[SP-F3] A Time for Reflection

[Lawfer 0]

Time nearly stood still as the golden haired dragoon looked out from atop his perch, which was a high tree branch that hung over the field of dandelions on floor 3. Lawfer loved this place, and often visited because he could often lay around and let the worries of the world simply pass by. Staring out, he remembered his time out in the wilds of Aincrad, away from those he now acknowledged and called his friends. As his gaze lifted from the dandelions, he looked to the sky and relaxed. “I kinda miss being on my own…” Lawfer stated with a heavy sigh, as he thought back to his adventures and mishaps.

[Lawfer 0]

“Yo Lawfer!!!” Raise bellowed as he made his way through the dandelions in search of his missing pupil. “You going to make me look for you?” He yelled once more before lifting his giant flask to his mouth and taking a drink.

“Raise, I’m up here!” The dragoon stated as he sat up from his sprawled position on the large tree branch. “Want me to come down? Or are you coming up?” He asked, as he made eye contact with the bellowing man.

“Looks like you have a great spot up there.” The burly man replied as he jumped from the ground to a low hanging tree branch. He continued to leap from branch to branch before he made his residence on a branch that was arm’s reach from the spearman. “Looks like your enjoying your time off…. Buy why didn’t we stick to the normal meeting place?” The older spearman asked, taking another sip before handing the giant flask over to Lawfer.

[Lawfer 0]

Reaching out with his right hand, Lawfer grabbed the flask and took a large pull from it. Bringing his forearm to his mouth he wiped his lips dry before handing the oversized flask back to his mentor. “I just like this place…” LAwfer stated as he paused for a moment to feel the wind brush across his face. “Besides… I’m low on Col at the moment. Didn’t want to run up too high of a tab.” The spearman continued as a slight chuckle escaped his lips.

Raise cocked his head and looked over at his pupil and laughed. “Well I guess they are running you ragged over at the guild. I haven’t seen you in high spirits for awhile.” Raise stated as he shook his head. “Why do you think I don’t do the responsibility thing?”

[Lawfer 0]

“Well that’s because your about as bored as me Raise.” Lawfer stated chuckling once more, “I see why you hang out in the bar all day, but don’t you think that you need to get out there more?” the pupil asked. “I mean you’re probably one of the strongest here in Aincrad and you don’t even train any--”

“You trying to recruit me?” Raise interrupted as he took another long drink from his flask, and handed it out for Lawfer to take.

“Nah… I’m not stupid enough to risk that.” Lawfer responded in turn as he reached out and took the flask and proceeded to take a few drinks of the elixir. “I’m just curious to know why a person like you doesn’t try anymore. I mean… What happened?” Another breeze passed by as he finished, shifting the long locks of the spearman once more.

[Lawfer 0]

“That there is a loaded question Lawf.” Raise said as he paused for a moment to think it over. Lawfer knew it had been a tricky question but he didn’t realize how loaded the answer would be. “Do you really want to know what happened?” Raise asked.

“Look Raise, you don’t need to tell me. I’m just curious is all.” Lawfer commented as he took another drink from the flask before handing it back to Raise.

As Raise took the flask he shook his head… As he lifted the spout to his mouth, he continued to chug the rest of the elixir. “You asked for it buddy.”

[Lawfer 0]

"I was married once..."Raise said coldly, lifting the large flask of alcohol to his lips and took another sip. "My wife actually joined me in this game even though she was laughable at best when it came to playing any game... And I mean any game... You should have seen her in Call Of Duty. She couldn't hit anything even if it was right in front of her." Taking a moment to laugh, and take another heavy drink, Raise continued. "And when we started off she didn't have that problem, she actually got really good at SAO really fast. Well anyways, we leveled like crazy together. She was a tank, and I went the route of DPS. We pretty much were unstoppable together." Raised paused for a moment, and handed the flask to Lawfer.

Grabbing the flask, Lawfer was quite amazed by the story... 'who would have thought that this guy was married.' he thought to himself as he took a long pull from the flask. Handing it back, "So... Raise... Where is your wife now?" The blonde haired spearman asked.

[Lawfer 0]

Taking another sip of his giant flask, Raise shook his head. "She is no longer in this world..." He paused for a moment, trying to fight back the welling emotions inside of him. "We decided to head out into the vast wilds of floor 9... With our aptitude and abillity all of the mobs were quite easy to clean up. But we ran into the boss when we were navigating in the wilderness. As you can imagine, with our level, we thought we would be able to take down the boss just the two of us. But as fate would have it... it didn't turn out that well. As i was busy fighting the bosses underlings, Jenna was pulling all of the bosses aggro." Raise took another large drag from his flask, and chuckled lightly. 

"She was an amaing woman you know that...? She lasted 30 minutes taking a endless beating.... then in a last ditch effort... She threw her teleport crystal at me... And I was transported out of the dungeon. All she said was... I love you..."

