[F20 - PP] Simple Math

[Lessa 1]

Closed to Baldur

It was warm, here. When had she come to enjoy the warmth so much? For years, Lessa had relished in the cold, the tranquility, the stillness. Something about the white snow, shimmering like millions of diamonds, had seemed to cleanse her. The eternal winter had frozen the world, and her world, and she was freed from ever having to think about anything again. 

But it was warm, here. Mild breezes carried promises of long, sunny days. The clouds that drifted lazily across the blue sky were occasionally pregnant with rain, but they stayed only long enough to water Lessa's meager garden. Then the blue was back, the sun was back, the warmth was back. And now, Lessa wondered how she had ever gone so long without it.

The healing was not complete, of course. More likely than not, it never would be. Was it possible to rid her eyes of all she had seen, her mind from all she had been forced to come to terms with? Could Lessa really rid her heart of all of the loss? No, she figured not. So she had done the next best thing, which was find a place for more than the horror, the sadness, and the regret that occupied her entire being. All of that still existed within her, but she had moved it to the side, to make room for something else. New memories. New friends. A new approach to living. The emptiness would remain, but along those newly-crafted edges, she could store light, and joy, and warmth. And that was a start.

But would others see her as redeemed? Lessa sat perched at the edge of the terrace, her legs dangling, her fingers woven into the lush, green grass. Her eyes were closed, her face tilted heavenward, warmed by the sun. It had been only moments since her previous interaction with another player - the teenage boy whom she had been tutoring. He was one of many, now, who sought her out to continue his education. After so long, she supposed, even the familiarity of school was worth sitting through lectures and completing assignments. This was how Lessa was making her mark on the world, and for the first time since leaving the Front Lines, she felt she was serving Aincrad - that she had a purpose. And she could sleep better for it.

Still, how long since she had seen a friend? Someone from before? Though her lids remained down, her face scrunched in thought. Tobin, her student, had asked about a particularly difficult math problem. In typical social studies teacher fashion, Lessa had been completely stumped. He had asked if there was someone she could ask, and without thinking, she had suggested him. She had actually said his name aloud. What an idiot. 

Now Tobin expected her to message the man she had abandoned, and ignored, and turned her back on (literally, and figuratively). How could she possibly do that? But hey, it was just a small favor, right? Simple math? It was not like she was begging him to forgive her, or anything like that. Not outright, at least. Her eyes snapped open, reflecting the blue of the sky that seemed to surround her. And before she lost her nerve, she drafted and sent a message. 

Then, she fell on her back, and stared up at the cloudless heavens. "Baldur," she whispered, though her part of the mountain, of the world, was entirely empty.

@Baldur

[Baldur 0]

A math question?

Baldur stared at the slightly translucent blue window that hovered impossibly in space before him, with a name that seemed to radiate through him.

I haven't seen her in a long, but after what happened with Ariel, I need to go and find her. I can't let her slip through, and drift apart anymore.

Still... a math question? It seemed an odd thing, but there didn't seem to be any code word to what she mentioned, nor any implication that she was in peril and was trying to communicate secretly. Did this mean she wanted to see him, but had used math as an excuse? The message wasn't terribly long, but surely a math question wasn't the real reason to reach out to Baldur. He whipped his sword around and sheathed it as he began to make his way to the nearest teleport plaza. If she was reaching out to him for his help with math maybe he should head there straight away.

Once he was in the safe zone, however, he changed out of his armor into something more casual and less... I've spent the entire day fighting things.

It wasn't a long walk from the main settlement. He loved this floor. Not only was it just beautiful but it reminded him of wonderful memories in the real world. The sunshine here was so bountiful it actually named the forest in the middle of the floor. It was a strange name for such a dangerous area, but to him, it wasn't that dangerous. Had he had endurance like in the real world, then maybe even just climbing the stone steps would have been a danger to him, but in this blissful reality he had no such limitations besides those which he placed upon himself.

He wasn't sure where to look once he got to the general area she had sent him, but as he was climbing the steps, he saw some legs swinging peacefully over the edge of one the tiers. He couldn't see, and even if he targeted her, he couldn't tell if it was her without being in a party, but something in his heart said it was her and it skipped a beat. He paused for a moment, then proceeded up to the tier just below her. He walked out onto the farming terrace and looking up at the lightly swinging feet.

What would he say to her? There were so many thoughts rushing around in his mind. They had been through a lot together, though they always seemed to be passing. Lessa was a firefly that lit up the dark nights, and gave beauty to the setting moments of his life in Aincrad, but she was just as fleeting. He could never catch her, not was he sure he wanted to. He loved Lessa as surely as he had ever loved anyone, but he could never tell if he was in love with her, nor did he want to know. The two of them had a bond. Their souls connected. Their hearts glowed together. Her presence, her essence comforted him, and he hoped his did her as well. All he knew was that the moments he had her in his life were the better ones.

They had passed by each other in the phases of their life. She had gone away and come back for him to comfort her. Then he had gone away and returned to her and she had helped him get back on his feet. Then she had gone away again and come back to him with new wisdom. The last time they had spoken to one another he had told her of his true feelings about the floating castle. She wanted out. She wanted her old life. Baldur would fight to the death to get everyone out of this world, but unlike her, he felt like he belonged here. This world of the sword, and battles, and purpose had given him all the things he sought but had evaded him in life. She missed the languorous days were her family, just being in the moment, and not having to constantly fight for her life every day. He could appreciate that. Especially here.

