[PP:F4] Hot And Wet [Zandra]

[Opal 0]

Cold. That would be the term normally used for floor four, the wintry weather that seemed to never fizzle out and snowfall galore covering every inch of the floor never seemed to fade. And yet, it was one of her favorites. The cold weather brought fond memories to her which helped heat the body she resided in. Of course thanks to the <<Survival>> skill, these extreme temperatures were nothing more that a cold breeze brushing against exposed skin. But it was a beautiful floor and she just so happened to have access to a rather interesting spot on this floor north ways of Snowfrost. 

Bringing up her messenger, the young woman had met on occasion a female player by the name of Zandra that she now knew was Jomei's love interest, his girlfriend. The woman that probably stole Opal's chance of ever being with him after Carmine caused such saddening discomfort towards him. However, all that honestly mattered was that he was happy. Mostly. Probably not. Nope. Opal flicked her wrist and began to punch in letters to a note to this female that had gained access to his heart. The note was simple and eloquently written for the maiden asking her to accompany Opal to a certain area in the far reaches of the tundra. However they would meet up first here in Snowfrost City, the city adored with lights in window's of buildings as the soft setting glow of the sun was slowly dipping into the horizon. 

Opal was not decked out in her Vice Commander's Uniform or her combat armor. Instead, she wore a simple black turtleneck, shoes and black slacks. Other than these things, she held no weapon or wore any significant piece of armor. She would now challenge Zandra to know the depths of her interest for the player they had common interest in. Orange eyes glared off into the distance as she waited for her acquaintance to arrive. A steady stream of orange came off the end of her lit cigarette as she waited, leaning against the building near towards the edge of town. She would carelessly flick embers off the orange stick as she held one hand under her chest, holding up the other with a relaxed pose on top. A finger nail found it way to her mouth as she began to wonder what Jomei had indeed seen in this woman that caught such an interest. She would know by the end of tonight...if she was truly worthy of Jomei or not, and if she was not...Well...Opal had her ways. 

[Zandra 0]

Zandra walked the streets of snowfrost town. Today she was gonna take it calm. She had been having her hands full these last weeks. She had always been doing something, havent have any time to be alone and rest, body and mind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, inhaling the cold air of floor four. She also finally had an oppotunity to wear her winter clothes that she bougth quite awhile ago but never used. Up to today. She was glad that the towns was safe zone's so she could take time and relax. Her shop wasnt in the town, so today she was gonna take the luxury and spend the night at an inn. But for now, she was gonna find a bench and take some time to think over the last couple of weeks happenings.

She found a bench at the warp plaza where she sat down, watching the players that arrived and departed. Now that she wasnt clad in her heavy metal armour, there seemed to draw much less attention. That made her relax even more, to not have eyes looking at her all the time. Thats when she got a notice that she had got mail. She opened and red it. When she had fiished reading, she wasnt relaxed anymore. It came from the vice commander from KoB, and she wanted to meet Zandra. They have only spoken to each other once, if you can call it spoken. More like commenting. She havent got a very good first impression on the commander, so probably this was a perfect opportunity to cover up her mistake. So she pushed herself up and went to where she wanted to meet.

A minute or two later the black haired girls met.''Hi Opal. How you doin'?''she said to greet her.Wait what?! Seriosly? How you doin'? You couldnt have come up with some better then that 'ey? And you wanted to make a good expression. Get it together now girl. She thougth to herself moment after the words have left her mouth.

Spoiler

Zandras clothes:

 

[Opal 0]

A billowing orange cloud lifted over her head as Opal turned on her foot, the woman Zandra had arrived. Red lips smiled and her eyes squinted as she saw the woman decked out in warm clothing. Opal, who had some plans thought of her attire somewhat comical to the situation that would soon come to pass. Flicking the cigarette away from her, the woman stepped up closer to Zandra, her black sleeved arms wrapping over the woman's coat and embracing her in a small hug, "Hey there yourself, Zandra. Don't worry about fancy titles or formalities this evening. It's just gonna be us girls having a fun time tonight." Opal had requested. Tonight they were not of the Velvet Room, or Knights of the Blood Oath, just two simple girls out on the town and painting the city red. 

