[PP-F4] Zandra and Jomei (Part 5)

[Zandra 0]

The two players continued their fast travel down the mountain. She tried as hard as she could to slow down their speed with the daggers. She couldnt describe the pain in her arms, now she know how those humans that got tortured at the middle age was feeling. But she knew she couldnt let go, then they would be doomed. When Zandra told him to grab her he had done it, but now he let go with one arm. A few seconds later she felt the speed decrease. She glanced up and saw that Jomei was using his cloak like a parachute to break their speed. So it wasnt that bad of an idea after all. She looked into her boyfrinds green eyes and smiled at him. Then she felt the pain in the arms disapear. It felt nice. She started to panic, they was still falling, but when she looked over his shoulder, there was no mountain to stab the daggers in. They havent be able to see where they was going when they was busy with lower the speed. She looked into Jomeis eyes again, tears started to roll down her cheeks. There was impossible to hear anything except the wind in the ears, but she shaped the words I love you with her mouth. Then she dropped the daggers and embraced Jomei, holding him in a tight grip.

After they have been falling they landed in a several meters tall hill made of powder snow.

[Jomei 0]

With grit teeth and squinted eyes from being pelted in the face with ice and snow, Jomei held onto Zandra for dear life as the two continued their descent down the mountain. The irishman saw the girl he held onto look up at him and smile. It was amazing that she could smile at a time like this, did he truly make her feel safe? Especially after coming up with a stupid plan like this? Jomei's lips widened into a soft smile, which suddenly disappeared and his eyes were wide open. Zandra may not have been able to notice because she was facing towards Jomei, but he saw it.. he was not exactly sure what it was to be honest. The mountain in front of them seemed to disappear into a thick mist.. He could not tell if the mist hid the mountainside, or if there was no more mountain at all. A second later, his question was answered. Jomei no longer felt the cold mountain tearing at his back, but air all around him. The two had flown off of a cliff and began to fall towards the ground. Jomei looked at Zandra, tears swelling in her eyes. He could barely make out her lips which said, 'I love you.' He wrapped his arms around the girl, placing one hand on her lower back and the other one digging her head into his chest. He then spun himself and the girl around so that he would take the first blow from crashing into the ground and Zandra would use his body to absorb the shock. Hopefully she will survive this.. I'm sorry Zandra.. 

Like a feeling of something just about to smack into you a moment before it does, Jomei felt the presence of the ground behind him. He closed his eyes tight, knowing this was most likely the end of his life. What he felt next was not hard ground, however, but a mountain of soft snow. He felt the cold snow engulf his body as it slowed to a stop. 

[Zandra 0]

Zandra shivered as they was falling on the way to their death. They had just confessed to each other, and then their realtionship was gonna end because of her, why did she had to bring him to that place, even when she knew there was no way down. She cursed herself. Then she felt Jomei taking a tigher grip around her, one hand on her back and the other held her head towards his chest. First she thougth he just wanted to hug her during their ast seconds together, then she felt they moved, so now Jomei was under her, he was placing himself so he would take the main impact and hopefully save her.''No, what you doin'?''of course he couldnt here her. She made a try to push him back from her, but the grip was to tight.''No no no... Let me go.'' she tried harder, but her beloved boyfriend was to strong for her, the tears was rolling down her cheeks.''NOOoooo.....''.

Suddenly they was surronded by a ocean of powder-snow on all sides, it quickly reduced their speed, but the impact on the ground beneth it still hurt. It wasnt just hard, it also hitted her unconsious, everything went black. After some time, she couldnt tell if it was five seconds, five minutes or maybe even five hours. She thougth she herd something. Thou everything was black around her. She could feel the cold ground on her back. It also felt like her brain was trying to beat its may thru her forehead.''What? Where am I?'' she slowly opened her eyes but everything was blurry.''Am.. Am I dead? Is this... Is this a dream.'' she blinked. The blurryness eased a little and she thougth she saw someone over her.

HP:
Zandra: 3/96
Jomei: 3/???

[Jomei 0]

Jomei fell through the snow with Zandra tight in his arms. He had no idea how much snow was between his back and the ground. Despite, he held Zandra in his arms until he knew for sure. It must have been a lot of snow, because it felt like a long time the two were being engulfed by it before Jomei felt the shock of the hard ground below him. As his back hit the ground, his head knocked backwards and smacked into the ground, knocking him unconscious, nearly killing him. His grip released on the girl, but his arms were pinned into place from the snow. 

The blow had knocked Jomei out for quite awhile. He was lucky... very.. very lucky that they landed in a pile of snow, and one as large as it was. Jomei would surely be dead. He slowly came back into consciousness and a light groan escaped from his lips, "ughh..." At this moment, the idea of there being no pain in SAO was complete bullshit to him. He felt like death right now, his body felt like it was throbbing. But more importantly, he felt Zandra's heartbeat and her moving slowly. His lips slowly curved into a smile as a huge weight was lifted off of his shoulders, knowing Zandra was alive. 