He sat down beneath the feet. The bearer of said feet had not seemed to notice him as she stared at the blue sky, trees, and the bottom of the floor above.

"This floor reminds me of a previous life. I was backpacking through the Andes with this blond bombshell. I think I was in college, or just out. I had never been on my own in a third world country before. I had traveled a lot before that, but this time I wasn't staying in hotels and taking tour busses everywhere. This time I had everything in a backpack, a tour guide I could barely speak with, a couple of burros, and a single friend. We were dropped off in the middle of no-where, hours away from civilization by car and thousands of feet higher in elevation than I had been, so every breath was a challenge. I spent a week out in those mountains. Just me, my friend, our guide, a cook, a handler, three burros, and hundreds, and hundreds of llama and alpaca. It rained on us. It snowed on us. It fogged so densely we couldn't see the whole party, and it was the closest I ever felt to nature. We camped under the stars every night, and never saw another soul for the entire week. It was a rare, perfect moment in life. Completely detached. There was no way to contact the world at large, so far out into the mountains. There was no technology, no amenities. If we got hurt, we'd get lashed to a burro and have to continue with the hike."

He smiled as he leaned back against the rocks that made up the base for the terrace above him.

"The mountains were cut into terraces like these, as far as the eye could see. Some still in use by the indigenous people, and some lost to time. Most covered in snow, or wet alpaca. It was breathtaking, even without the elevation. It was... spiritual for me. It was literally life changing. It made me rethink my priorities. It made me appreciate what I had. It taught me what was really beautiful."

@Lessa

Edited May 10, 2018 by Baldur

[Lessa 1]

One might think she would hear him coming, given the general stillness of the mountain she lived upon. Save for the whisper of the wind, toying with the ends of her blonde hair, and rustling her single tree, there was no sound. The calm surrounding her meant that she could occasionally hear the shouts from the nearest town, a couple of miles away, carried on that same mountain breeze. Surely, she should have heard the noises of a man climbing her mountain, and moving to the base of her terrace. But she hadn’t, and perhaps that spoke just as much to her state of mind as it did to his stealth abilities.

His voice, simply hearing it, was a vice around her heart. It snapped tight, and squeezed harder, until she felt physical pain in her chest. How long had it been since she had sent the message? An hour, maybe two? In order to have made the trip, he would have needed to drop everything and move straight to her floor, to her mountain. But what else had she expected of him? It was just so like him to forget his plan and make room for her within it. So perfectly, precisely Baldur.

She listened to him talk, and as she did, the hold on her heart lessened. Some guilt remained, and she supposed it always would. But as the immediate shock of his presence wore off, she was left to simply relish in the novelty of it. He was here. Her friend was back, and even if they were destined to part again, she could take some comfort in the time that they did have together.

“I’ve never been to South America,” she told him, once she was certain he was finished speaking. “I’ve always wanted to, though. I loved learning about the Inca civilization, and the way their bodies actually adapted to the elevation. And Machu Picchu!” Despite herself, she sighed wistfully. “But with three older brothers who all hate history, the Andes was never at the top of my parents’ list of places to visit.

“Your trip sounds amazing, though,” she continued. She tried to picture him, perched on the terrace below her, but struggled to bring his face to her mind. It had been so long, and the game had a way of changing people - physically, and mentally. The notion of it nudged her to speak again. Talking was easier. “We did go to Switzerland once, though. Zermatt. I saw the Matterhorn, which was really incredible. I didn’t climb it, obviously, but we still took a few cable cars up to a really high point. People were skiing in August! It was incredible, and it made me feel both really tiny and really huge at the same time. Tiny, because I was such a small part of a world that’s so big, and so amazing. But huge, because I have the power to see the world, and change it, maybe.” She smiled up at the blue sky, though she knew he could not see her. “I think that’s why I ended up here. I like how mountains make me feel.”

[Baldur 0]

When Lessa began to speak, Baldur just closed his eyes and listened. Her voice, carried by the wind, seem to caress his face and toss his hair about. He missed the feeling, of the wind, the sound of her voice, and the feeling of her company. He could hear it sometimes... the presence of a person's heart in their words. He wasn't particularly gifted at reading people, or a great judge of character, but there were some times, with some people, that he could feel that connection. It was the unification of their words, and their heart. Some people were who they said they were. Some people lived as they spoke. It was rare, to find someone who walked the path they preached. Lessa was one of those people. She wasn't infallible, she wasn't always right, that's not what it meant. She was genuine, and that was rare.

"That sounds wonderful. I once rode the Matterhorn, but that was at Disneyland." He let out a soft, low chuckle at his own words. He always laughed at his own jokes. Being able to laugh at yourself was the best way to go through life. But then the silence began to fill between them again like the sand of an hourglass he just flipped over. The silence wasn't uncomfortable, but he didn't want silence, he wanted the sound of laughter, and of her voice.

"I wish I could show you a picture, because I know just how you feel. I still remember that moment, finally cresting the peak of a mountain, looking back to see where I came from, and looking forward to see where I was going next. It was a surreal feeling of accomplishment.... and to just see mountains stretching out as far as I could see... barely being able to see the start or the end. It was incredible to see what I was capable of. And it was stunning to see what beauty was out there if you just looked for it."

The sights were so similar to here, that Baldur seemed to have trouble differentiating between the real and the memory for a moment. "It was indescribable."

