[PP-F1] A Life Worth Living <<Making Vows>>

[Itzal 0]

Two full days had passed since Itzal's recent encounter with Zandra. A very much needed encounter at that. While he still felt the pain of losing his wife, it wasn't nearly as weakening as it was. As the sun set that night, Itzal told Zandra about Kasier. About how he had married, but they wanted it to be quiet. He didn't go into depth about how they met, though he did mention how it was thanks to Ulises that the two had a chance to begin with. She had asked who he was, and he told her that he'd tell her all about it later. He finished by stating that one day she went on a trip, and a day or two later he found her name on the monument. And after that, everything just went to hell. He even told her that Velnia, his familiar, had perished. And how even though he managed to get her back after the first time she died, he really didn't want to find her a third time. It just, didn't feel right. Eventually the two retired to their homes for the night, but the next day they met up again. This time, in the sunlight, and with a much more lighter conversation. And now it was officially two days later.

Despite him spending time with her partially out of fear of losing someone again, he really did enjoy spending time with her. He missed having a friend to just hang out with. Even before he lost Kasier, he cut ties with his friends for a multitude of reasons. So now, Zandra was the only friend he really had left. He would always wear his black outfit every time they went out of course. He wasn't about to come back as Itzal publicly, just as Are. So here he was, sitting on a branch of a massive tree in the middle of a field. They chose this as their next meeting place, so he just sat there eating some curry while waiting for her.

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra was sitting at the edge of her bed, her elbows on her knees and resting her head in heropen palms. Damn, the day before yesterday had been rough. She threw herself backwards in her big double bed where she crawled over to Avilons side. She grabbed the pillow and hugged it tightly. ''Where are you?'' she whispered as she just laid there, doing nothing at all except thinking back on all the memories they had been having together. After an hour or two she let go of the pillow and pushed herself out of the bed. She had something to do today. She was going to meet up with Itzal again. Or Are, as he wanted to be called officially. There was several things she wanted to talk with him about. They really had alot of time to cathc up on.
Some time later she left her estate and headed down to floor of the beginning. She left the town and headed out on the large fields surronding the big beginner city. They had decided to meet up at a special tree. One that was all alone on a big field. She approached it with a neutral expression on her face. Her red hood pulled back and her hair flowing in the wind. She also weared her red skirt with suspenders and black t-shirt. She gave him a short wave. ''Hello there Itzal.''

[Itzal 0]

Itzal spotted her before she even left the gates. Such was the power of the searching skill, as well as the searching item he wore at times. He smiled as she walked over to him at the base of the tree. Itzal finished the last of his curry and went ahead and jumped off, rolling on contact with the ground to nullify the fall damage. "Hey Zandra." His sword was still equipped, as he never liked to leave his guard down. Especially after he'd mastered the hiding skill, and stalked pkers in the shadows to become paranoid enough of random surprise attacks. Especially since he was known for hunting down pkers. At this point they talked about him, so he was bound to have enemies by now. That being said, the sword was still sheathed on his belt. He wasn't going to be walking around wielding the black sword every second of the freaking day. And especially not when he was going to be hanging out with a friend. "So, anything you want to do today? We could chat and hang out a bit, or go monster hunting. Or find a quest we haven't done yet, though I don't think that's possible for you," he said with a chuckle. Personally he had some unfinished quests due to his... Departure from the front lines and keeping himself busy in regards to player killers.

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra almost got a bit surprised when she saw Itzal because he was totally different then two days earlier. Back then he had been sad, in pain, grief, yes every painful feeling you can come up with. The man that stood infront of her now actually looked, glad? She blinked a few times. ''Oh damn. Someone looks to be feeling better I guess.'' she said with a smile aimed at Itzal. He had asked her what she wanted to do. He suggested going on a quest that they havent done, but that it would be hard for Zandra. He probably meant that she had done all the quests. ''Hehe, no that wouldnt be hard. There is tons of quests out there that I havent done.'' she said with a frinedly goggle. ''But yeah, there is alot I would like to chat with you about. Lets do it and go on a walk. Then we can kill any mob we happens to run into on the way.''