"I have a few plans for us in store. First, it's not too late to do some window shopping. There are a lot of cute boutiques I thought we could look around. I haven't had a lot of success with having lady friends and I am surrounded by men most of the time. It can be kinda suffocating...So that's why I thought I'd reach out to you, just do a little gossip and have a little fun tonight. Afterwards, I have a special place we can go to that is located outside Snowfrost. But I know a good route to keep us from stepping into mob territory." 

The dark fabric that Opal wore was snug and fit, warm enough for the woman who was used to the cold chilly air on this floor. She had visited and stayed here often at the Inns while she was training, and she knew most of the good hunting grounds in the area. The map data was entirely full, there was no place that escaped her eyes as she had traveled the snow pathways over and over again. Taking Zandra by the arm and hooking it with her own, she smiled broadly, "And we are off!" 

[Zandra 0]

The vice commander answered her greeting with a smile and a small hug. Zandra let out a short cough when she accidentally inhaled some of the smoke from the cigarette. Next Opal told her to not worry about fancy titles or any formalities today. Now they was just a pair of casuals, enyoing each others company."Okay. That sounds good.".

It seemed that Opal already had prepared some plans."Window shopping?" She said, looking at Opal and brushing out some hair from her face. Second later it fell down infront of her left eye again."Thruth betold, Ive never been window shopping before. Im not sure how to do." This wasnt a good start. She was invited to do something that was something girls normally do back in real world, but she had never done it."But Im sure its gonna be fun eitherway. I cant say I have alot of good female friends. I think its less then five. And the one I know best, we havent spoken in quite awhile. Probably she had forgotten about me." She looked away a spit in the snow."Hopefully Im standing infront off someone to enjoy spendin time with."

Opal hooked her arm with hers and a 'and there we off'. Zandra stumbled the first steps before getting the same rhytm as Opal."I'll be right beside you." Zandra answrred and behind her they left two trials of footprints in the white snow.

[Opal 0]

Was she that nervous around her? Opal had felt a bit of that shyness radiate off the longer haired raven woman beside her. Even though they were practically attached from the arms, their minds and thoughts were probably miles apart from one another, "Never window shopped before? Well it is pretty easy...actually. I'll show you how its done..." the woman laughed. 

The wind had been generally calm for the most part of the night leaving the cold air still and allowing some decent warmth from the wintry world of floor four. Snowfrost had many prized Artisan Stalls, however the one she had been visiting most often was the White Stag Cafe and Gallery, which was headed up by her current boyfriend, Teselmar. However that particular place was out of reach for the two as it was located in Starglade. But there were other shops that Opal had visited in this town marveling at the beautiful creations that dressed the shop's windows for those to take a closer look inside. 

"So basically..." Opal lead Zandra towards the shop district of Snowfrost, as they continued to crunch soundly through a thinning of the snowfall that had been released from the heavens above, "We come up to a window of a shop, we take a look at what is available...then we bitch and complain that we can't afford something so nice and just wonder how beautiful it would look on our flesh." the woman laughed, that was basically how window shopping worked. At least that how she did it with her girlfriends back in reality. A day at the Mall or perhaps at a jeweler shop and just trying on different earrings and necklaces and rings...Diamonds were really a woman's best friend. 

Opal stopped at a nearby window from a small, yet cute looking shop. The owner seemed to have already closed, but their items were in full display out the window, "That one looks nice. I'm not too fond of dangling earrings, but I think that purple pair might look cute on you." A finger pointed at a set of beautifully crafted amethyst earrings with peridot laced star at the end of a small chain. Whoever the owner of the store was, the more Opal examined the items the more she had seen a theme. Moons and stars seemed to be the catalogue of the player keeping a themed direction for the items they sold. 

"We make a lot of money here in Aincrad, killing mobs and stuff can get us a nice pouch of col. So things like this aren't really expensive for us, so we can't really complain that we can't afford the items. BUT...we can complain that the store is closed!" Opal, arm tugging Zandra's as she laughed.