He was there again. Breathless. Wet from melted snow just on the other side of the pass. A mound of stones from all over the world, people bringing them to pile at the peak. One of the highest passes in the Andes, almost sixteen thousand feet. It was a literally breathtaking view. But he also remembered the transition. Returning to home. Reverse culture shock. He wasn't looking forward to dealing with that when they left SAO as well. It had been hard after two weeks, it may take them months or years to recover once they were out of Aincrad. It was a realization he hadn't given much thought to before.

"I guess I can show you a picture, because it looked a lot like this. Floor Twenty-Three actually reminds me a lot of where I camped with my parents when I was growing up. We'd go up into the mountains every summer, because my Dad liked to avoid people. Even camping, we wouldn't go to a campground, we'd find a gap between two trees wide enough for the truck to pull off, and then set up tends near a lake formed by melted snow. I wish I had been to Greece so I could compare it to floor nineteen, but the closest I ever got was Italy. Those are some beautiful mountains, let me tell  you."

He gave another soft, half laugh, before he pushed himself back up to his feet and looked over the edge of tier that Lessa was laying on. He had to step up onto the first row of rocks on his tiptoes to view over, so only his face from his nose up was visible, but he saw her laying there, contentedly.

"I've missed you. How have you been?"

[Lessa 1]

Now she heard him approach, but only because she was entirely tuned into him. The sound of his voice, the way it carried up and over the ledge. The way it comforted her. It was that comfort, and a sudden, irrational fear of actually seeing the man again that prompted Lessa to close her eyes. She wanted to focus on that feeling of belonging, of familiarity, that his voice lent her. Not the worry that, after all this time apart, she might not live up to his expectations.

And he had missed her. That was a fact that should not surprise her, but hearing it spoken aloud formed a small lump in her throat. She swallowed it down, drew in a breath, and spoke as if he had not uttered the words at all. “I always find it sort of ironic,” she began, eyes still closed, though she was painfully aware of his presence. Now, she could even sense his eyes on her. The sensation coaxed goosebumps up and down her arms, but luckily for her, the long sleeves of the flowing pastel pink blouse hid them. “So many of us joined Sword Art Online to escape the real world. I didn’t, not exactly, but I know I enjoyed the adventure in the beginning. It was neat, exploring everything, having a fresh start. Now all we want to do is get back to the old world.” Or maybe not everyone. In a rush of memory, she was reminded that Baldur did not share her desire to beat the game and return to the old way of doing things. So she quickly amended, “Or, at least, we miss elements of the outside. Like hiking in the Andes.”

She trailed, though more in thought than discomfort. Her voice was pensive when she began again. “And now here we are, comparing floors to places from our old lives. Its sort of fun to draw those parallels. Maybe you and I could go look around floor twenty-three, find a place just like where you camped with your family.”

The words were out before she realized what she was saying, and she wished she could simply melt into the ground beneath her. She used to be such a people person, and such declarations jived with her old personality. But with Baldur, it was different. Why, she struggled to put into words. But inviting him to scout Aincrad after all this time, and for something so personal? After she had abandoned him? It was more than a little presumptuous.

There was silence, again, filled only by the murmur of the wind through her small tree. She could picture it, the golden light shifting through the emerald leaves, sending slivers of brilliance dancing on the similarly colored earth. She knew the way the blades of grass bowed beneath the breeze. She knew everything about her small plot of land, her small house, her small new life. And she thought she knew him, too.

She opened her eyes, drew herself up so that she was seated cross-legged, and met his gaze. “I missed you too, Baldur. I’ve been… good.”

Edited May 15, 2018 by Lessa

[Baldur 0]

She didn't say it. Baldur wasn't sure why he felt so crushed that she didn't say she missed him too, but that hadn't been the reason he had said it. Obviously she had been working on something, and not just idling away. That just wasn't who Lessa was. He closed his eyes softly, enjoying the feeling of the sun and the warm breeze, and tried to fight off that pang of something he could never let himself realize. She began to speak about their last argument. She wanted out of this world, and while it felt more at home to Baldur than the real world did, he wanted this death game to end as well. If only there was a way to free everyone else, and still be able to live in this world. Was he saying that because he believed it, or because he had accepted it? She was right, he did miss those adventures, but much like SAO, he always had to go back to the grind. There was a grind in SAO, but it was with his sword.

She trailed off, and he slowly opened his eyes again to see what had changed when she asked about camping. His steel blue eyes widened. He hadn't expected that. Especially after she had brought up their disagreement about the tower, but he could help but love the idea of going up to the twenty-third floor and reliving some of those memories with her. It seemed so personal, and so intimate, to give her a window into who he really was, or at least, who he was before. Baldur desperately wanted her to know who he was. Her asking him to share that, was more than he had never hoped when he got a message from her about a math question.

He opened his mouth to tell her how much he would love to go scouting with her, when she began to move. His mouth sort of hung their for a moment as she looked him in the eyes for the first time in a long time, and said the words he had wanted to hear.

I missed you too, Baldur.

His agape mouth turned into a dopey, bashful grind for a moment before he could regain his composure. The twinkle returned to his steel gray eyes, and he pulled himself up a little higher onto the terraced level she reclined on, so that his arms could be crossed under his head as he stretched up and now hung from the stone wall that built up the leading edge.