[Itzal 0]

He returned her smile with a smile of his own. "I wouldn't be if you hadn't helped me out of the place I was in." Yes.. He was still weighed down, but not nearly as he was before. In fact, for the first time in a long time he felt rather free. He'd had his time to grieve, and took most of his free time yesterday just, thinking. It was a rough night for sure, but he needed to remember that he would see her again in Heaven. He fell asleep that night clinging to that knowledge. So when he woke up this morning, it was without that horrid feeling of loneliness. "I had a lot of time to think last night too, so that certainly helped." When she mentioned how she had not actually finished most of the quests he raised his eyebrow questioningly. "Really? I'm actually a little surprised to hear that. Well either way, we can clear those quests at some point together. They're more fun with company anyway." When she told him that there was a lot she'd like to talk with him about, his curiosity had peaked. He wondered what she wanted to talk about him was. "Alright. Although I doubt we'll be attacked by anything. They're too low leveled, so they'd just stay away from us." He even scanned the area and sure enough, every one of them had the pink cursor over their heads, indicating the vast gap of power between them and the two players. As they started walking through the forest he asked, "So, what did you want to talk about?"

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Yupp, Itzal was actually happy. Even if Zandra was surprised, that made her glad. Meaning that what she have been thru a few days hadnt been for nothing. She answered his comment about having many quests left to do with a shrug. ''Well, I guess I am not a big fan of questing I guess. Well, not solo questing. Since that have basivally been what I have done last half a year or so. Out in the wild, hunting mobs.'' she took a short pause before continue. ''solo.'' she finished. As they started walking Zita, the big kings-eagle, flew down and landed on Zandras shoulder. Let out a cry. Then the feathered predators head scanned the forest with her razorsharp eyes that could spot a rabbit a mile away. Now Zandra entered her next stage of calm. She could always relax when Zita was near, because Zita would let her know as soon as there was any threat nearby.
''What I wanted to talk about you ask? Well, I want to catch up. Last time we met was at that Leviathan boss fight wasnt it? What have you been up to since then?''

[Itzal 0]

He nodded when she talked about taking quests. "I'm the same way. It's no fun to take them on alone. The only time I actually go questing for stuff is when I need something pronto that I can get without fear of harm. For example, there's a quest with a boss that drops a consumable which increases your evasion by one regardless of your equipment or mods temporarily. It's easy to destroy at my level, so I'd go in there and kill it before a floor boss as extra protection. Definitely handy." Of course, before he could do any quest like that, he needed to take on the familiar quest. He wondered what kind of familiar he would be encountering this time around... When Zandra's eagle landed on her shoulder, he gestured to ask if he could touch her. With Zandra's permission, he would then stroke the feathered familiar's head. Doing this would help him relax a bit. He missed Velnia... When she asked him about what he'd been up to so far he sighed. "Honestly, not much. Not long after the floor boss was when I found out that..." He paused for a bit, as they both knew what he was trying to say, and he really didn't want to bring it up right now. "After that, I just focused on hunting down player killers. I've already taken out a 'would be' pking guild, several parties including the one from two nights ago, and multiple solo killers. Beyond that, I really haven't done that much worth mentioning, other than scouting out floors. I didn't think I could increase the size of my maps further than they already are."

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra listened to as Itzal told her what he had been up to. It sound like he had been busy, clearing the world of Aincrad from player killers and player killer guilds. Zita lowered her head and let him pat it a bit before she went back to scouting, her sharp eyes beeing ready to spot any kind of threat. ''Oh my, you seemed to have been busy.'' Zandra said when Itzal had told her about the player killer hunting. ''Myself I have been kinda busy myself. My greatest achivement thou is a few days ago, I actually hit the roof. I am one of the max leveled players on the frontlines at the moment.'' she said with a proud smile. There have been many years of hard effort and grinding put in to finally reach level 88. ''How is that when it comes to player killer hunting? Do they reward you with any XP or any kind of loot?'' she asks him curiously.

[Itzal 0]

Chuckling at her comment of how he'd been staying busy he gave a nod. "Yeah, just a bit." At least it kept him in shape and ready for a fight. Itzal fell silent as it was her turn to start sharing her half of things. She told him that she'd been rather busy as of late, though didn't really tell him what she'd been doing exactly. When she told him that she'd hit the level cap his face lit up. "Zandra that's awesome! You're level eighty eight now? Wait, since you're there, we can still collect skill points right? There's a lot of skills and mods I want to get still... Actually when I hit the cap I'm probably going to need to finally dump the picking and gathering skills and trade them out for combat skills." In truth, he didn't really need them anymore. Once he started going on daily monster grinds, he could rack up enough col to buy materials for days. And even more than that, he could gather materials on the specified floors for nature's gathering. Always helpful. But, that did get him thinking. "Any thoughts on why the game developers capped our levels at eighty eight? It would make more sense to at least cap them at level ninety... Actually if they wanted to cap it, they'd either need to cap it at floor level or at level one hundred. Preferably the latter. Feels odd that they would just leave it at eighty eight." He shook the worry off. "At any rate, that means I can catch up with you guys now. I'm level eighty two, only six levels away." When she asked if there were any benefits to player killing he gave a sad smile and shook his head. "No, not really. Once they're beaten, I use a corridor crystal to send them to the prison I helped discover a while back. No one knows it was me, well. They know Are did it, but "Are" never comes out of the shadows. My choice but still, I'd rather not get paid to fight other humans. I only do it because they have to be stopped."

