[PP-F7] Catch These Hands (Calypso)

[Spencer 0]

Noot Noot!  Spencer heard his little Penguin call him, and he smiled a bit. Spencer had been lounging at the cliff side for sometime. After the party, the raining night that let all of his emotions spill out onto the floor, and onto his friend Teion, it was difficult for him to really figure out what his next step in life was going to be. He felt lighter, the pressure of love and the wanting of someone was gone, he could feel his emotions returning to himself, and not being thrown at Ryo in horrid attempts of attraction for a man.

Spencer sighed for a moment and raised his umbrella up, the sun was cutting barely through the clouds, and his eyes were being assaulted. He slowly sat up and scooped Noot up, who gave an adorable squeak and looked around. Spencer held the umbrella behind him, and began to stretch and figure out what he wanted to do from there. Okay, I came here to clear my thoughts, but I just feel dull. I need some new friends, some that don't know about all my crap, some that can be my friends without anything else happening inbetween. He sighed and shrugged to himself, it was very difficult for him to make friends, and he didn't know if this exactly was going to work, but he was hoping for the best.

@Calypso
(Scenery in Spoiler)

Spoiler

[Calypso 0]

"Come on, Dani!" Callie urged as she hurried along at a brisk pace. Her long hair swayed behind her with each quick step, and it hugged her back when she spun around to turn herself back towards the familiar that followed after her. She walked backwards for several paces, meeting Danesh's solid beady onyx eyes as he snaked through the air a generous distance behind her. "Who knows what we'll find there? Wouldn't it be amazing if there was some kind of hidden Easter egg for us to find?" In response, Danesh simply gave a quick shake akin to a dog, his grey mane whipping back and forth from the back of his neck to the end of his tail. Callie frowned, almost wearing a pout at his lack of enthusiasm. "Fine, be that way." She retorted dismissively.

The at-odds pair were making their way across the plains, with Callie only veering off-course in order to avoid the drawing zone of any free-wandering monsters that populated the area. In the back of her mind, she wondered for a moment if she might be able to handle these level of creatures by now, but her excitement to reach their destination drowned out any desire to fight or prove herself. After hearing a rumor about a temple atop one of the tallest mountain peaks, the information trail was pretty easy to follow around Nimbus. The temple didn't sound all that impressive or compelling--no word of items or experience to be gained for finding it. In fact, it almost sounded like it served little purpose other than decoration, or perhaps a resting spot for players traveling through the mountains while they fought against monsters or worked on other quest objectives. But what had really drawn her interest was the off-handed mention of a mute that resided in the temple. "I wonder if anyone has ever tried signing with him before. How cool would it be if the game actually had little hidden dialogues like that, huh, Dani?" She called over her shoulder as she walked along.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer sighed softly as he got up and got around to start moving around the isolated cliff side on the seventh floor. He was more lonely than he expected, which was something he didn't really want to think of. Luckily, he was able to deal with his loneliness much easier than he has been able to in the past. What to do with my new found emotional freedom... Hmm... I'm not positive what I want to do with all this time on my hands now. I could just explore more of this floor maybe? I heard that there was some temple sort of near by, I could go check that out and explore a little bit, I miss going on adventures.... I miss going on adventures with people mostly. Maybe I'll meet someone there I can hang out it? Highly unlikely but a boy can dream can't he? He thought to himself for a little bit before beginning his walk,

Spencer was a little ways away from the temple when he spotted some blue hair. He thought nothing really of it, must just be another player, but then it seemed like he knew that player before. Wait... Do I know her?.... Wait! It's Calypso!! He smiled brightly and quickened his pace, Noot was a tad confused because he never actually met this woman before. He got a little farther and closer to her before he waved to get her attention. "Hi! I'm not sure if you remember me, but my name is Spencer, we met at the Valentines Event a while ago?" He looked at her, hoping he was remembered, he didn't think he was That forgettable.

[Calypso 0]

"I'm not carrying you, so you better hurry up before I leave you behind." Callie warned in half a joke, sparing another glance over her shoulder to see how far behind her familiar lagged as he snaked through the air. "C'mon, I waited on that hill of yours for an hour, so you can at least pretend to be interested in what I want to do for once." She nagged at her companion. She found herself on the seventh floor regularly as of late. Despite all the flak she gave him for his lazy behavior and flippant attitude, she still had a soft spot for Danesh, and admittedly the tall hills, open fields, and tall mountains of the seventh floor had started to grow on her.