"I was so glad to see you message me. I always wonder how you're doing, but never want to intrude. I'll admit, getting asked a math question threw me for a bit of a loop. I thought it might have been secret code for you being in danger or something." He gave a soft laugh at the idea. "But it's just good to see you're doing well." She was dressed casually, even on the 20th floor, which meant to Baldur she wasn't here by coincidence. She was comfortable on this floor, having probably spent enough time on it to know where was dangerous and where it wasn't.

Again, a silence rushed in between them, but it was comfortable to him now. It was the quiet of peaceful contentment.

"So what's with this math problem out of the blue?"

[Lessa 1]

"The math problem?"

The question left her lips without thought, without hesitation, and she felt incredibly foolish the minute her brain caught up. What math problem? Jesus, was that not the reason she had messaged him in the first place. With a shrug that aimed for casual, and missed by a yard, she answered, "Oh, right. Tobin and I were hung up on that one." She paused for a moment, gathering her thoughts that still seemed a bit too sporadic. How was it possible that his being there both calmed and flustered her? Both comforted, and unnerved? It was a mystery. So much was a mystery, and he was the single person in Aincrad who she figured she knew the best. She supposed that said a lot about her relationships these days.

"Tobin is my student," she told him, finally. "Well, one of my students. I have five or six now." As she began to fall into conversation regarding her kids, the words began to flow more easily, more confidently. This was sturdy ground, it was safe territory, and she slipped back into a sort of story-telling rhythm. "I decided to go back to what I did best, which was teaching. I mean, I was never a teacher, not yet, but I was going to college for it. Figured I'm as qualified as anybody. And I found a lot of younger kids who were trapped here wanted some sort of normalcy. They wanted to go back to school. Can you believe it?"

Her blue eyes shone, now, and the light was not only from the blistering sun. Rather, it came from inside her - pride, admiration, and just a touch of amusement. "They're the most willing victims I've worked with! And even though I'm only a history teacher, I'm great with English, and my science is pretty passable too. Math though..." She shuddered a bit. "I'm a lost cause. And I'm even worse now, without access to youtube videos or online tutorials. I'm working off a couple of really rough textbooks we found in a schoolhouse on a lower floor." 

She was on a roll, even bordering on rambling, but it was difficult to stop. She was passionate about her kids, about her work, and this was the first time she had been able to talk to anyone about it. Even if talking to Baldur had a tendency to tie her up in knots, this was a topic that always brought her immense pleasure. "And when Tobin, one of my high school kids, hit a challenging problem... I didn't have the heart to just ignore it. What was I going to do, tell him 'sorry, advanced math has no place here,' and squash his curiosity? No way."

"So, I thought...." The smile that had bloomed across her tanned face softened a bit with shyness. "I thought, maybe, you'd be willing to help me. I think I remember you saying you were decent at math."

[Baldur 0]

Baldur took a bit of pleasure, getting that ambushed reaction out of Lessa. She had gotten it out of him so many times that finally getting to turn it on her for a chance was immensely satisfying, and a bit of his boyish grin peaked through the normally calm but composed mask. When Lessa began to tell him about her new mission of teaching kids stuck in Aincrad, Baldur was floored. It was something he never would have considered was even a need, but here it was, staring him straight in the face now. He had often mentioned that they needed to be true to themselves, as they would in the outside world, but here was a prime example of making sure kids who weren't on the front line were cared for and had their needs met. If they got out of here, these students would be years behind, nor to mention everything that they had forgotten. When she asked if he could believe it, he was still stunned.

"That's amazing Lessa! That's... so you."

He couldn't help but smile at the pride and purpose she exuded. It reminded him of the old her. The one that had tried to kill him on the first floor. She had burned with purpose, and her part to play in it. She was doing the same thing, but she had just changed battle-fields.

The maths though.

Baldur hated maths, even though it was a necessary part of what he did. He had always been good at it, but had preferred the arts and language... he just wasn't good at those. Perhaps it was because his brain was far too logical, and so the magical mystery of the arts eluded him.

"Yea, I suppose I am." Baldur said, casting his steel blue eyes to the side to avoid Lessa. He didn't want to sound like he was bragging, nor like he was some kind of maths genius, but he had gone far with maths in school, and used it frequently at work. He didn't want to over-play this proficiency, however. Maths homework, and maths applied, could be every different. Rarely was everything presented to you, and usually the most difficult part was finding the variables in the real world, where as it was doing the arithmetic in school. It meant he could usually use the computer to do the work, he just needed to find the equation and the variables.

Still, who has an INTEREST in MATHS of all things.

Still, there was no way that Baldur could turn down Lessa, especially for a situation like this. He had needed a break from the Front, and this would give him something of a purpose to do as well. He returned his blue eyes to meet Lessa's and gave her a bit of a shy smile.

"Alright, count me in. What can I do to help? And just... how have you started training all of these kids? Do you just wander through the starting village playing a pipe, and they begin to follow you?" His smile turned more jovial and he lifted himself up fully to sit on the tier next to Lessa.

"I'm all yours, just let me know how to help."

[Lessa 1]

Her gut instinct was to pull back from him when he sat next to her, but Lessa forced herself to remain still. Her mood was far too good, too positive, to let the darker parts control her anymore. Guilt still swirled there, mingling with uncertainty, doubt, and fear of his walking away again. But the sun was warm on her face, and the breeze toyed with her hair and kissed her tanned cheeks. The sun had coaxed out long-hidden freckles, which the girl had actually taken a liking to. It was too beautiful a day to let the negativity win again. So she simply leaned forward to pluck a blade of grass from the ledge in front of her. She toyed with it, letting it roll between her fingers, as she spoke.