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra nodded as Itzal said capping level at eitghty eight. She put her finger on her lower lip and looked forward as she thougth. ''Yeah, you are right there. Thou I think they should have capped it at eigthy nine or niety nie. Since at every ten even levels we getting a new skill slot. And that would make the gap between just varely maxing and maxing out quite big actually. But yes, why capping it at eigthy eight, most logic thing would be to go up to at least eigthy nine when they passed the eithy line.'' She gave a smile when he asked if she still got skill points after maxing out. She nodded and looked at Itzal. ''Yes I do. I still have one free skill slot left. And there is alot of mods I can get. Thou since I wont get any more slots, I dont know what skill to fill that last slot with.''
So, there was no rewards in hunting player killers. At least not if just sending them directly to prison. ''Well, shouldnt Are get paid for doing it from the prison? That would just be logical.'' She moved on with Itzal thru the forest. ''Level eigthy two? If you work hard you maybe will reach max before floor boss fight.'' she glanced to the side. ''Because you are coming to the boss figth right?''

[Itzal 0]

Shaking his head with a light laugh, he looked back up at the sky. "Yeah, seriously. I don't know what they were thinking. Eighty eight... Doesn't make a lick of sense. Ah, well we can't change it now. At least we can still max out our other skills and mods." He really was happy to hear that too. It meant that, even if you didn't one hundred percent need them, you could get pretty much every mod you wanted and/or needed without worrying about it. In addition, you could still max out any and all extra skills you had. It would be nice to be able to master the martial arts skill so that he'd have something besides the one handed straight sword. That way, if he was disarmed, he could still fight his opponent. When Zandra pondered what to fill the last slot with, Itzal decided to help a little bit. "Well, what sort of skills do you have right now?" Upon her comment on him being paid, he gave a light chuckle. "Yeah, I don't think they feel comfortable letting me play judge in all of this though. To be honest I'm more of a vigilante than anything. I guess you could say I'm the batman of Aincrad, ha ha!" When she mentioned the boss fight however, his face softened, and he looked away for a moment. "...If we're being honest, I've been trying to avoid the front lines for a while... I just.. Couldn't take all the stress you know? Players arguing with each other, fighting each other over all sorts of crap. And I still can't get the image of Hirru jumping in to fight for the bosses out of my mind, even though I know he regrets that. Because with that fallen event, Seul went and did the exact same thing..."

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

''Hmm, what skills I have now?'' she said as she scratched her chin. ''2-handed battle axe, first aid, charge, search...'' Zandra started, counting the skills on her fingers.''...heavy armor, battle healing, howl, energize, quick change, extended mods and energist.'' she said and paused a bit. ''Yupp, that is all I think.''

She listened to Itzal and raised an eyebrow as he mentioned the event where the players turned side. ''Does that bother you? I mean is that the reason you avoid the frontlines?'' Zandra asked the man with a confused mind. She wasnt sure what to think. Not only that. He didnt liked the drama as well. She shoke her head. No, that wasnt the way to approach him. She took a few quick steps so she was standing infront of him. She placed her hands on his shoulder, her crimson eyes looking into his.''That wont happen again. ''There is alot of new players that have joined the front. I have only been figthing with once or twice, but I could see that they wont do that.''

[Itzal 0]

2h Battle axe, first aid, search, heavy armor, battle healing, howl, energize, quick change, extended mods, energist. Yeah, she only had one skill slot left available to her. "...Hmm... Well if you want something that would be useful in combat, I'd have to suggest getting the extended weight limit skill. Most of the other skills I don't think would suit you, unless you want to increase your tanking abilities by getting fighting spirit. If you did that, you wouldn't need to use howl as much and could focus more on inflicting damage. If you wanted to try focusing on burst damage you could go for a stealth build, but I don't think you'd want that one. So, I'd recommend either getting the fighting spirit skill, or the extended weight limit skill. Cause with increased battle inventory, you could bring with you spare equipment in case fallen doesn't work against the boss but paralysis does, or vice versa." In truth, Itzal was planning to get the extended weight limit too. It would help him with monsters and bosses, but also against player killers via storing debuffs, healing items, and buffs to use at any given time.