Zandra : 3/96
Jomei: 3/124

[Zandra 0]

She blinked again, and she saw clearly. She was laying right beside Jomei. It took a few seconds to realise what that meant. Since in this game, you pixelate when you die. That meant he was alive. She pushed herself up. It was hard due to the masses of snow that they was covered in. She almost digged her way towards Jomei. Her whole body hurted. She saw he was barely alive, just as her. He havent woke up yet. She placed herself over him and had her body close to his to share her warmth. She also equiped her black cloak and wrapped it aeound them. She knew they must keep warm to survive this. She herd a small noice leaving Jomeis lips. Tears started to roll down her cheeks again. But this time of happiness.''Jomei, Its me. Zandra. Do you hear me?''

[Jomei 0]

Jomei's body suddenly felt warmer as Zandra got in closer to Jomei, laying her body on top of his. He heard a muffled noise of someone talking, and as he came to, he noticed it was Zandra calling out to him. His eyes slowly opened to look upon her, despite the two being under a pile  of snow that eliminated most light from the surrounding area, "T--thank God..Y-You're a..live." He wrapped his arm around the girl, "That...was a stupid idea...wasn't it..Sorry.." He looked at the girl and smiled through the exhaustion and pain in his mind. Jomei looked around at the snow around them, "Any ideas of.. how to get out of here now?" 

[Zandra 0]

It seemed Jomei steadily started to get his consiousness back. He said it was a stupid idea.''No, not at all. We got down. Wasnt that our goal? And we did it quite fast as well. One or two bruishes you must count with right?'' she gave him a kiss on the lips.''Im so happy youre alive. But it was stupid of you to work as, hmm... what you call it in english. Almost like a human air bag. This time it went good. But what if it havent? Then I would have woken up alone and probably freezed to death anyway. But Im realy glad you did it for me.'' she laid down, with her head on his chest.''I knew before you love me, but its moments like these that confirms it, you need to be a ery good lyer or actor for acting like that if you didnt loved me.'' she paused.''And I love you, my dear.''

[Jomei 0]

The girl kissed him on the lips, which breathed life back into him. Just from the girl's presence, he was feeling much better already.. despite his health bar being a tiny sliver of when he is at his best. She did not think the idea was a bad one, worked out pretty well in fact. The thing she did not like, which Jomei expected as much, was that he put himself between her and the ground. He chuckled, "Well it worked, didn't it? We're both alive... and for all we know, you might not be if I hadn't done so." he placed his hand on the back of her head, "But.. I would put my life on the line for you.. You will make it out of this world... whether I survive or not." he smiled at her, "Not that I don't plan on making it out myself." He stretched his arms, pushing some of the snow around. "But first... we need to get out  of this pile of snow." he pushed at the white wall behind him, the snow budging out of the way. "Here, you go climb out first, then I can turn around and follow you." 

[Zandra 0]

Zandra started to dig upwards thru the snow. She felt a little troubled since every shovel of snow she pushed down to Jomei, she just hoped she didnt hitted his face at least. Luckily, it didnt took as long to get out of the snow as it had to get out of the deep climb wall hole a few hours earlier. She broke thru the top layer of the snow and crawled up, streatched her body before kneeling down and helping Jomei out from the hole. After a few moments he was up from the hole as well. The couple stood there, face to face, both so happy, both that they was alive, but even more because the person infront of them was alive too. Zandra gripped his hand and started to head back to the town.''Its pretty dark now, we better head back to my shop, with this low health we gonna be an easy prey, even for low leveled mobs.''

Spoiler

 

Edited December 10, 2015 by Zandra Zvift

[Jomei 0]

As Zandra climbed up out of the snow, whatever she pushed out of the way packed back down towards Jomei a little bit. It was not much, but it would not make the climb as easy as one would hope. As Zandra pushed up and out of the snow, Jomei shifted his body and followed after her. It was a pretty strange thing, climbing out of the snow as he was. Almost felt like he was trying to swim up out of water, but the water was solid. He could not tell how much farther up he needed to climb, but he soon felt Zandra's hand gripping his. Jomei used Zandra's help to climb up out of the hole and back into the sunlight. He took in a large breath of air as he looked around, just happy to be alive. He looked down at Zandra, who was smiling up at him, and Jomei returned the smile. She then took his hand and began to lead him back towards the her shop in town. "I'm actually really excited to see your shop Zandra." he said with a smile, "I'm also excited to get out of this cold as well." he said with a slight shiver, "Despite having the Survival skill... I think being out in the cold this long is getting to me." 