"It all happened pretty quickly," she confessed. "I'm friends with another player, who sells books on one of the lower floors. I was feeling especially nostalgic one day, and decided that I missed studying history. I stopped into her store to see if she sold any textbooks, on Aincrad history, or anything else. I thought maybe the game would include them for some flavor. We got to talking, and one thing led to another, and I told her I was a teacher." Lessa paused to watch a butterfly flap lazily by, the yellow-orange of its wings shimmering beneath the afternoon sun. "She let me know that a number of younger players had gone in asking her for textbooks as well. Seems they wanted that sense of normalcy that doing homework could bring. She gave me a few names, and I met with some kids in her shop. Word spread, and now I host little tutoring sessions here, out of my house, so we don't clog her shop."

"It's nothing formal," Lessa continued, "just providing a little guidance. I've got one poor girl who hardly knows how to read. Seems she was playing with her dad, and he disconnected right before we were all locked in here." Silence fell, as if the woman struggled to find the words to say next. Talking about the horrors her kids had witnessed always managed to twist her up. It was unlikely for some child to be in Aincrad alone, unless he or she had endured some tragedy. The sun, she reminded herself. The breeze. Stay positive.

In an attempt to keep the darkness from creeping in on her, Lessa turned her face to the light, basking in it before answering Baldur. "It'll be great to have you on board. I can show you the book, if you want. There's a bunch of numbers that don't make sense to me. I think it is one of those 'solve for x' disasters, but it has about the whole alphabet in there."

It was ridiculous, and perhaps more than a little sentimental, that her heart caught at the words 'I'm all yours.' But she gave no indication. "If you don't mind sparing the time, I know the kids would love to meet you, too. If you're up for it."

[Baldur 0]

Baldur listened to the genesis of Lessa's rise from soul searching to teacher in a floating castle amidst a timed game of life and death. It was a very round about way to get where she probably had really been all this time. The Lessa he had first met was a teacher, she was just teaching a different lesson. She was a badass in full plate with a giant sword, and everyone respected that. Now she was just as much as badass, but she was fighting the invisible war. The one no one thought about, with casualties in ways no one had considered. As he listened to her speak, he picked at the grass and looked out over the view. He was playing in his mind's eye what she was telling him, imagining her going into a book shop, and then in a small old school wooden school house teaching kids with a chalk board.

"I would love to meet your kids." He finally said after thinking about what she had said. It was a bizarre notion, him teaching math to kids while all of this was going on, but he could see how the normalcy would help them cope. Help them plan for the future when they got out of this castle. Help him feel more whole. Help Lessa feel connected to her true self.

Baldur was more connected to his true self inside of Aincrad, but he had always felt like he never belonged in the other world. Lessa felt the reverse, and this helped her find that sense of fulfillment that Baldur felt wielding his sword to help other people. Only this time I'll be wielding a different sword.  

He finally turned his head to look at her as he sat beside her. The sun played across her golden hair, and seemed to cause her whole form to glow with a soft warmth.

"Though you're gonna have to give me a chance to work the rust off of my skills, but I'm pretty good at the alphabet soup kinda math." He gave her a playful smile at his quip. Hopefully it wouldn't be too complicated. He certainly didn't want to look bad in front of Lessa, or disappoint some kids.

"And I definitely want to see this operation you're running. I've been wanting to take a break from all this fighting and just breath a little bit." He smiled at her again, this time showing a bit of his world weariness. The weight of the tower wasn't fully on his shoulders, but they had lost a lot of people, and he had been pushing himself hard to reach the higher tier. He had made it to tier 3 equipment, making him one of the top players in the game. He had inherited Teayre's cursed blade, the <<Muramasa>> though he did not carry it with him everywhere. His new armor was impressive and top of the line. There were players better than him, stronger than him, and more well equipped than him, but they were not many, and they were all on the front line. But pushing himself to get there had been exhausting.

This would be a way for his heart to rest, and for him to continue fighting for others. It was perfect.

[Lessa 1]

Though part of her had known he would accept the offer, she still felt a rush of both relief and happiness as he did so. "I'm glad you're up to sticking around," she told him, and she wondered if she had ever spoken truer words in her life. The woman unfurled like a lazy cat, stretching her long legs out before her, and crossing them at the ankles. Then she tipped backward, propping herself up on her elbows. She turned her face to the sun again, like a flower basking in the warmth. A flower that had spent too much time in the dark. "There are definitely worse places to take a vacation," she stated conversationally.

Only when she had relaxed a bit, allowing some of the tension to leave her, that a realization slammed her with the force of an oncoming train. Vacation. Stay with her. In her house. Eyes that had drooped with sluggish content suddenly widened. In the entirety of her time in Aincrad, Lessa had never once had so much as a sleepover with another player. Not Alkor, not Daeron, not Celes, not anyone. Was that the only reason why the idea suddenly terrified her?

"Well," she began, her cheeks warming in a way that she hoped she could blame on the sun. "I'm already being a pretty terrible host. If you're going to be hanging around for a while, do you want something to drink? I've got lemonade, somewhere." This may have been the perfect situation for a beer, but Lessa had removed all alcohol from her life after allowing it to become a crutch. Perhaps the game did not allow her to feel it as the real world would have, but the thought of becoming even a digital alcoholic had terrified her. Pulling her legs back under her, the blonde found her feet, and looked down at her friend. The wind tugged at her hair and baggy clothes, the latter she shoved back without thought. "And I guess you can come in, if you want."