"Come on, we have an entire street to browse..." Opal said once more taking the lead. Her orange gaze lingered back to Zandra, looking over her face and hair, "You do have pretty hair. Long and lush, I used to have long hair once...Then...I took a dagger to it. I killed my former self that day and was reborn into something new. And you have such beautiful crimson eyes..." there was beauty in the woman, there was no denying that. Jomei had a good eye for such creatures, but what else did he see in her that pushed Zandra to the top over her? She would have to investigate further. 

[Zandra 0]

Zandra let the more experienced woman beside her lead the way. It seemed she wouldnt mind to teach her how to window shopping. A smile slowly grew on her lips when she herd it. Since she had never had any real life friends, she havent done most of the things that was obvious to normal peoples. So she was filled with such happiness that this woman was willing to show her the life of a girl. But she tried to hold most of it back, so she didnt looked to childish. Thou her crimson eyes had got another shine and the smile on her lips was not a fake this time.

After some time they was at the beginning of one of the streets in Snowfrost that had its side filled with shops off all its kinds. She listened thouroughly when Opal started to explain how the procedure of window shopping was going.''Wait what? Thats it?'' she moved her eyes from Opal to the lot of shops they had infront of them.''Then I guess we wont have any problem filling our time with it. There is pretty many windows here.'' her smile changed to something more like a smirk. This sounded like fun.

To begin with they walked up to a closed shop. Thou Opal had told her that they wasnt window shopping inside the store, but thru the window. This window was showing alot of different earrings, There also seemed like it was a theme at this persons shop. Most of the jewelry had moon's or star's in it. Opal pointed on a pair of amethyst earrings with a star at the end of a chain.''I cant do anything else then agree with you, those look realy good.'' Thou her eyes was drawn to another pair. This pair was made of silver with emerald-stars.''Also those are realy beutiful in my opinion. But like you, Im not very fund in dangling earrings.''she gave it another thougth.''Actually no earrings at all.'' she finfished and looked at Opal.

What Opal said next made Zandras cheeks to get matching colour with the eyes and she looked away.''Tha... Thank you. I could say thing about you.'' then Opal said she had been having long hair before but cutted it off with a dagger, and cutting off her former self at the same time. She looked back at her.''Your former self?'' was it to soon? Maybe, but it could also be the right thing to say, and she gave it a shot.''How was you back then? Im sorry if its to personal and you dont wanna talk about it thou.'' her smile had left her face and she got a caring expression instead.

[Opal 0]

Opal smiled, nodding at the emerald pair in approval. Opal looked up back to Zandra and smiled, "No, no...that's fine. You are more than welcome to ask anything you would like. So, what was I like before then?" She attempted to look into her past and the sort of woman she was, "Well, I was much more wilder back than I am now. It hasn't been too long, but I feel as though I have also matured a great deal with the experience I have accumulated. Back then, I was a bit of a tramp, wild child, didn't have a care in the world for anyone or anything, really. I was a pretty selfish girl..." the woman was basking in the thoughts of her former self, she had recognized the change over the course of the last few months. The proud flower she had blossomed into was of different petals than she was born with. 

They had found another shop, a tailor's shop and once again closed for the evening. A simple expression on her face as she looked at the clothing in the store, "The problem is with all these shops, lots of players are looking for armor and mitigation and whatnot. Rarely do you find people just taking a day to relax and be casual. But there are a few shops that make casual clothing. These coats look pretty nice, I'm not too fond of pelt lining on coats. I know its a digital world and all, we kill mobs for their materials...but if this was on the outside, I couldn't wear anything an animal once more no matter how luxuries it might look. Its kinda sad...It seems this world has slipped into some odd morality issues ever since we were locked in the game. People are doing everything they can to survive, bits of their souls are being corrupted by the game as we continue to live in this world. Sometimes wrong and right can be so easily blurred together as one in the same.." the woman looked at the pelts of fur out in display and shook her head. 

"Sorry, I was rambling for a moment. We got to do, what we got to do in this game. To survive and to protect the ones we love, our friends, our team mates..." the woman carried on, her body shifted upwards after leaning into the window. Since it was so called outside, the woman drew close to the window and blew hot breath onto it. With a manicured nail, the woman made a heart on the background, the glass window rubbing against her finger as she put in the initials Z & O within the heart and then kisses the glass with her moist red lips.