[Zandra 0]

Zandra smirked at him when he said he was excited to see her shop.''Hehe, we will se if you think that when we are there as well.'' she tried to hide a giggle, but only succeded half.''Yeah, that survival skill makes you immune to damages from harsh environments right? But it dosent make you feel warm in cold places or cold in hot places right?'' The walk back didnt went as fast as she had hoped for. But that wasnt strange, they had just felt she dont know how many meters. And there have just been new snow falling down on the ground which made it harder to walk. The darkness didnt helped either. Sweat had started to appear on her forehead and she breathed heavily. She made a few swipes in the air and moments later a potion took shape in her hand. She drank half of it before handing it over to Jomei. Her muscles that has started to get stiff from the cold was now back to normal. She wiped the sweat away with the backside of her right hand and pushed forth with new energy.

[Jomei 0]

"Well normally, it helped.. I was not feeling the cold too much. But after what we went through, it might have been too much and overcame the skill a bit.. Lucky for me it still didn't take any health away from me while we were there, or I would be dead for sure." Jomei commented about the survival skill. Ever since he got it, he would be able to go out into the hot desert or cold snow without being bothered so much. However, even someone in the warmest jacket would not be able to stay warm after spending a couple of hours on top of a mountain, and then God knows how long trapped under a huge pile of snow. He let out another sigh of relief, just happy that they survived his stupid idea. "Remind me.. I owe you big time.. For putting you through that scare of us almost not making it." 

He continued to walk with Zandra through the snow. The way they took down the mountain put them farther away from Snowfrost than they had hoped. Jomei just hoped they did not end up on the complete other side of the mountain, or it would make for quite an unpleasant journey back. The girl took a potion out of her inventory, drank half of it, and handed the rest to Jomei, "Whats this for?" Jomei questioned, taking a sip of the liquid. 

[Zandra 0]

''There is no fun if Im telling you. You have to feel it for yourself.'' she answered when he asked about the potion. She glanced at him and saw that he had already taken a sip.''Well, I can explain it to you.'' she said both bored and exited, tried to hide that she was proud over to succefully make this particular hard potion to brew, but wanted to sound like she told him just of kindness to him.''When beeing out in the cold, or inside when its cold as well, your muscles gets stiff. This is mainly felt in the fingers. But after awhile its getting to the rest of the body as well. After awhile it makes it harder to walk. I always bring one of these when adventuring in cold environments.'' Thats when they spotted snowfrost town. When they was about two hundred meters from the safe zone border she turned right. They walked for another ten minutes before they could spot a timber building between the trees.

 

[Jomei 0]

As Zandra explained what exactly the potion did, Jomei began to feel it. The stiffness in his muscles felt from the cold air and snow slowly began to dissipate, making walking and moving much easier. He walked, picking up his knees slightly higher as he stretched his legs. The man's green eyes widened in amazement, "A muscle relaxer. Zandra thats genius." Jomei said, looking back up at his girlfriend with a face full of surprise. "You really are amazing!" The girl never ceased to amaze Jomei with her interesting and useful potions.. who knows, maybe the girl would be able to use her knowledge learned here in the real world to create actual medicines. His smile brightened as he looked at her in thought. After a long walk through the snow, the lights illuminating the small snowy town came into view. Jomei let out a sigh of relief that they were back safe and sound. Before entering the safe zone of the city, Zandra led Jomei slightly right of the town to a cozy looking log cabin. "Is that it?" Jomei said in a happy and excited tone.

[Zandra 0]

Zandras cheeks blushed when Jomei complimented her potion, he said she was a genius.''Eh, its nothing special. I have more advanced potion back home.'' she said, regreting she had braged about it, sounded egoistic to her now when she thinked about what she had said.

