[PP-F29] <<On The House>> Lightweights & Heavy Burdens

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya sighed when Ryo pointed out how the quest wasn't working right in his menus. Of course it was broken. She thought briefly about checking her own quest log, or searching around the bar for any possible clues or next steps, but instead she simply placed her elbows on the counter and leaned her weight into it. A strange apathy washed over her. So what if they ended up leaving empty-handed? What was she going to do with any new items, anyway?

She chose to focus on conversation. After this they would probably part ways and she'd just go back to Delilah on Floor 3. She'd figure out how to waste her time until nightfall, then tomorrow she'd have to think of a good enough reason to pull herself out of bed again. She took another sip of champagne.

She listened quietly to his answers, but couldn't help chuckling when he called his girlfriend pretty the way that he did. "I see." She remarked simply with an amused smile. "Hmm, roleplay..." She mused over his earlier point. She remembered the 'character creator' at the very beginning, where you could change and customize your appearance before the mirrors turned everyone back to looking like their true selves. The game turning into their shared reality certainly put a damper on the feeling of 'playing', or being someone you weren't while interacting with the world. Some moments, places, and people were easier to engage with than others as if it were a game. She tilted the glass in her fingers where she held it by the stem, slowly swirling the liquid and watching the tiny bubbles break away from the sides of the glass and wiggle as they shot to the surface. What else should she say...?

She realized something when she shifted her glance from her drink to where he stood down the bar. She'd never seen him smile as widely--maybe at all, at least today--as when she'd asked about his profession. Then he'd just sort of slipped back into regular conversation. Almost like he was going through the motions. "Hmm..." She hummed aloud before sliding the topic backwards. "So, then, what's your favorite thing to cook? What's the hardest thing to make?" She recalled struggling over a particular style of earrings she had tried to make once and wondered if cooks faced the same kind of hurdles. "Your favorite thing to eat?" She smiled after firing a him a round of questions.

[quest info]

Telrenya | HP: 700/700 | EN: 108/108 | DMG: 21 | MIT:20 | ACC:4 | EVA:4 | LD:1  NOTES   Hide contents   THREAD INFO   Hide contents equipped »Celestial Dawn (+12 DMG) »Celestial Blessing (+2 EVA, +1 ACC) »Erin's Favor (+2 ACC, +1 EVA)   battle-ready inventory »Finding Stone (+3 LD) »(4) Red Velvet Cake (+1 LD, +1 Prosperity) »(3) T1 Health Potion (+40 HP) »Bottled Banshee Scream (Stun all enemies for one turn) »Bandit's Guile (+1 EVA for 1 battle) »Cerberus Soul (+2 Burn DMG) »Snowfrost (1/2 Burn DMG for 1 battle) skills »Rapier R5 (+7 DMG) »Cloth Armor R5 (+20 MIT) »Extended Weight Limit (+2 BRI Slots) »Energist (+20EN) »[Extra] First Aid »[Extra] Survival »[Familiar] Protector Familiar »[Combat Shift] ST Specialist addons »[Rapier] Precision (+1 ACC) »[Rapier] Stamina (-2EN) »[First Aid] Hyperactive (+3EN for 3 turns on party member or self | Unique | 3 post CD | 5EN) »[First Aid] Field Medic (Heal self and all party members 25% max HP | 3 post CD | 15EN) »[Cloth Armor] Nimble (+1 EVA, +1 LD) mods »Athletics (+1 DMG) »Purify (Remove all status conditions on self or party member | 1 post CD | 3EN) »Energize (Restore 8EN to party member | 10EN) »Barrier (Reduce final dmg from all sources by 15% on all party members for one turn | 2 post CD | 15EN) buffs »

 

Edited February 10 by Telrenya

[Ryo 0]

Ryo sighed as he thought about the question. "So a lot of people are gonna say the hardest thing to make is gonna be something stupid. Like the pufferish, or a souffle, or wellington. But the hardest thing to make is eggs." He said, matter of factly. "Everyone likes a good breakfast food. But everyone eats them differently, with different amounts of seasoning and sauces, and what not. Some like scrambled, some swear by over easy, but no one can agree on what's what. It's like a steak." Ryo said, trying to get his point across. "And for favorite thing to make, I am a big fan of making ramen. It's what I was doing for work before all of this." He said motioning to the area. "I was a cook in a restaurant, before diving in. It was a ramen shop a few blocks down from my building. And making the eggs was easy there, because it was always the same." He said. "And my favorite thing? It has to be sushi." He said before holding up his hands. "Now don't go saying that, that's basic. It's not. It takes class to make some really good sushi." He said, before letting out a small chuckle and taking another full drink from his ever filling glass.