There was still a short walk to the base of the mountain she was aiming for, but as she was working to veer her path away from a couple of incredibly tall lizard-like monsters with long necks similar to a giraffe's, a glimpse of motion in the other direction caught her eye. She looked over, ahead of her and to the right, to see someone waving at her as they approached. She cocked a seafoam brow, surprised to see anyone else on their own so far from Nimbus. She stopped, and as the stranger closed the rest of the distance between them and came into earshot to introduce--or reintroduce--himself, she was left to wrack her brain for a couple of moments searching for the reason why the name he was giving her was familiar, and why she couldn't match it to his face.

"Oh! Spencer?" Her wallflower acquaintance from the Valentine's Masquerade Ball. She perked up now, taking another look at the man. He looked like a totally different person from her recollection--his hairstyle more messy and casual, the tailored suit he had worn replaced with gear more appropriate for adventuring and taking a hit from wild monsters, and of course the half-mask absent from his face. "Wow, I barely recognized you. It's been a while, yeah." She admitted with a small chuckle. In the time that she'd stopped, Danesh had finally managed to catch up and immediately moved to her left shoulder, hurriedly climbing and slinking his way between the back of her neck and the veil of colored hair that fell behind her to plant himself atop her shoulders. "Hey!" She called as the feeling got her attention, and she reached up to try and retrieve the familiar. Danesh was quick to snake around her, the lazy creature moving more quickly than she had ever recalled in order to avoid her grasp.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer watched as the sea-foam haired woman took a moment to realize who he was. Spencer smiled softly when realization dawned upon her face. She looked to be more at ease in her attire, and she seemed to actually be enjoying herself a bit more than being a wallflower. Spencer's eyes traveled to the familiar that was using the woman's body as a jungle gym. He laughed softly as the quick animal evaded the woman's hands. "Seems like your familiar does not want to be grabbed." He smiled and walked over to her and looked at the animal a little closer. Noot, now trying to figure out who the woman was, walked over to her and waddled around her, taking a look at her, and waving the the familiar she possessed. He waddled  back to Spencer and gave a Noot and a little nod, deeming her a good person. "And it seems like Noot likes you." He smiled and scooped up the little feathery animal, the penguin waving and snuggling into Spencer's arms. "What has brought you out to this temple? I was interested in exploring it myself, but I have about no information about this place, other than the man who is at the entrance area is mute, or deaf. Not sure which, but luckily that is easier for me than most." He smiled and looked over the standing temple, the architecture fitting into the mountain around it.

[Calypso 0]

Callie let out a huff of frustrated air as she finally gave up on catching Danesh's ferret like body while he had half-crawled, half-floated around her body to avoid her. "No, he hates being handled." She confirmed with a frown, casting the creature a disapproving sideways glance as he settled back across her shoulders again. "But he does like to be a brat on occasion." Danesh simply stared back at her a moment, his beady onyx eyes carrying as little emotion as his small face showed expression. She hardly noticed the little penguin waddling around her feet until Spencer plucked him from the ground and held him in his arms. "Aww!" She fawned a moment, setting her sights on the infantile creature cuddling up to his owner. It did well to distract her from her mild irritation, and she turned her chin back towards her right shoulder, where the ermine sky dragon turned to look at the other pair of player and familiar. "And this is Danesh. He's from this floor, so I've been spending more time out here since he likes it so much." She wore a crooked smile that persisted when he inquired about her destination.

Her gaze shifted to the tallest mountains standing ahead of them, where she could see snippets of the temple structures peeking out where it must sit nestled along the steep paths towards the top. She only hoped that those paths were clear and straight-forward enough that she wouldn't be getting lost during the hike. She nodded, enthusiasm in her voice as she explained herself. "Right, I was hoping to find some kind of Easter egg or something. I don't see why they would put an NPC that doesn't speak somewhere like that if there wasn't some kind of option to interact with it." Her reasoning was more of blind optimism, but she was content to stick with it. "Otherwise, the place sounds boring, so my fingers are crossed to get him to show me something interesting." Spencer's last statement was vague, but held enough descriptive weight to pique her curiosity. "Hmm? What do you mean, though?" Her head tilted to one side before it swiveled to the left, checking the position of the monsters she was earlier working to avoid. Callie carried herself forward again, turning back to make sure Spencer would follow suit alongside her.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer smiled during the little introduction that the two of them had, it was sweet to see Danesh and Calypso interact, even though the little dragon was being a butt. Spencer smiled and looked for a bit longer, than listened to Calypso talk about the familiar. He looked around the floor for a moment and nodded when he heard her say that he was found on this floor. Makes sense, a dragon for this floor, and it actually is kind of beautiful, I need to come here more too. Maybe I could hang out with Calypso here- Okay you are getting ahead of yourself, just start to make closer friends, no need to rush into things like that. Spencer mentally yelled at himself, and didn't even notice that the woman started to walk. Spencer quickly started to try to catch up to her, hearing her interest be piqued when he mention that talking to someone who doesn't talk wont be that difficult. "Oh! I know Sign Language." He smiled and cracked his knuckles, getting ready to sign to someone.

