[PP-NK-F1] Who will be upset first? (Corvo, Wolfie) <Earning A Living>

[Wolfie 0]

Wolfie sat in a tree on the edge of Horunka Village of the first floor. He watched as the NPC's bustled about. "I wonder what it is like to live carefree, unknowing what lies ahead but not caring about it ether. I wonder what makes life so enjoyable for them, do they know they are programs? or is that the reason they are like that? Maybe they just don't have a choice... but then again, when does anyone?" Wolfie spoke these things out loud, assuming there was no one around to hear him. His hood once again shadowed his face and his voice remained steady with a gravelly undertone. He sat, pondering for some time about these things, he always had. He wanted to know what it was that made others happy, he wanted to have a full understanding for what happiness was, though every time he tried to open that part of the chest, he felt pain. Not the pain he enjoyed that of physical pain, but instead that of a different variety, though he couldn’t quite place his finger on what it was. Lighting a cigarette, he let his dangling legs move back and forth, slowly, as if in a walking pattern. He knew that, if nothing else, he was calm though other than that he couldn’t say. “What is happiness? What drives people to be happy?”

[Corvo 0]

The sunlight felt warm, just like back home. It felt like the whole world was mocking him, sending cool air that felt like Fall weather back home to jeer his predicament. The pale youth tugged at his scarf and brought the vivid pattern up over his mouth to obscure the virulent scowl he almost always wore beneath. Aincrad was a sick divine comedy, and Kayaba the sick god pulling at the strings.

His mood was destined to remain bitter and bleak, it seemed. Unlike the other portion of his friends in the game, this had been intended as a way to pass time. He wasn't nearly the hardcore some of the others were. He had things to do outside the game, things that were fun and that involved other people. Corvo had always been more social than the others.

So being trapped in this world, where he hardly liked anyone- this was like being young and in a harsh, unforgiving enviornment all over again. The difference was, this wasn't the same boy who went through that youth with blinders on. This was Corvo. "Here I stand," he muttered dic... erm... dagger in hand."

It was about that time when he heard someone above him prattling on about something. His gaze shot upward, along with one of his eyebrows. "The NPCs?" he asked aloud. "I think you're overthinking it."

He turned so that his back was to the tree, and he leaned backward. With a slow motion, Corvo drew the pipe from his inventory and joined the other man in the silent ritual of bonding called 'smokes.' Technically, there was no actual bonding, and no one really got anything out of it but a good buzz- but it's the thought that counts, right?

With a quick puff, Corvo added his pollution to the enviornment and his glassed-over eyes watched the dark cloud dance rhythmically overhead. "Yeah," he muttered. "Definitely overthinking. Happiness ain't a thing you can put labels on or drudge up on force of will. Fact is, tryin' to do that'll only put you farther from it. Feelings ain't logical. Ain't rational. Can't get to 'em by thinkin'."

He made an obscene gesture with his hips, like he was pressing forward into something. "Gotta take 'em, if you know what I'm sayin'."

[Wolfie 0]

Wolfie heard a man walking up to the tree where he sat, though he never looked at the man. Listening to the man intently, he felt a light breeze. “If I don’t get off the tree now the wind could cause me an issue.” Griping the cigarette firm between his lips, but not enough to break it, Wolfie jumps off the tree branch, landing in a way that shows how much he used to do it. “I still got it” he thinks to himself before flipping down his hood and turning to the man who was now adjacent to him.

His wolflike grey hair and creased face made him seem older than he actually was, he knew that, though he saw every mark as though it were a trophy of his past, rather than a blemish. His eyes were not balancing out like then normally did, instead his mind was at war with what it was he should use to respond to this man. After about thirty seconds of careful examination of everything from how then man stood, to how the man smoked, Wolfie locked onto the man’s eyes. He was searching for what made this man tick.
“That is preposterous” He said with determination and slight force. His aura settled on Dominance and his eyes settled into balance with his Gold eyes seeming more prominent than his Red eye by maybe 5 Lumens “There is nothing in this world, nor the one we come from, that can be determined and understood by any such thing that is not rational and logical analysis” Taking a puff of his cigarette he thought of how to show such a man how he was correct. 

“For example, say you were to walk into a room filled with people, all of which you knew. Now lets say that this room was full of torcher devices, each one you see seeming more gruesome then the last. Next, Imagine that these people are all chained up, each in a cell that is to small to allow any sort of movement. Each of them begging you to help them, however you know you have no such power. Finally lets say someone you don’t know comes and mocks you before slowly slitting the throats of those you know in the room. From there you can logically determine that you would begin to, if you hadn’t already started to, feel a large amount of anger and resentment for this person.” Taking a break to take a drag, he pauses, “That being the case, there must be a way to describe how one gets to the point of happiness in a similar way.”
 

@Corvo

[Corvo 0]

"Still too much thinkin'," Corvo replied intently as he gnawed thoughtfully on the stem of his pipe. "Someone comes to hurt my friends, I hate 'em. That's easy. I fight 'em, I stop 'em." He took in another draw of the smoke and plucked the device from his lips, using the butt end to point toward the other man. "He makes it to where I can't stop him, then hell with it. He better not let me go free, 'cause I'll kill his ass."

Make no mistake- Corvo was a thinker, but he understood the merits of human emotion more than most people. His own experience was stifled well into his teen years, so the moment he was given freedom, he reveled in it. To Corvo, this man was the epitome of his former life, the one that he left behind with a smile. That didn't make him mad- it made him want to understand why someone would do that to themselves.

