer taken, makes it easier to focus on what I am trying to do here in Aincrad. I am here to kill bosses and fight great battles, not make some girl whoo... But nevertheless, I am happy for you man." He pats the back of Jomei again.

He placed the remainder of how much it cost for the tab then listened to Calrex ask them a rather intriguing question, "Hmmm, my favorite drink? It would have to be a dark ale with a lot of hops in it. I am not a fan of sweet beer or anything like a cider, I need it to be powerful and able to make you drunk rather quickly." He says in an honest tone as he gets up from his seat, "It's been fun you two, but I have been in here for far longer than I should have. I need to get back out into the fields-" He states as he drops his inventory menu and equips his Black Hydra Skull again, "You two have a good time." He finishes and leaves the bar.

-1000 col
-Ssendom Leaves the Thread