He rubbed at his eyes, and moved some of his hair out his face. Was it, suddenly warmer in the bar? He ignored the feeling. "So what about you? What got you so hyped up for this game?" He asked. He never really got to know either her or Jomei for that matter before he and Tei decided to take a much needed break. "And what kind of character did you make before we got reversed catfished day one?" He asked.

  

Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 [TIER LOCK] PARTY STATS Spoiler Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 THREAD INFO Spoiler equipped »Gin Kin (+9 DMG) »Fierce Deities Coat (+36 MIT, +3EN Recovery) »Accuracy Charm (+3 Accuracy) battle-ready inventory » » » » » skills »Katana R5 (+7 DMG) »Heavy Armor R5 (+40 MIT, -5 Stealth) »Battle Healing R3 (18 healing per turn) »Searching R2 (+2 LD, +2 Stealth Detection) » extra skills »Survival (Healing effects 10% more, immune to environmental effects) »Leadership R1 (Grants access to Leadership Arts, takes 2 Extra Slots) »Leadership R1 » » addons »[Katana] Focus (Minor Crit on BD 8, reduce DoT threshold by 1) »[Katana] Stamina (-2 EN) »[Heavy Armor] Iron Skin (+15 MIT, +45 HP) mods »Impetus (+1 DMG) »Emergency Recovery (Heal 62 when brought below 156 | Once per thread | 10EN) »Night Vision (No penalties from low light/darkness) buffs » Yui's Grace Used (+ 600% EXP for this thread) » Dining Room: "Tasty" - Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. » Basic Kitchen: "Filling" - Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps.(Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.) » Living Room: "Relaxed" - Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

[Telrenya 0]

Telrenya held her smile. The plan worked. The topic seemed to pull him out of that bit of stiffness, something he was genuinely interested. "Oh, really?" She was a little surprised to hear he worked as a cook in the real world. She guessed that explained his knowledge and interest. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from?" She listened to him, sipped her drink, then considered his questions. Her cheeks had taken on a bit of color, though she hadn't noticed. She leaned comfortably against the counter and idly kicked one of her feet back and forth under her a couple of times.

"My brother got the game for me, actually. Well, for both of us." She looked back to watch the carbonation dance in her drink while she spoke with a bittersweet smile. Her expresion oozed nostalgia and an undeniable hint of sadness. "He tried to get me to play video games with him before, but I never really stuck with them." She admitted. "He'd gone and bought me a whole system and begged me to play with him and told me how insanely cool it was, there was no way I could say no." She chuckled softly. "I...don't think I had any idea what kind of character I wanted to be at first." She had to think about it while she was answering, and giggled again. "It took me a long time to figure out how to play, so we were already changed back before I'd even learned how to fight! Oh, I remember I had orange hair, though."

Two and a half drinks in, she set her emptied glass back down on the table and watched it as it filled up again this time. Her chest felt lighter than it had some time ago. The oppressive atmosphere of fright and horror was gone, replaced with the quiet abandon of the empty bar. She hadn't spoken openly with someone in such a long time, it was such a simple joy to share a drink with a familiar face. "I took the Artisan profession, but I've never done anything like making jewelry in real life before. But I like creative work, so it almost sounds like a hobby I would try if I'd thought about it before." She tilted her head to the side, thinking out loud. The movement sparked a bit of a reaction in her. A bit of fuzziness. She looked to her other side, away from Ryo, wondering if she had dropped her guard too soon. She looked back, seeing and hearing nothing out of the ordinary, but placed her fingertips against her temple. "Sorry... I just felt a little dizzy for a second."