When getting closer to the timber hut with snow covered roof there was a sign beside the door. There is a picture of a winged shield with a potion on it, and you can also read the name 'Zandras Pharmacy' under the shield. They entered the timber house. Inside there was almost as cold as outside. After all, it have been empty for a few days now. What from outside looked to be a two story building you now see is only one floor, but very high up to the roof. There isnt any wall except the ones protecting it from wind and snow. Except in the furthest right corner. Two walls forming a two by two meters big room. On an oak-door there is a sign saying 'Staff Only'. All walls are covered with shelfs. And almost every shelf is filled with something. There is books of all sizes. But most of the shelfs is filled with ingredients for brewing. You have the thing you found in most places, like berries, honey and a few spices. But the thing that draws attention is the other ingredients. Something looking like rat tails, but five times as big as they should, there is a bottle with green liquid and something floating in it that looks scarely similar to eyes. There is also tons of different shaped and coloured leafs, and alot of other ingredients as well. Zandra immediatly heads for the fireplace opposite the door entrance. After a few moments there is a fire burning, starting to slowly warm up the big room.''If you are very cold you can take one of those orange potions on that shelf.'' she said when starting to prepare some hot choclate and pointed at the wall beside the door, there was almost a dozen potions on the shelf. Everyone with a single tone of orange and different thickness. On some of them there was a black skull sign on the bottle itself.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei followed the girl inside of the small building. It almost looked like more of a winter get-a-way than a pharmacy, but thats what made it even more unique. It was darker inside, being none of the lights were on and the fire not burning. It was somewhat cold, but not as much as he was feeling from the outside. Jomei slowly stepped forward, looking around at what the girl had in her shop. It was one large room, with the exception of a small walled off area marked 'Staff Only' in the far corner. On one of the walls, a fireplace was built, which Zandra was currently at, starting a fire to warm the two. His green eyes slowly moved around the walls, looking at the shelves filled with books, potions, and various ingredients. He walked over to the books, running his finger along the spines horizontally, checking out the various titles and trying to guess what they were about.. Most likely potion recipes and the like. Next to the books, he found a couple jars of ingredients, some of them more interesting looking than others. "Wonder where these came from.." Jomei said to himself with a chuckle, poking at the jar filled with things that looked very much like eyeballs. It was soon much easier to see as the fire illuminated the room, immediately warming up Jomei a bit. He turned to look at Zandra, who was now standing at another portion of the room brewing something, letting Jomei know that there were potions on the shelf that would warm him up if he wanted. Jomei smiled and walked over so he was standing behind Zandra. He gently wrapped his arms around the girl's waist in an embrace, and brought his head down to rest it on her shoulder. "I'll just use you for warmth." he said with a soft laugh.

[Zandra 0]

Zandra was just done with the preperations of the choclate when she felt two arms hug her from behind. She turned around and jumped up so she sat on the bench with Jomei infront of her.''Then I guess I better take of this metal armour right?'' A few swipes later she was wearing her town clothing that she havent weared for a long time. Felt nice and comfortable. Then she bent forward and kissed her boyfriend. When their lips left each other she looked down on her dark brown T-shirt.''Jomei, this maybe comes kind of out of the  sudden but.''she paused and took a breath.''As you see I have kinda a fl...'' she blushed and shoke her head.''Nono, nevermind.'' she looked up into his eyes. She glanced over his shoulder and saw her armchair was just a few steps behind him. She gently pushed him back.

Edited December 11, 2015 by Zandra Zvift

[Jomei 0]

Jomei let Zandra go as she turned around and propped herself up so she was more level with Jomei. Going into her menu, the girl removed her metal armor and replaced it with her casual clothes. Jomei looked at the girl's change of attire and smiled, as Zandra leaned forward, kissing Jomei on the lips. After a moment, she pulled away, looking down at the brown shirt she wore. She began to speak, telling Jomei she wanted to tell him something that might come as a surprise to him.. but as she began to tell him, she quickly stopped herself, her cheeks hot and pink. Jomei tilted his head to the side, looking at the girl in wonder of what she wanted to tell him. With a gentle push, Zandra move Jomei backwards towards and armchair, but Jomei stopped himself from sitting down, gently grabbing onto the arms that pushed him. He smirked at the girl, raising a sharp brow. "What were you going to say? You can tell me." 

[Zandra 0]

Even when Zandra said the thing she was gonna say wasnt realy needed, actually she felt little stupid, still Jomei wanted to know what she was gonna say.''Well, its this thing.'' she said, pointing her index finger tips towards each other. She had a nervous smile on her lips and almost closed eyes.''Most other girls have.'' No, she couldnt say. She have to come up with something else.''Ehm... Yeah right, most girls is beeing good damage dealers right? Myself compared to my level, I have pretty low damage output, also not that high protection. Would you rather have a damage or tankish consentrated girl?'' she finished with a giggle, that she made out good she thougth to herself.

[Jomei 0]

Jomei leaned against the armchair as Zandra spoke up about what she was going to tell Jomei. It started off sounding like she was going to say something personal, but that.. was not true..? She brought up that most girls are either damage dealers, or those that can take hits like a tank, and asked what Jomei's preference was in girls. He crossed his arm at his chest and looked at Zandra. He had no idea what that had to do with anything, so he figured she was most likely covering up something that she was too embarrassed to say. He shook his head, closing his eyes. "That doesn't matter to me, honestly. Its the girl under the armor, or behind the weapon that truly counts." he untucked one of his arms and poked Zandra on the shoulder with a smile. He then turned his head, shrugging his shoulders. He wanted to press the girl for more, but if she was not comfortable speaking of it, he would not ask any more of it. However, he decided to give the girl a look of suspicion, one eyebrow raised with shifty eyes.