[Baldur 0]

Baldur couldn't help but watch Lessa stretch out an enjoy the sun, and in that moment he was reminded very clearly of just how beautiful she was. So when she offered him lemonade, he tried his best to be charming and witty.

"Is that cause life gave you so many lemons?" The chuckle he followed that up rang hollow even to his ears. What on earth are you doing, Jason.

She blushed after a moment, and he blushed as well, quickly looking away, assuming that she noticed his gaze lingering. He had appreciated her beauty, but his mind was elsewhere, scolding himself for a bad joke, and thinking on her words. It was a bad habit of his, becoming lost in his own mind, but he was so used to being alone that it was never much of a problem around people.

Then Lessa stood, and invited him in. He hadn't even realized her house had been nearby. But then, the vista here were pretty amazing. He found himself a little jealous of her having a home on such a beautiful location. He had been waiting for just the right place to build his home. It wasn't that he was being overly picky, but while many places had that something special that appealed to him, nothing had jumped out at him and said: Yes, this is the one!

But he had also never stayed in someone's home before, so he was very curious to see what Lessa's was like.

He pushed himself up slowly to his feet, and brushed off grass that hadn't actually stuck to his pants, and adjusted the haori he wore over his shoulders, even though it was never not adjusted. They were simple mannerism that were the result of his sudden nervousness around Lessa, but he didn't notice or know why. He just was.

As he stood to his full height, he didn't quite tower over her, but he was at least a head and shoulders taller than her. Before, he had always assumed she was the same height as he was... but perhaps that was the presence she wore, or perhaps she had those bizarre armor boots video games always gave women that were part combat boot, part ballgown high heel. She was not without strength to her build, Baldur just happened to notice, at that moment, how much larger he was than her. It was an odd sensation for the man.

"I would like that... because to be honest with you... I could really use a vacation, and a night not spent in an inn sounds wonderful."

He gave her the first, from his heart, genuine, relaxed smile in the past several, unconsciously tense minutes. A weight left his shoulders and a calmness entered his heart. He had been carrying burdens he didn't even know were weighing him down, and now, having a new purpose of helping Lessa, a change of pace, and a chance at a vacation, perhaps even camping, revitalized him in ways he didn't realize were needed.

"I am really looking forward to this." he said with a smile and blue eyes that were genuine and so, strangely, bizarrely oblivious. 

[Lessa 1]

"Life's given us all lemons," she answered him easily. And it was true, given the prison they all found themselves in. There was not a single person in Aincrad that was without hardship, for everyone had made sacrifices. In that sense, there was little difference between the player on the front lines, and the player who had never left the Town of Beginnings. From time to time, Lessa would pause to reflect on that fact. If she was in a bad mood, she would allow herself to be pulled deeper into the black, and the depression that lurked there. But the sun was hot at her back, and Baldur was there. So she merely gave a tight-lipped smile as she walked to the door. It was a bit like discussing a drought after months without rain - it sucked, but time went on anyway, and they were making due.

 As she reached for the door, the woman glanced back over her shoulder at her friend. "It isn't much," she warned him. "Most of my stuff is at the guild hall on another floor." But she pushed open the door anyway, stepped inside, and motioned to her surroundings. The house was about four hundred square foot, and entirely open. Her queen-sized bed was nestled in one corner, neatly made, and dotted with pillows in a variety of cheerful colors. The same colors could be found in the rug beneath the square table, the towels in the small cooking area, and the blanket folded across the worn couch. Light streamed through a dozen windows, placed every few steps along the walls. It was simplicity, happiness, and calm - the three things that Lessa wanted most. And here, in her hidden piece of heaven, she could have them all.

"I like it," she told him, "even if it isn't especially glamorous." I was never one for glamour, she nearly added, then bit the words back. No use rambling on about herself. Turning her back to him, she drew two coffee cups from the shelf above the oven. "I don't even drink coffee," came her confession as she placed the cups on the table, and then selected a pitcher of lemonade from her inventory. "But I drink everything out of the mugs. I just like how it makes me feel."

Well, there she was, talking about herself again.

[Baldur 0]

Baldur wasn't sure what he had expected when he walked through the front door of the small wooden cabin. He hadn't even noticed it at first, it blended into the surrounding landscape so well it felt like it had always been there. Still, when the front door opened up into the entirety of it, out suddenly dawned on him that it was a one room house he had just more or less invited himself to stay in. He quickly glanced at the couch, and out onto the porch. He could make it work. They were safe here from anything run by an AI and remote enough that players probably didn't just stumble upon them. He had doesn't many nights out in the wilderness, though he tried not to be reckless.

The decorations were mostly beautiful woodwork with just that little touch that made it... Not girly, but so that you knew it had a woman's touch in the decoration. It felt... Homey. She mentioned that it was small and the rest of her stuff was at a guild hall, but as he looked around he had no idea what could be missing. It was more than enough room for one or two people to be perfectly comfortable. And that thought made him blush. He quickly turned to look out the window as Lessa got down some cups and poured them glasses of lemonade. The view was spectacular.

"I don't really know what more you could want. This is lovely."

As she handed him a cup, he tried not to look at her too much, and instead stared into his drink before stepping out onto the porch, leaning onto the door frame to hold the door open for her as if he didn't care if bugs got inside. They wouldn't cause that wasn't a thing, but it would have been in the real world.