[quest info]

Telrenya | HP: 700/700 | EN: 108/108 | DMG: 21 | MIT:20 | ACC:4 | EVA:4 | LD:1  NOTES   Hide contents   THREAD INFO   Hide contents equipped »Celestial Dawn (+12 DMG) »Celestial Blessing (+2 EVA, +1 ACC) »Erin's Favor (+2 ACC, +1 EVA)   battle-ready inventory »Finding Stone (+3 LD) »(4) Red Velvet Cake (+1 LD, +1 Prosperity) »(3) T1 Health Potion (+40 HP) »Bottled Banshee Scream (Stun all enemies for one turn) »Bandit's Guile (+1 EVA for 1 battle) »Cerberus Soul (+2 Burn DMG) »Snowfrost (1/2 Burn DMG for 1 battle) skills »Rapier R5 (+7 DMG) »Cloth Armor R5 (+20 MIT) »Extended Weight Limit (+2 BRI Slots) »Energist (+20EN) »[Extra] First Aid »[Extra] Survival »[Familiar] Protector Familiar »[Combat Shift] ST Specialist addons »[Rapier] Precision (+1 ACC) »[Rapier] Stamina (-2EN) »[First Aid] Hyperactive (+3EN for 3 turns on party member or self | Unique | 3 post CD | 5EN) »[First Aid] Field Medic (Heal self and all party members 25% max HP | 3 post CD | 15EN) »[Cloth Armor] Nimble (+1 EVA, +1 LD) mods »Athletics (+1 DMG) »Purify (Remove all status conditions on self or party member | 1 post CD | 3EN) »Energize (Restore 8EN to party member | 10EN) »Barrier (Reduce final dmg from all sources by 15% on all party members for one turn | 2 post CD | 15EN) buffs »

 

Edited February 11 by Telrenya

[Ryo 0]

Ryo smiled back. "I'm from Tokyo." He answered. "Got a pretty cramped apartment, but it made do. Maybe I'll get some serious cash from the eventual lawsuit." He said letting out a laugh. When he stopped laughing, he turned his attention to Tel to listen to her. Ryo nodded along, as he noted about her brother.  "So like, no video game experience before all this? Talk about jumping into the deep end." He said giving another chuckle as he finished his drink. The room was now definitely warmer, and he felt a little dizzy. Not like, the room was spinning but like if his entire body fell asleep and was fuzzy.

Ryo ignored the feeling entirely as he set the magic glass down to refill itself. "Jewlry making ish so cool though. Y'know, I schtill have that magnifying glassh you made me." He said, not catching that his speech was beginning to slur. He looked over at Tel. "Scho if you didn't play video gamesh, what did you do for fun?" He asked, taking another sip of his drink.

Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 [TIER LOCK] PARTY STATS Spoiler Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 THREAD INFO Spoiler equipped »Gin Kin (+9 DMG) »Fierce Deities Coat (+36 MIT, +3EN Recovery) »Accuracy Charm (+3 Accuracy) battle-ready inventory » » » » » skills »Katana R5 (+7 DMG) »Heavy Armor R5 (+40 MIT, -5 Stealth) »Battle Healing R3 (18 healing per turn) »Searching R2 (+2 LD, +2 Stealth Detection) » extra skills »Survival (Healing effects 10% more, immune to environmental effects) »Leadership R1 (Grants access to Leadership Arts, takes 2 Extra Slots) »Leadership R1 » » addons »[Katana] Focus (Minor Crit on BD 8, reduce DoT threshold by 1) »[Katana] Stamina (-2 EN) »[Heavy Armor] Iron Skin (+15 MIT, +45 HP) mods »Impetus (+1 DMG) »Emergency Recovery (Heal 62 when brought below 156 | Once per thread | 10EN) »Night Vision (No penalties from low light/darkness) buffs » Yui's Grace Used (+ 600% EXP for this thread) » Dining Room: "Tasty" - Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. » Basic Kitchen: "Filling" - Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps.(Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.) » Living Room: "Relaxed" - Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

[Telrenya 0]

"Really!?" Tel perked up excitedly, trying to push away that fuzzy feeling pressing against the front of her skull. Plenty of people in SAO were from Japan, so it was unclear why she was so surprised. "I'm from Higashiyama in Kyoto." She smiled widely. "I've only been to Tokyo a couple times. That's so cool that you live in the big city!" She giggled again. Her cheeks were warm and everything seemed a little funnier. More enjoyable. This was the lightest her mood has been in a while.