Spencer looked at his hands, then at the temple, he was actually getting excited. He hadn't been able to sign with anyone, in over two years. He smiled and got a little giddy at the thought of being able to sign to someone, even if it is an NPC, it will still be very refreshing to have a discussion. Oh god why am I so excited? Wait no, I know why. But I need to calm down so I don't seem so dumb around Calypso. And dumb around Noot, I still need my son- my familiars respect. His thoughts made him laugh acting like Noot was his child.

[Calypso 0]

The rest of the way to the base of the mountain was a clear shot, free of any more wandering monsters, and so Callie took her eyes off the path in front of them to look back to Spencer as he caught up to walk beside her. The short explanation he offered was obvious, but the surprise on Callie's face would have made it seem like the fact came out of nowhere. Perhaps it wasn't really all that rare for someone to know sign language, but the fact that nobody living here would have needed it made it feel like it had died out after two years. Though she hadn't noticed it, Callie's own mannerisms had changed now that she no longer relied on her hands to communicate with others. She still subconsciously used body language more than most, but it wasn't as terribly prevalent as it used to be when she was first adjusting to having her voice back in Aincrad.

"Oh, really?" Her smile nearly turned into a smirk, and though she hadn't meant it her tone slipped into some sort of challenge rather than curiosity or a polite filler word of confirmation. Her torso turned just slightly as she walked, her shoulders a bit more square in Spencer's direction to face him just a little better as her hands raised from her sides. "Me too! How long ago did you start learning?" She used them to speak for her. The feeling was nostalgic and familiar all at the same time, but her movements were without hesitation. Meanwhile, as his companion would surely be engrossed in her conversation, Danesh's head lowered to rest on her right shoulder, his eyes closing while he enjoyed the ride the rest of the way to the temple.

[Spencer 0]

Spencer kept walking, but almost felt the emotional and physical change in Calypso as Spencer offered up the information that he knows sign language. Spencer looked a little confused for a moment, but when Calypso turned to him, and her hands slowly started to take shape the first word, Spencer's eyes widened and he almost jumped in excitement. He was too busy holding Noot, so he quickly stopped and held Noot close to his cloak, and he quickly crawled up the cloak. The penguin's head popped up next to Spencer's moving close and curling up in the fabric. Spencer smiled brightly and started to sign. "Oh my god I'm so happy right now. And I started learning about..... Since I was a child. My parents wanted me to have a language under my belt along with English." He smiled brightly and was very excited.

The two of them came upon the temple, and right away the old man saw the two signing, and his eyes lit up a little bit, slowly shambling forward. Spencer looked concerned for a moment, but as he raised his hands, he knew what was going to happen. "You two... You two can speak to me?" He offers up in Sign language and looks at the two of them, an almost hopeful look in the older man's eyes, it made Spencer's heart warm.

[Calypso 0]

"I only took a year of Spanish in high school because I was forced to." Callie signed back, a chuckle escaping her lips at the end. American Sign Language wasn't something she expected to be anyone's first choice when it came to learning another language, but she could feel her heart swell with a touch of joy, both at Spencer's decision and at the ease at which she could converse with him, both silently and not. "But that's amazing." She commented, continuing to speak with her hands if only for the nostalgia of how long it'd been since she'd used them to communicate with another person. "I was starting to think I wouldn't have a reason to sign anymore."

With their short trek up the mountain pass, they approached the temple without any difficulty and found themselves promptly greeted by the silent keeper as he looked to them in awe. Callie's face lit up all over again when the man did, in fact, interact with them. The question of whether or not they were the first players to discover something like this burned brightly in her mind, but she tried to control all of the questions that were flooding her and simply air one at a time. With both of the players now bundles of excited energy with their new discoveries, she nodded in response to the silent man. Her hands moved again, the side of her index finger tapping against her chin, then later moving to her right ear as she posed a question in return. "Can you not speak? Or hear?"