[Lawfer 0]

Taking a sip of his Flask once more, Raise fought his current depressed expression and just smirked."When I finally realized what she did... I tried to race back to the bosses chamber... but when i got there... the only thing left in the room was the boss. It took everything inside of me not to rush in and try to solo the [censored] thing. But if I would have died, Jenna would have been so angry with me. So I left... and found the 7th heaven. I've been there ever since. Just drinking away all of my sorrow's. You want to know the funny thing about the whole situation?" Raise asked looking in the direction of Lawfer as he handed over the flask. Motioning for the Dragoon to drink up.

"What's so funny about it?" Lawfer questioned. The young spearman couldn't find anything funny in the whole situation, but wouldn't leave the obviously agonized Raise waiting for a response.  

[Lawfer 0]

Raise watched as his pupil took a heavy swig from the flask. "It was the day before our 5th wedding anniversary. I dont know if you call it irony or not, but when we got married all of our friends said we wouldn't make it to 5 years. I guess they were right..." Raise stated as he reached out and took the flask back from Lawfer. "I dont know if it's something to brag about... but I loved my wife. She was the sun in my very bleak existence in the real world..." Pausing for a moment, he finished off the contents of the flask. Throwing it off in distance, it shattered into purple-blue pixels and evaporated. "So Lawfer, my answer is simple. I don't push forward anymore because I have lost my world, so I will continue to live on and drink my sorrow's away in the 7th Heaven. I dont care to see the outside world, because... Jenna was my world." As Raise finished, he reached out and removed another flask from his inventory.

Lawfer looked at the man once more, he knew the pain of loss. It is what changed him in the real world, forged him into the vagabond that existed and thrived in Aincrad. "I understand that Raise..." he commented, then fell silent. His thoughts of the past only echoed loudly in his head. 

"Lawfer... Why do you fight?" Raise asked, as he stared out into the field of dandelions. His body was there, but his mind was obviously far removed from Aincrad.

[Lawfer 0]

"Raise.... I already have told you that... But its because I actually feel alive here. I've seen just about everything in the real world. I took 2 years to do nothing but travel, but the thing about Aincrad is... its like 100 new worlds for me to explore and until we clear the game, I want to experience life. Even if it a virtual life... we are all here,  so I figured I might as well enjoy every bit of it." Lawfer replied, reaching out, he motioned for the new flask. "I get first drink on this one." He commented.

"Fine... Fine... Your such a baby about that." Raise replied as he handed the new flask over to his pupil without looking. As Lawfer took the flask, he popped the top, letting it fall down from his perch. The dragoon knew that they would go through this one much quicker than the last.

[Lawfer 0]

Taking a large gulp of the seemingly pure alcohol, Lawfer handed the flask back over to his mentor Raise, whom's hand was still outstretched to receive the gargantuan container back. As Raise, lifted the flask to his lips, he proceeded to chug the alcoholic elixir for a good five seconds. "That [censored] burns." Raise said, as he gasped for air to cool his stomach. "Lawfer... You need to make sure that when you find someone precious to you... You protect them... I don't care if you are weak, scared, hurt or anything like that. When you find a woman who is that important to you. Don't ever let yourself have a regret like I have." the serious tone in Raise's voice, killed the ambient noise of the environment around them.

At that moment, Lawfer could think of only one woman that had left that mark on him of late. He had done everything in his power to move on, but his feeling of longing for her never ceased to exist. "Here I thought you always thought me to fight smart, isn't that a contradiction of everything so far?" Lawfer asked with a smug smirk, trying to lighten the mood around them.

[Lawfer 0]

A deep grumbling began at the pit of Raises stomach just before he burst into a fit of laughter. "You need to shut your trap when your mentor's speaking you know that!" Raise stated as a smile raced across his face. Taking another large gulp from his seemingly bottomless flask, Raise passed it once more to Lawfer. "Look Lawf, I already taught you how to fight. Once you max out your first aid, you'll be able to save those who are closest to you. Then when you grand master your spear, you'll be one of the strongest spearman in Aincrad. Step 1, Learn the Rules. Step Two abide by the rules. Step Three, break the rules. That's how the world works, but until you reach your Grand master in the spear. Don't break the rules. That's how it works logically, but if you need to save someone you care about... I'll let you break the rules early... But only for a woman. If you try to save a man... dont even think about coming back alive... because I will kill you myself." 

[Lawfer 0]

"Bahahaha!!!!" Lawfer exclaimed, he was begining to hear the life come back into Raise's body. All the negative energy that had surrounded him before began to blow away with breeze. "You don't have to worry about that Raise... I'll never swing that way." Lawfer retorted as he took a hard swig from the alcoholic goodness. Looking out to the field of dandelions, Lawfer watched as the breeze ripped up some of the dandelions grey pedals and scattered them about.

"Hey Lawf... I wanna thank you for seeking me out. I've spent far too long hold up in that tavern that I forgot what this world was about." Raise stated with a smile. "I'm not going all mushy on you or anything, but its nice to live vicariously through someone. I have a son, who is about 5 now, and by the time this game is ended, he probably wont recognize me... But when we get out... I'll be sure to have you meet him."