"Oh, I'm an art student." She answered plainly before delving into the topic. "I mean, I know you asked what I do for fun, and being a student is more like work, but art is what I do for fun, too! I thought I would probably end up being a teacher or something since I don't think I could make a living just from painting." She rambled on, "But I haven't had a whole lot of time for hobbies the past couple of years. I was thinking of getting a part-time job since money's been kind of tight." She spoke as if they'd been back in the real world just the other day. "I play violin, and--oh! I finished the last book I was reading not long before the game started. Oh my gosh, it would have been awful if I hadn't gotten to the ending yet. But, I like mystery novels! My favorite is 'Journey Under the Midnight Sun.' Oh, the main character's name is really close to yours! 'Ryoji.'" She laughed softly.

Telrenya looked over and noticed the flush of Ryo's face. She let her glass rest on the counter and tilted her head a little bit to one side. "Hey, are you alright? Sorry, you just seem...a little different." What was she trying to say? She was confusing herself.

[Ryo 0]

"Hisaschmia! Niiiiiice!" Ryo said, slurring the words a bit. " I've never been, but I've got some cushions who live there. They're kinda boring, don't really play the schame games I do. They juscht want to keep playing the schame game over and over again. Well, I guessch the jokesch on me." He rambled, letting out a laugh. He raised an eyebrow when she mentioned that she was a student. "Teaching schounds scho cool. I remember my teachers, and they were pretty neat. Schaped me into who I isch today." He said, letting out a small burp as he ended his sentence. He nodded his head and listened to Tel as she mentioned playing the violin. So that was why she was such a good fit for Jomei. He smiled softly as he fantasized about the two of them playing instruments together and being romantic. He rubbed his eyes, and pinched his temple.

He snapped back to attention, having missed the entire last half of her conversation. "Wha-?" He said, looking at his empty glass. How many had he had, about 4 now. Right? Maybe he had a few more sips here and there before the cup refilled itself. He let out a noise, before speaking. "Pfshaw, I'm fine." He said before letting out hiccup. "Schee? Perfectly fi-" He said before wobbling in his stool. He panic grabbed the bar, and managed to stay seated. Maybe, he wasn't fine. But, how was the drink messing with him? It wasn't mechanically possible. He looked over at Tel, noticed her flushed look then he looked back at his filling drink. It was then, he noticed the de-buff just under his healthbar. "Oh, schit."

Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 [TIER LOCK] PARTY STATS Spoiler Ryo | HP: 625/625 | EN: 91/91 | DMG: 18 | MIT:91 | ACC:3 | BH:21 | REC: 3 | LD:2 THREAD INFO Spoiler equipped »Gin Kin (+9 DMG) »Fierce Deities Coat (+36 MIT, +3EN Recovery) »Accuracy Charm (+3 Accuracy) battle-ready inventory » » » » » skills »Katana R5 (+7 DMG) »Heavy Armor R5 (+40 MIT, -5 Stealth) »Battle Healing R3 (18 healing per turn) »Searching R2 (+2 LD, +2 Stealth Detection) » extra skills »Survival (Healing effects 10% more, immune to environmental effects) »Leadership R1 (Grants access to Leadership Arts, takes 2 Extra Slots) »Leadership R1 » » addons »[Katana] Focus (Minor Crit on BD 8, reduce DoT threshold by 1) »[Katana] Stamina (-2 EN) »[Heavy Armor] Iron Skin (+15 MIT, +45 HP) mods »Impetus (+1 DMG) »Emergency Recovery (Heal 62 when brought below 156 | Once per thread | 10EN) »Night Vision (No penalties from low light/darkness) buffs » Yui's Grace Used (+ 600% EXP for this thread) » Dining Room: "Tasty" - Turn 2 identical food items (same quality, tier, & enhancements) into a Lesser Feast. A Lesser Feast contains 4 portions of the food items sacrificed. Lesser Feasts created this way cannot be used outside of the thread they are created. Limit 1 item created per thread. » Basic Kitchen: "Filling" - Increase the effectiveness of a single food item consumed in a thread by +1 T1 slot. This can exceed normal Cook enhancement caps.(Ex: A perfect T2 MIT food gives 35 MIT instead of 30.) » Living Room: "Relaxed" - Increases out of combat HP regen by (5 * Tier HP) and decreases full energy regen to 2 Out of Combat Posts.