"I don't either, strangely enough. In the real world it never seemed to do anything for me, so I never developed a taste. Though Coca tea is phenomenal in the mornings. You just drop the leaves right into the hot water." He smiled slightly at the thought. It was a good memory.

"Thanks for letting me in on your adventure. I know you probably didn't want to ask for help but..." But I missed you? "... I appreciate you feeling like you can call on me. It's also made me realize how many other good friends I haven't kept up with. I should probably change that at some point."

He moved over to the couch by the window and sat down, crossing one leg under him.

"So, when is the next lesson? Or do we have time for camping first?" He gave her a pleased, warm smile as he raised the mug up to take a sip. Good thing about mugs. They're large enough to hide a blush.

[Lessa 1]

It was a pretty picture, the broad-shouldered man blocking her doorway. Shyly, Lessa plucked up her own lemonade, and drank to give herself something to do. When he commented on the tea, she smiled at him over the brim of her chipped ceramic mug. "The only coca I have in the mornings is coca puffs." It was a terrible joke, but hell, it seemed like the day for them. Besides, there was a time when she and Baldur joked freely with each other. That had been... well, before. Before they had lost people, and lost themselves. There had been good times since, she supposed, but they had always been a little strained. Lessa desperately wanted the innocence back. If no where else, at least allow it there, with Baldur.

She had drifted again, still more than a little charmed by the look of him in her house. He was telling her how much he appreciated being called upon. And he looked pretty good on her couch, too. Right at home.

Then he mentioned camping. The cup was at her lips, and she sputtered on the sweet liquid. It was a small miracle that she did not dribble down her shirt, or send the sticky substance up her nose. "Oh," she began hurriedly, pulling the mug away before she could do further damage. The wooden floor creaked beneath her feet as she crossed to the bed, and sat lightly on the edge of it. "Heh, well." Words. This was the part where she had to find them, to use them. "I didn't actually mean we had to go camping." Immediately, she wished she could draw the words back. Or die. Whichever came first. "Not that I wouldn't like to. Because I would. I just - it was pretty presumptuous of me to just invite myself along on some personal trip of yours, you know?" Her voice trailed, and her happy home was suddenly filled with smothering, expectant silence. It took only a few heartbeats before Lessa blew out a held breath, her lips flapping like an exasperated horse. "I used to be better at this."

[Baldur 0]

Baldur chuckled softly when Lessa mentioned she used to be better at this. She seemed to be flustered over an imagined slight at inviting herself along on his camping trip which was her idea to begin with. I used to be better at this too. Perhaps he had spent too much time on the front line. The tensions were different there. Everyone wanted attention, or to be the star, or the biggest and baddest whatever they felt like they were supposed to be the best at. Everyone wanted to remain with their friends, which was entirely fair because they could all die at any moment. Complacency was death on the frontlines, and no one knew that more than Zelrius and Azide.

"I mean, it was your idea, I just figured you wanted to come along. Besides... I've never been camping in Aincrad before. I wouldn't even know where to begin. I've slept in safe zones before, but not where the goal is to... you know... enjoy yourself." Baldur chuckled. A mission to simple go out and enjoy time in this floating castle? Who would have thought!

He had briefly considered correcting her on the tea. He had been referring to the coca leaf, mate de coca was a Andean specialty that if he remembered correctly was technically illegal in the United States, but made for an amazing tea. It was what helped get him going every morning when backpacking through the mountains, but he felt like playing that particular umm, actually card made him sound like some hipster d-bag.

"I was always a Lucky Charm guys myself. Though after we moved to Japan, I got used to having fruit for breakfast... which... let me tell you, is not something I would have ever believed I'd say 10 years ago."

He gave her a rueful smile. Lessa was old enough that she had lived through such upheavals in life expectations. There was a point, he noticed, when you had a long enough life to have the perspective of looking back and seeing how your expectations of what life would be like had been turned upside down. What would his ten years younger self think about where he was at now? He had, more or less, been living his ideal life. He had been, before SAO, doing everything he had imagined it would be like, though just at a slightly later age than he had first thought, but then, being trapped in a death game wasn't on The Plan either.

He was going to ask her again what she had planned next, but immediately bit back the words with another sip of lemonade. Things didn't always need to be moving forward towards some ultimate goal. Sometimes, you could just be. And that's what he chose to do no. Just be here in this moment.

"You've really managed to find your little slice of sunshine here. It's pretty fantastic. Did you choose this floor because one of the attractions said 'sun-shine forest'?" Baldur had a twinkle of mischief in his eye to give away the tease.

[Lessa 1]

"Sun-shine forest?" she echoed, a ghost of a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. "Nope, but you've got the sun-shine part right." She paused long enough to let her gaze wander to the nearest window, where the light streamed warm and vibrant. She was like a flower, she supposed, in the way she relished in the sun's energy. Lessa still loved the rain, and found standing in it oddly purifying. But the sun, that had a way of energizing her in a way she had not explored previously. If the rain cleared her soul, the sun filled it again.