"But if you want a process analysis of happiness, might be you ought to do something that you enjoy. Unless yer one of them emo kids what don't enjoy nothin' and bleeds black, blah blah feckin' blah."

The Assassin replaced the pipe in its proper position and closed his eyes, a languid smile on his face. "'s why you smoke, right? Gives you a release, or an escape from the worst parts of this world. Ain't no point if it don't, is there?"

For Corvo, it didn't matter if the world burned. Not so much. What mattered was his own experience, and the few people who managed to touch him.

...sexually or otherwise.

[Wolfie 0]

Wolfie took another hit “You are correct as to why I smoke, the release is what I crave.” He thought for a moment about the question he had been asked, or more of the statement. “what DO I enjoy?” He has to think on this for a little bit. “Sir, I honestly can remember the last time I have been allowed to enjoy something. Don’t get me wrong, I want to enjoy life, I want to remember what it feels like, I just don’t know how. And if you are correct in that there is no way to analyze pleasure, happiness or enjoyment, then it’s possible I never will.” With this he opened his menu and looked threw his to do list. <earning a living> was first ting there “oh yeah,” He thought to himself, “that needs to be taken care of” He looked back at Corvo “what is it that makes this Man tick? Why is it that he thinks the way he does? Has he not seen the crude aspects. Of life? Has he not experienced the heart shattering destruction that is reality?... No, not many people have experienced what you have, Shorael.”

[Corvo 0]

Was this guy... talking in the third person? Corvo folded his arms and stroked his nonexistent chin hairs as the tone of the other player shifted from thoughtful discourse to drab exposition, and he cut in. "Hey, hey, Edgar Allan woe is me, this is a two way conversation, let's not take a detour through existential dread."

He pulled once more from the pipe and puffed it quickly without ever taking the device from his mouth. "And let's not pretend I know anything 'bout you, or you 'bout me. We all not what happens when you assume." His fingers wavered somewhere near the dagger at his belt, not threateningly but as a sort of unspoken promise.

"You wanna know somethin' 'bout someone, most folks'd agree that the best way's to ask 'em. Ain't never gonna figure out nothin' by tryin' to guess, or defining who they are in your mind. Expection..." he made a gesture with one hand curled into a fist and the other palm open. The two collided, and the open hand swallowed up the fist. "...reality."

He pulled the pipe into hand and closed one eye, appraising the other man with obvious criticism. "You know what I think? You're stuck on this whole calculatin' thing to the point where you ain't functioning proper in the emotional sense. This calls for a jump start."

He threw up a finger as an idea came to him. "...we gotta get you laid." Corvo shook his head, "but first, you gotta put a blade in something. Nothing gets the blood pumpin' like a good 'ol fashioned stabbin'. ...like, literally. Gettin' stabbed throws yer body into overdrive and the blood starts pumpin' harder."

Corvo stopped for a moment and cleared his throat. "Anyway, the important thing is, chicks dig stabbins."

Edited November 21, 2016 by Corvo

[Wolfie 0]

Wolfie was generally startled “Had I been speaking what I was thinking? GOD DAMMIT!” His red eye flared up, but only for an instant. He determined to listen to what this man had to say. As he did so, it was like one curve ball after another. “First off, Existentialism is the best way to live life. Distractions will eventually run out, it is better to be prepared for the realization that nothing matters before that.” Before he could utter another word the man said that they need to jump start him.
“...we gotta get you laid.”  Startled, Wolfie had no way to respond to this “Wait… wha-“ Then he was cut off by the Man telling him that they should go stab something. Now that was something he could get behind… well not stab thing, more of smash things seeing as he uses’ a mace but he didn’t care. “Yeah, lets go kill some stuff, I need to complete this Earning a Living quest anyways if you would like to join me. However, we haven’t fully introduced ourselves yet. I am Wolfie, who are you?”
 

@Corvo

[Corvo 0]

"Mmmmm..." Corvo listened as the other man went on about existentialism for a moment, and preparedness for the futility of existence. Grade A positivity, this guy. His eyes glazed over with palpable disinterest before the other man seemed to react in confusion to what the Assassin had said.

He measured the look of obvious confusion and replied with a short, maniacal laugh. "Well let's get this party STARTED!" 

Corvo swiped the air in front of him and went through all the motions to form a group. He found Wolfie and added him. "Name's Corvo," he introduced himself, "cha can call me Crow if'n you prefer." He half bowed, and a hand slipped toward his waist.

He spun the dagger from its resting place near his hip and ran a finger along the blade, rising to his full height. "Long as I get to run a few sods through, I'll help with any quest ya like, monsieur Wolf."

His grin was feral, almost canine. "What say we bleed some bastards dry?"

[Wolfie 0]

“Oh God, what have I agreed to?” Those words repeated themselves over and over in his mind as the Crow talked. At last Wolfie lets out a rough sigh, before turning “Its this way, try to keep up” With that he dashed off. Wolfie was very light on his feet, even in heavy armour. He loved the feeling of wind and was fine making it artificially by running. His strides were long and every step was more of a push off the ground and forward then a run. He hoped Corvo was keeping up, he was sure that if he wasn’t there would be trouble. “ THE HELL DID YOU LET HIM JOIN YOU?” his mind yelled at him as he ran “YOU CAN’T TRUST HIM, YOU DON’T KNOW HIM!” he was trying to silence these thought but instead determined to just channel them into his anger and use it to attack whatever came their way. I mean, he didn’t want Corvo to have all the fun, that just wouldn’t be fair.

 

@Corvo

Edited November 26, 2016 by Wolfie