Edited February 14 by Ryo

[Telrenya 0]

She didn't know Ryo well, but she was aware enough to notice that he was acting differently. The way he spoke had gotten messier. He seemed unfocused. Then he nearly fell over in his chair. Telrenya almost stood from her own seat to help somehow, but when she leaned over so quickly she felt that rush in her head and that dizziness struck her again. "Huh? What's wrong?" She caught his distress. Something was wrong. Why was she feeling like this? Had the tavern done something to them? Were ghosts going to pop out at them after all?

'No, no, no.' That was just silly. But as Telrenya wasn't doing a great job of grasping their predicament, Ryo would likely have to spell it out for her.

She eyed the glass of champagne, freshly filled, sitting on the bar in front of her. They were getting drunk? Is this what being drunk felt like? "I guess that makes sense." She mused softly, thinking aloud. It didn't make sense, at least not as far as contradicting what she understood of how the game worked, but Telrenya was a little too far gone to think too hard about it right now. "Maybe we just wait...until we start to feel better." She suggested. She didn't want to try to walk back to the teleport gate if it was going to make her head spin like that again. "Or maybe we can message someone to come help?"

[Ryo 0]

Did she not know? Had she even been drunk before, or at least tipsy. The revelation have sobered him up somewhat at the least, making more easier to understand his slurring. “Tel, we’re getting drunk.” Ryo said, before letting out a small laugh. “I didn’t think it was possible but this quest seems to unlock that ability, to drink. To drunk. To get drunk.” He said repeating the failed part of his sentence until it was correct.

Ryo nodded, thinking. “I could always sent a message to Jomei. He’s a front liner and he could come get us, oh wait.” Ryo said absent mindedly before giving an apologizing look over to Tel. “Sorry. I don’t really know anyone else who could come up this far.” He said, looking at his cup. “Or,” He began, a mischievous grin appearing. “We could get even more wasted. Forget we’re stuck in a death game for a few hours. Just keep chatting. If there’s anything I’ve learned here it’s that talking things out works a lot.” He said tempering his waterfall quest he did a few days back.

[Telrenya 0]

Two hours later...

"And then! And then! I tried to equip it like an item!" Telrenya was fighting laughter as she recounted one of the seemingly funniest stories she'd ever told. "But it doesn't have an equip option, so I just immediately used it by mistake! Ohhh my goodness, I thought Hestia was going to throw me off the side of Aincrad." Her hand slapped down on the bar counter, jostling their glasses. Each had been refilled several times over by now. Telrenya clutched her stomach with her other hand, recovering from a bought of laughter.

"Wait wait!" She wiped a bead of tears from each eye as something else came to mind. "Were you there when we invited everyone over for lunch? Do you remember when Kimi showed up--and she wasn't wearing any pants?" Telrenya practically wheezed the last bit out. "And while Spencer was chasing her around trying to get her to put them on," A short pause to let the laughter out, "Noodle--Noodle went and ate all the bread for the sandwiches! So we tried to figure out how to have breadless sandwiches before Ruby gave up and went to the store!" She nearly fell out of her seat recalling the event.