When she asked whether the event regarding Hirru was why he didn't want to rejoin the frontlines he rubbed the back of his head in response. "...I mean, yeah, that's part of the reaso-" He didn't finish however as Zandra quickly stepped in front of him and took his shoulder, catching him off guard. She then spoke to him with confidence that such a thing wouldn't happen ever again with the new players on the frontlines. Itzal blinked in surprise, but recovered quickly and smiled. "..Thanks Zan. I definitely appreciate that." He hesitated before continuing. "...That's, only a symptom of the primary issue though. The main problem is cooperation. When people believe their way is the only way, it creates discord and any plan put together can fall apart. 'I won't listen to a player killer,' 'He/she wronged me so I'll fight them on every statement they make'. It's the fighting, the selfishness, the greed. It's the trouble makers that I really don't want to be around anymore. If we could somehow convince everyone to just drop grudges and focus on killing the boss, then I wouldn't hesitate to join in."

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra had noted down when Itzal mentioned what skill he suggested for her to get. To be honest that was what she had in mind as well. But now she had to focus on something else. Something that was way, way more important then skills and stats. She listened to Itzals reply with her eyes focused on his. She gritted her teeths and Itzal could feel a small tremble in her hands that gripped harder on his shoulders. As he was finished talk she realized she was still holding him. She quikly let go, turned around and took a few steps away from him. He could she her closing and open, closing and open her fists. ‘’That, I agree with. One hundred percent. I have also learned that it is better to follow someone else way if you all follow that way, then you going your own path. That is actually a reason that why I have changed in fights. When it comes to bigger combats, like the labyrinth boss fight, I now only follow. I may think someone elses idea sound stupid, but as long as it at least make a little bit of sense, I will carry out the order. I can’t read their mind so there may be things I haven’t spot.’’ She paused for a bit, looking at the white, fluffy clouds that was travelling across the blue sky. ‘’I wouldn’t follow any order, it depends on the person who say it. Baldur for example, I would do close to anything he says. But if it comes to Anise, even if she is a dear friend, she have so little combat experience, so I wouldn’t follow many of her order’s. Just as an example.’’

 @Itzal

[Itzal 0]

The cloaked man relaxed his shoulders as he exhaled a quiet sigh. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I need to learn to follow others. I just hope they will be open enough to hear me when I have something to say. Because if we're in the middle of a fight, and I notice something or come up with a strategy that can work, and they choose to ignore me? All it takes is one slip up in battle for everything to go wrong." He thought about Pinball, Hidden and Hirru during that wretched fight. He thought about Hestia who defended Hirru's actions... "...Ok, ok, I'll try working with the frontliners again. But I won't be expecting a miracle either."

2 months later

It had been a very long time since the two had first come together. So long since they'd helped each other onto their feet. The two of them had come a long way, and changed so much. And now, Itzal was doing something he didn't even think would have ever been possible. Not since Kasier and her death. Itzal was taking a quest a second time: 'Making Vows'. The two of them stepped into the church of the first floor to meet the NPC James Aria, the quest giver. Itzal was excited but at the same time a bit nervous. This was partly because they'd be inviting one to three people who would know hereafter that he was Are, a secret he'd kept guarded for a very, VERY long time now. But it was also just your average anxiety/excitement before a wedding. The NPC turned and looked at them. "Ah, welcome players. How may I help you?" Itzal took Zandra's hand, still wrapped in his black armor garb, but smiling brightly under the hood. "We wish to get married." The NPC's face lit up and smiled. "So you two wish to be married? That is wonderful to hear! We will need to discuss the details of your wedding such as location, the size of the wedding, food, as well as the wedding rings. I can also help you find someone to wed you, or I could do it myself if you'd like." And with that the menu popped up, showing them the various options they had to choose from. From the size of the wedding, PK accessibility, and even food tables. Decorations and location were also available but those didn't cost anything, they were just options. By default it would be a regular church wedding but since not everyone felt comfortable with that, or had their own styles in mind, it could easily be something else.

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra was standing infront of the priest that she and Itzal was going to talk to. She gulped as he asked them how he could help them. But before Zandra could say something Itzal answered. She let out a mental sigh of relief. She felt nervous doing this. She had never thought she would get merried. Like, who would merry her? But here she stood, with a man she had started to love and they was going to get merried. As Itzal started, it sounded like he would do the talking, and that was nothing Zandra had anything against. She followed his eyes down to a list with options for the wedding arangments. As she saw the prices, she got surprised. They was very cheap, for a wedding. Even if she bought everything, it would still be cheaper then one of her HP recovery crystals.