"I never thought I'd end up here," she told him, finally. It was about the most general statement she could have made - here could be this house, this floor, this time, this floating castle. All would be correct. So she clarified, shifting to look at him. "Floor twenty, I mean. For the most part, I'd spent my time on the lower floors. I liked the familiarity. There was safety in wandering the old stomping grounds, you know?" Over and over, her thumb gently caressed the mug's smooth side as her eyes went a bit hazy. "But there's a lot of memories there. Good, and bad. But even the good ones were beginning to weight me down. We've been here for a long time, and surrounding myself in what's gone wasn't doing me any favors." Her gaze sharpened as she studied his face, and the smile softened into an expression ripe with emotion. "Maybe you know that feeling?"

Unwilling to remain there for too long, suspended above that pit of sadness, she forged ahead. "I came to this floor to run an errand for my book keeper friend, and I fell in love with the atmosphere. It's so beautiful, yeah, but also so open, and so clean. There's a lot of possibility, here. And I think that's what I needed. Fresh, and new. Possibility." 

She let the word, and the weight of it, hang in the air. Folding her legs beneath her to sit more comfortably, Lessa finally paused to sip her lemonade. "Ten years ago, I wanted to be a teacher. I figured that's where I'd find myself. And there's something poetic about the fact that I got there anyway." Her grin finally reached her eyes as she motioned to her cozy home. "Not quite social studies in a public middle school, but hey, it's been an interesting road getting here."

[Baldur 0]

"I know what you mean." Baldur said when she mentioned how it was poetic she had found herself as a teacher now, here, in this castle rather than in a proper school. Not for the first time, he mentally remarked that she had always been a teacher, she just taught things other than social studies. It had been her main mission for as long as he had known her, save for the brief time when she thought that she should be a bit more selfish about going for what she wanted. He had gone through that phase as well. It just seemed to be part of the experience, especially for people who had spent their lives investing so much in others and being so selfless.

His steel eyes watcher her and softened to an ocean blue. His hand had reached for an invisible sword when she had started talking about finding her true purpose here. He had found his as well, but that had been a point of contention between them. He found his purpose here, as he could never in the real world. But as he watched her, the sun pooling around the house through the numerous windows, and just admired the peace she seemed to find in this moment. The sunlight caressed her and held her like the most beautiful flower in the field, and he forgot himself, and was, for the first time in a long time, able to just... relax.

Before he had stared at her too long, Baldur shifted his eyes to the bottom of the mug, swirling it slightly as he gauged how much he had left. It was then, he realized he had been quiet for too long. Not that silence was uncomfortable, but that he had been spending too much time in his thoughts, and not enough with Lessa.

"Possibility gives us hope." The words could have referred to anything.

"Once we know, then the die is cast. Schrodinger knows about his cat. But as long as you don't know the answer, you still have hope that there's a chance."

He took a sip without looking up at her.

"We both had grown comfortable with the fourth floor, we knew, or it made us feel like we knew, everything. Now that you've moved out of your comfort zone, and seen the new horizon, it means we have hope again." He looked up finally from under his bangs, and gave her a soft, encouraging smile.

"It's nice to feel like we have a chance again, isn't it To do something meaningful, I mean.."

[Lessa 1]

"Mhmm," came her soft sound of agreement, to more-or-less everything that he had said. It all felt a bit too perfect, like the emotional scene in a Hallmark movie. Their talk of hope, and possibility, and second chances, might have made someone else gag a bit. But the truth was, such conversations had to happen in a situation as dire as this. Like her home on the sunny mountain, Lessa needed the opportunity to slip away from it all, and recharge her batteries a bit. Discussions about the future were often so bleak, but with Baldur, they had a way of inspiring something more positive.

In a swift motion, the woman finished the last of her lemonade, and shifted to plant it on her bedside table. Then she straightened, her gaze level on Baldur's, as she spoke. "Lucky for you, I've got the next few days off. There's some festival happening on another floor, and I'd encouraged my kids to go to that instead of coming to me." She shook her head, laughed, and added, "even in Aincrad, you've got to give them their vacations. And honestly, I think they'll be better off because of it. Kids have to be kids."

Without pausing to reflect on her own childhood, and the years of college she had lost, she rolled her shoulders. "If we're going camping, this is the best time to do it. And I bet it won't even take me long to pack." She gave him a quick wink before motioning to her fairly spartan home. "Don't have much, like I said." Of course, she could easily just carry what she needed in her inventory, but the normalcy of packing a bag was comforting. "We can go now, or in the morning. Do you have anything you need to do?"

[Baldur 0]

Baldur looked at Lessa a bit sheepishly when she asked if he had anything he needed to do. He was never part of the scouting floors, and was, truth be told, one of the more sedentary members of the frontline. As long as he could contribute to the fight, he was happy. That left him with more time for idleness than most, not that he didn't work hard in other ways.

"Well, truth be told, my shop is closed more often than it's open, and without a guild, my schedule is my own. No one minds if I suddenly get lost in the mountains for a while." His blue eyes sparkled when he smiled at her at the idea of getting lost in the mountains.

"I carry everything I need with me... old habit of being a boy scout I guess. Always prepared for anything." He set down his cup on the small table and then stood to his full height. Lessa was one of the few people, let alone women, who Baldur wouldn't tower over. Perhaps it was just another small reason why he had always taken her as his equal, even from their very first meeting... when she had... leveled a giant sword at his head.

The memory brought a wry smile to his face, curling up just one side of his lips, but somehow managing to touch his eyes.

"This may be the most fun thing I've ever considered doing in Aincrad. I think we have enough daylight left to be able to make it up there and find a camp site. If not, we'll just have to take a walk by starlight to the edge of the floor."