[Ryo 0]

Ryo hacked a cough as he continued to laugh, his hand slapping against his leg. The previous feeling of dread and unease was washed away and gone replaced with the fun jovial energy of the pairs laughter. "I can't believe that you just, used it!" He said, cackling. "Hestia must've been livid!" He said cackling some more. The drink was hitting him fairly well at this point. He was never a heavy drinker outside of the game, but he had never drank this much. He didn't exactly believe the manga or shows that showed how easy going people became.

Ryo covered his mouth with a fist as he kept his cough in check, and took another drink. "Hm? No I don't think- NO I WAS!" He said, almost spitting his drink and laughing. Ryo slammed his drink back on the counter, the small glass tipping over. "And when Spencer was chasing her she just kept saying 'Spencer-dono, yamate'!" Ryo said, before sputtering out. "And and and, 'No Pantsu'" He said before doubling over and slapping his leg again, nearly tipping out of his stool. Ryo rubbed his chin. "Was that, after Jomei stole you away for the dragon quest thing?" He asked. He face turned a bit cross, and before Telrenya could answer Ryo spoke up again. "Man, I never get to go out and do cool mission sutff. I was never invited, and I dunno why." Ryo said, setting his empty glass back up. It glitched, and replaced itself. He took another drink. "It has to be because I'm weak." He said solemnly. "And that's my fault. Every time I felt I was ready to do something great I would just look ahead and see that the gap grew wider and those I admired grew further away." He looked up at the ceiling, looking up and a hole in the ceiling. "And I grew, disheartened. To know that my greatest efforts weren't enough." He said, before setting his head on the counter.

[Telrenya 0]

They had been cackling and wheezing and sharing stories for a while now, but the mood began to shift before Ryo's forehead planted against the counter. Telrenya had just taken another swig of champagne when his grievances reached her ears and she frowned while setting the glass back down. He mentioned the dragon hunter quests, but the topic slipped past her for the time being. She couldn't help but place a hand on his shoulderblade and attempt to comfort him. "Hey, don't be upset about not being on the frontlines or whatever." She insisted. "I mean, yeah, there are some fun quests and stuff, but a lot of it just feels like you're practicing to fight the floor bosses, and the floor bosses are not a cool mission stuff." She lifted her hand only to bring it back down and give him a couple of well-meaning pats. "I bet you could do whatever cool quests you wanted. And now that HDA is gone, you can just ask whoever you want! Teion is really tough, so you two could do those dragon hunting quests no problem." The unspoken weight of her words was gradually beginning to seep into her voice. She thought about those quests, about how she and Jomei had technically done them together. She thought about how they had only finished them after the fallout of her little masquerade. She thought about how those quests had ended.

Tears had started falling down Telrenya's cheeks, but she kept rambling on in her drunken stupor. "You're not weak, though! We're practically the same level. I bet you could even beat me in a duel if you wanted to. You've got good equipment, right? You can go invite her to do all those dragons together, and then, when you finish the last one, you can get engaged. Then you'll actually get married and everything will be perfect!" Clearly, the topic had shifted somewhat. Or at least it had blended together with something else that was weighing heavily on her mind. Telrenya stood up from her stool with a rush of emotion which was unfortunately matched with a rush of vertigo that caused her to stumble. She was lucky not to trip on any other broken furniture littering the floor. She sniffled, still crying, and pointed an accusatory finger to Ryo from where she now stood. "You're plenty strong! So don't talk about my friend like that! Or--" She reached a hand across her and curled her fingers over the handle of her rapier. "Or else I'll fight you!" She went to pull it from its scabbard, but she fumbled the motion and clumsily dropped the golden blade with a loud clatter against the wooden floorboards. In a panic, as if she'd dropped a kitchen knife, she let out a tiny squeak of surprise and pulled her feet back from under her in a small, equally clumsy hop backwards. That foggy, dizzy feeling worked against her, and this time she fully lost her balance and ended up on her behind on the dusty, grimy bar floor. She groaned softly, reaching up to rub at her face with the back of a filthy hand.