[Lawfer 0]

'So he has a son...' Lawfer thought to himself as he took another long swig from the flask before handing it back to Raise. "So you're a dad... I never would have guessed that." Lawfer responded as he looked to his mentor. It was a shock to him that the man was a father, he never really portrayed any signs of being a dad. Well none that his own father portrayed. 

"Yeap... My boy's name is Jared... He was 4 when my Jenna and I started this game, so he should be 5 now, pushing close on 6... The kid took after his mother with the looks but he has a knack for numbers like his old man. So he was lucky in that regard." Raise said jokingly as he looked down the opening of his flask before taking another drink. "Man can that kid talk though... he's almost got a mouth like yours."

"Well kids with the name Jared typically have a loud mouth." Lawfer joked... he wasn't sure if now was the time to tell him that his name was Jared in the real world. Looking out to the dandelions once more, Lawfer shook his head. "Don't worry Raise... You'll see him again. After we clear this game, I'll get to tell Jared how his dad trained one of the greatest spearman that Aincrad had ever seen."

[Lawfer 0]

As Raise looked over at Lawfer, he took another large drag from his flask before handing it over. "Lawf... The real name is Cid by the way. Cid Highwind. I figure we've come far enough to know each others real names... so that way if one of us makes it out of this game, at least we know where to send the flowers." Raise said in a serious tone. As the flask passed hands, Raise continued to stare out to the dandelion field.

"It's good to meet you Cid." Lawfer responded, taking the final sip of scotch from flask, before throwing it out into the field of dandelions. As it exploded into digital pixels, Lawfer stared out to the field as well. Trying to decide whether he was going to return the honesty or not, Lawfer shrugged his shoulders. There was no point in lying to a man that had been honest about his life. "The name is Jared, Jared Springfield... But you are wrong about one thing Raise. We are both going to finish this game together, even if you just stay on the sidelines."

[Lawfer 0]

Raise couldn't help but chuckle at the coincidence of names. "Your a cheeky one... No wonder you piped up real quick about my sons name." Raise bellowed as he errupted into laughter. "Well we will get out and make sure that Jared can meet you." Raising his right hand, he selected another flask of scotch, as it materialized he popped open the op and took another big swig. "This is the last one we got until I have to head back in for a replacement." Raise said as he tossed the flask over to Lawfer. Catching it in his left hand, Lawfer took a heavy drag of the elixir. "Sounds good."

[Lawfer 0]

The two sat in silence, passing the abnormally sized flask back and forth as they stared out into the field of dandelions. The breeze would constantly pick up and scatter the petals of the petals about. "You know... I might have to do this more often. It is a pretty good view up here, and none of the mobs even dare to approach us." Raise said as he caught the flask once more. Taking a long pull from the oversized flask, he smiled. "Lawfer, in all the time that I have been mentoring you. We haven't sparred. I'm thinking the next lesson we will." he commented as he took another drink from the flask.

[Lawfer 0]

Turning his head, he looked at Raise. "You mean you are actually going to do something besides yell at me and tell me im not doing things right?" the Dragoon jested as a laugh erupted. 

Quickly, Raise pitched the flask at Lawfer's head. "Oh i'll be yelling at you, and tripping you up... And stunning you. But... I wont use any of my grand master skills... i'll beat you senseless with only T1 skills..." Raise bellowed once more with a sadistic smile on his face. "It will help me get some of the ring rust off... That way, I can start moving forward again.. But enough of that.. Looks like my flask is empty." He finished as he lifted the flask over his mouth and tried to waterfall the remaining booze into his mouth.

[Lawfer 0]

The dragoon was shocked, this was the first time that his mentor had even mentioned moving on or shaking off the rust. Did it mean that he was ready to join in the frontline campaign... or was he simply going to start training him seriously. "Sounds good Raise. Why dont we train in 2 days, I have a lot of guild work to take care of before I head out." Lawfer replied as he watched his mentor begin to climb down from his perch in the tree.

"Two-Days is fine by me... It will allow me to drink like a fish before having to sober up." Raise commented as he hit the ground standing. "You coming in?"

"Not just yet... Gonna wait till night fall then head back. I dont get much alone time as of late. Will be good to recharge..." Lawfer replied as he waived the man off.

[Lawfer 0]

Watching as Raise disappeared into the distance, Lawfer looked up towards the sky. The azure blue ambiance was astounding, not a cloud in the sky. Looking to the west, he watched as the sun began to set. The blue began to shift to purple, and trails of orange danced across the sky. "I love this place sometimes..." Lawfer stated as he reached his hand up, and traced the orange trails with his finger. "It's about that time to be heading back." He commented as it grew darker and darker, the dragoon slid off the side of his branch that he was perched upon. Landing on a lower branch, he continued to hop down branch to branch before finally making a solid landing on the ground below.

Edited April 9, 2016 by Lawfer