"There...something for the Shop Owner to see when they come back. I guess you can still say I hold a bit of my wild child side within me. It would be so dull and boring to live without a little excitement every now and then, right? What sort of things do you enjoy doing when you are not out and about slaying and grinding for experience?" Opal had asked, perhaps the ravenette would be so kind as to offer a little insight into her personal life as well.  

[Zandra 0]

It seemed Opal thougth its was completly okay for Zandra to ask the question she said, she was even allowed to ask anything she wanted.''Those few things Ive herd about you have probably been about your former self then. Im so, so sorry, but I have been a little nervous to meet you because of that.''she looked silently at the woman beside her in silence. A few seconds later she decided to tell her, after all she just opened up herself just a minute ago.''It was that kind of girls that bullied me back in the real world, and I dont wanted it to happen here too.'' If this would have been when she first arrived in the game, she would probably have looked away and blushed. But now she kept her eye-contact with Opal. Seemed like she had grown as well.

The next shop was a tailor's shop. Here Opal complained about that players always was into enchanted armours and such.''Yeah, I aggree. All common clothes I have, I've needed to place an order for. Except a bikini long time ago and havent even used it.''she said and looked at the yellowed eyed woman with a smile.''Survive. How many times havent I herd that word since coming here.'We shall survive','we must survive' and such.Ive barerly herd what you just mentioned. Live. What does it matter if we survive if we forgot who we realy are.''

Thanks to Opal, next thing that happened was that a heart with their initials appeared on the window, together with a pair of red lips. Zandra looked at the window. She didnt weared any lip-stick today. She almost never used any make-up at all. But in this cold, even she would make a mark. So she bent forth and kissed the window as well. Then she lloked up at with a face expression like if Opal thougth she did the right thing or was a stupid wanna-bee.

''Hmm... what kind of things do I like to do when not grinding? Most off all spending time with Jomei, doing what ever falls in our minds. Other then that I spend alot off time in my shop. Opposte to most other players, I guess, is that I love my proffession. The alchemical art is one off my greatest hobbies here in Aincrad. I also likes to explore the floors. To find beutiful places and hopefully some easter eggs. I dont know how many days Ive spent outside the safezone of snowfrost town, just to explore. A lovely thing with that is to come back home to the shop and sit down in one off my armchairs infont off the fireplace, drinking a cup off hot choclate. What about you?''

[Opal 0]

"Hahaha, yeah. I have been told I can be a bit hard to handle sometimes. But I can assure you I am the same woman. I did a lot of growing up in the last several months, so I feel like I am a more mature woman now because of it. I am sorry you were bullied. You are such a beautiful woman, Zandra. And I hope after tonight we can become even better friends." 

Opal placed an arm around Zandra's shoulder as they continued to walk, hearing the story of her things to do brought questions to mind as Zandra placed her in the firing line. Opal laughed and shook her head, "Me? Yeah, that's a good question. I suppose I like to relax a good deal. Being Vice Commander of an Army can be quite the headache sometimes, but more often than not it's a reward. When I am not killing trash mobs or the like, you can probably find me at Urbus at the Drunken Serpent. I like to drink and smoke and just be by myself a lot of the time. After being surrounded by people, it good to just get away from everyone. And yeah, you are an alchemist one of the best in Aincrad as well from what I hear. I alchemize as well, but it's mostly for personal use. There are others out there such as yourself that can fulfill large orders, I only do it for myself when I need the items. Exploring is something I enjoy doing as well, I try to collect map data for the various floors we have acquired so far and when I see someone in need, I pass that info along."

Their feet made crunching noise in the snow as the light snowfall continued to gently fall from the heavens. It was a chilly night and the more they pressed on the cooler it had become. But between the two women, they were warm enough for the moment, "Ya know. If you ever wanted to dress up into something more...revealing, Zandra. I could lend you a few tips or something or I can help with your makeup or something. Its late right now, and I don't think we'll be able to find any shops open to accommodate for our needs, but another time I'd like to take you out shopping for some more fashionable clothing, I mean...if you are into that sort of thing."