Edited Monday at 10:53 PM by Telrenya

[Ryo 0]

Ryo felt the pats and snapped back to attention to look at her. She insisted that the front lines weren't fun, and that there were other cool quests. But that wasn't the point. It wasn't that he wanted to go to the front lines, he wanted to do them to help save people. He couldn't do that doing quests, or by traipsing around doing whatever. Ryo opened his mouth to argue his drunken point, but stopped himself. He could see the tears welling in her eyes, and he listened. His mouth quivered for a moment, his eyes nearly overflowing themselves.

She began to cry, as she began to berate him for daring to talk poorly about himself. "Oi, wait-" Ryo said holding up his arms to attempt to prevent her from standing up so fast and try to help her fall. But it was too late. She stood, and stumbled causing Ryo to also rise from his position. "Wait wait! That's not what I was-" He said attempting to interject before either of them fell over like an idiot. Ryo jumped slightly as Tel grabbed her rapier, and threw it onto the floor. Ryo flinching caused him not to be able to reach out and prevent Tel from falling.

She fell backwards, slamming into the wooden floor. Ryo stumbled slightly, his mind not being able to catch up to his equilibrium and he swayed in place. He reached up and held his head. "I am, way to drunk for this." He whispered to himself, rubbing his eye. Ryo took a few steps forward and slunk down onto the floor in front of her. "Hey, you doing alright?" Ryo asked before scoffing and shaking his head. "No, of course you're not." He said, placing his face into his hand.

He took in a deep breath before peeking from behind his hand. "I think I have a small idea of what you might be going through. I-" Ryo thought about what he should say. "Had an ex before Teion. And, that break-up kinda fucked me up." Ryo said, understating the entire series of events. That 'break up' was the start of him leaving his former guild. "It left me feeling empty, aimless, and wondering if I would actually matter in the grand scope of the world." He said, before catching himself smirking. "But I met Teion, and you, and everyone else. And that helped a lot. But those thoughts kept creeping in." Ryo said, shifting his weight. "But," He began. "There's this quest, on floor six. It's gonna sound a bit cheesy but it's the best bit of therapy that I've had in a good while." Ryo said.

Edited Thursday at 05:53 AM by Ryo

[Telrenya 0]

She didn't like this anymore. Her head felt scrambled and it was hard to concentrate on anything. All she could focus on was her tear-blurred vision and the shape of Ryo planting himself on the floor across from her. A small hiccup worked its way into her silent sobs and she listened to what he had to say. The instinct to argue with him bubbled in her chest. To tell him that he was wrong, that he doesn't know what happened, or what she was going through. He didn't know about their fights. He didn't know how she struggled with reality in every sense of the word the past few...how long had it been? Weeks? Months? How long had it been?

She held her tongue and wiped her dirty, wet hands on her white clothing as she pulled her knees in closer to her. Ryo was trying to help, and it would be rude of her not to listen to his advice. "A quest?" She echoed quietly. She was skeptical, but also confused. What on earth could a quest do to help? She slowly wrapped her arms around her legs folded in front of her. "I just... I miss everyone so much. Kimi, and Hestia, and Spencer, and--" Her lip quivered. Tears just kept pouring down her cheeks. "--and Jomei. And Ruby. And James." Her grief for the loved ones who had grown apart began to intermingle with her grief for the deceased. She wanted nothing more than for things to be like they were before. Her heart ached for it. Why had they changed at all?

Some time passed, and her emotions ran their course. Her tears had run out. With a clear redness in her cheeks and beneath her eyes, Telrenya spoke up quietly again. "Thank you for listening to me." She was embarrassed. This wasn't the kind of friendly conversation she had intended for when she sat down over those drinks. Her eyes shyly drifted up to meet Ryo's, to look at his face, to gauge his reaction to the disheveled human sitting across from him. She let out a small sigh. "I'm still glad we got to meet again. For a while I wondered if I was ever going to see any of my friends again." A tiny, wry smile creeped upon her lips. There was no laughing off that somber thought. After all, she only had herself to blame. Instead, she took a little solace in the thoughts that followed. "Even though this floor is really, really creepy, and I drank way, way too much, and made you listen to me cry so much," Her fingers fidgeted in front of her shins with that lingering embarrassment and her eyes shifted away, "thanks for helping me."