[Spencer 0]

Spencer smiled brightly and felt happier than he had in a while. He had no idea why signing with this woman was making him so excited and happy, but yet he didn't want to question it. Spencer recognized what Calypso was saying to him, and tried to reply to her, but she was already talking to the old man. Calypso asked if the man was deaf, or couldn't speak, and he thought for a moment before signing both. "I... I vowed an oath of silence after my wife past, I refused to speak another word, wanting my last words in this life to be to her, I learned Sign Language when I realized that I was actually going to need to converse with people, but almost no one knew it. It puts a smile on my face that you two brave adventurers can speak to me in my, now native tongue. My wife would have loved to have met you." He smiled sadly, and with that, the NPC dialogue ended. Spencer was a little sad after that moment, but turned back to Calypso, giving her a sad smile, and looking into the dark cave. He motioned to the entrance with a look, wondering if she wanted to go in. Wow I haven't been adventuring in so long, would be nice to explore and make more of a friend out of Calypso.

[Calypso 0]

Callie watched as the man told them his story, and her brows knit together in a mixture of sadness and concern. It took her a few long moments to remember that the man, his late wife, and his emotions were all programmed. Scripted, and likely fabricated. Perhaps he and his story were based on someone who actually lived, a person who took a vow of silence for their loved one. She frowned, wondering briefly what it might be like to feel that way. To care for someone so deeply that you would forfeit something as precious as a voice simply to honor their death. She hadn't given up hers by choice, and so for someone to do so stirred up a strong sense of confusion, almost resentment towards the computer-generated man. Her lips pursed, and she drew in a short breath through her nose. Regardless of her mixed feelings, his story was a pitiable one.

Her right hand closed, and she held it close to her chest for a moment. "I'm sorry for your loss." The man gave her a small nod in thanks, and she nodded back as there was clearly little else to speak about. Despite the interaction, she couldn't help but feel disappointed. It was lackluster compared to her hopes and expectations of some grandiose secrets. Slipping her hands into her pockets, the woman's attention was retrieved when Spencer gave her a wave to call her over to the entrance of a cave. Callie cocked a brow, walking over to peer inside. The mouth of the cave was nestled into the side of the mountain, with the light of the sun bathing the rocks and stretching a generous distance inside before the darkness was all that was left behind it. "Hmm..." She mused aloud, wearing a thoughtful frown. "Wonder if there's anything worthwhile in there. It's pretty out in the open." She remarked, glancing over at Spencer. Her expression shifted to a small, crooked smile when she noticed the light in his eyes. She could tell he was excited, whether it was from their shared language, or the prospects of adventure. A single chuckle escaped her. "You want to check it out?"

[Spencer 0]

Spencer stood in the corridor for a moment, taking the intense darkness and opening in for himself. Spencer sighed and looked at Calypso, it seemed as thought she was interested in going into the cave, Noot sure was. He nooted loudly and looked around, he had never been adventuring before with Spencer and it seemed he really wanted to do it. Spencer chuckled softly at Noot and petted him, their heads still together after Noot crawled into the fabric of his cloak. "Yeah I would like to check it out. I've dealt with traps and things before, but stuff like this is still very fun, I love adventuring and exploring caves and temples, it is how I even met my guild family." He smiled and chuckled a bit at remembering everything that had happened that day. I miss them a lot, hopefully everyone in the guild can do something some day together soon, would be fun and a bit interesting to see everyone after so long of not seeing them. He sighed a bit and started to walk.

While the pair began to venture into the dark caves, he couldn't help but wonder what was going to happen. They already encountered a mute man, so maybe more things will have to deal with deafness, or maybe silence, his mind was wandering for a moment, and he started to get lost in the darkness, not really seeing Calypso anymore.

[Calypso 0]

"Really? No torches, nothing?" Callie spoke to herself with a hint of irritation. They had wandered just far enough into the cave tunnel that her eyes were beginning to strain against the darkness. With a flick of her wrist through the air in front of her, she summoned her menus and poked at a string of options. She was rummaging around in her inventory, tracing her hovering finger through the air until she found what she was looking for. She selected an item that appeared in her hand, and once the crystal was nestled into her palm the Glow Stone came to life. She held her arm out to illuminate the path in front of them, the light bouncing off of Spencer's back and shoulder as he walked a couple of paces ahead of her to the side.