She had her eyes still on the menu as she started talking. ‘’It is okay for me to pay for this. It is barely anything. Also, I would like if we could have a beach wedding, rather then in a church. Last summer I held a summer festival on floor 22. It is a beautiful place and you can have the sun set down in the ocean behind us.’’ She looked at Itzal, waiting for his reply.

[Itzal 0]

Listening to her wishes he nodded with a smile. "Yeah I have no problem with you paying if that's what you want. I don't have much col left anyhow, ha ha!" Hearing her ask for a beach wedding  wasn't too surprising now that he knew her, but even then he'd never actually done much on the beach. He was always a hard worker. The last beach he recalled attending as an event was a player held event, and he was too focused on Opal who hid in the shadows. And that was a long time ago. So it would be a fun experience he thought to himself and smiled. "Yeah we can have a beach wedding. Should be fun!" Not to mention the idea of the sun setting over the ocean did sound like an amazing and incredibly beautiful scene. Now then: Most people would wonder if the two of them would be inviting anyone to the wedding. The answer? Yes because Itzal would be taking off the Are costume for a bit. He still wanted his identity hidden, but he didn't want to just ignore all of his friends either. They were close to him and despite him being 'out of contact' for a while they deserved at least an invitation. He went ahead and put the floor details in and typed in the name of the beach there. He'd explored that location once but didn't take the time to really enjoy it. With that information put in he looked at the wedding size and prices, then looked at Zandra. "Alright, so the next question is who do we want to invite to the wedding so we know which sized wedding to get."

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra felt happiness in her chest as Itzal agreed about having the wedding on the beach. It was, in fact, the same beach where her house have been back before she bought her estate she was living in today. It was the same place where she had got stabbed over thirty times in the chest. As that memory appeared, her face turned sad. But no, that was the past. He wouldn’t do that again. She shaked her head and went back to smiling mouth and eyes. She thougth for a bit, looking at the prizes for the different sizes. ‘’Let us just pick the biggest size, then you can invite whoever you want and I invite whoever I want. ‘’ she did some quick calculations. ‘’Even if going for that, it will only be 6,750 col for the wedding itself.’’ She threw another glance at the menu. ‘’Because we do need food. And then 4,000 more for the rings. So it is just a bit about 10,000. That is fine. What do you say about that?’’ she said and looked at Itzal, waiting for an opinion and answer.

@Itzal

[Itzal 0]

A little bit of sweat started to go down his forehead when she mentioned the largest wedding. "Aha, don't you-" He was about to say 'don't you think that's a bit much' but cut himself off before he could finish. That was just his anxieties talking. It had been way too long since he'd been with a large group of people, and he'd never been in a large group of people doing something like this. Of course he'd be nervous, but he knew that when he saw Zandra on the aisle all of that would change quickly. So, with that thought in his mind, he quickly shifted his expression to that of a smile. "Yeah, that could work. The only question at this point of course, is who do we invite. I'll probably invite Mina and Morgenstern. They're the only members of my old guild left who were close friends. I'd like to invite Baldur too... Wow, I'm just realizing that I never had that many super close friends. Or at least, close friends who are around and active that is." Hestia wasn't really an option as the two had left on bad terms and no one had heard from her in a while. Many of his old guildmates dropped off the grid or... Died. So he didn't really have many options on his end. "As for the food, the system will let us add in a few buffs. One to three based on the price we pay, though I'm assuming we'll pay the largest. So what buffs do you think we should use?"

@Zandra

[Zandra 0]

Zandra raised an eyebrow as the man beside her started with "Aha, don't you-" she looked at him curiously. ‘’don’t I what?’’ she asked. But he agreed that it could work. After the last two months they had spent together and how he was when they met that day with the player killers, she was pretty sure what he was on way to say. But she also knew that it wouldn’t be a good thing to push him. He would be best to let him work on that on his own. Ofcourse she was there if he ever needed to share it. But right now he would have it better if she pretended she didn’t knew about it.

‘’Yeah, lets go for the largest. We are two of the strongest players in this death game, something middle thingie isn’t good enough for us.’’ She said, answering his smile with one of her own. ‘’And invite, the first one that comes to mind is Macradon. Baldur definitely as well. I do have some other that maybe. But let that be a surprise.’’ She then rembered what it was he did when they met a couple months ago, and what some she had in mind was. ‘’How would you be about inviting orange players? That have an orange cursor but have change path and now is green players in behavior and thinking?’’