[PP:F2] A Device to Ignite the Imagination (Rusty)

[Azrael 0]

Anna sat on a bench on the edge of Urbus, looking up at the sky. It was the first time she had come to this floor, and the woman had taken a liking to it. It was very pretty here, and the air seemed so crisp and clear due to the mountainous region. She watched soft fluffy white clouds roll by for a while, with a soft serene smile upon her face. There were not many people in the town today. She figured they must have been off on other floors, doing who knew what. She liked that there was hardly anyone around as she thoroughly enjoyed the quiet.

 

As she looked around the square that she sat in, someone crossed her field of visions, and without even thinking about it, her eyes followed along as the person walked by. He was a boy, about the age of her students were in the real world and he was carrying something tucked under his arm. As he walked along, something slipped out from under his arm and landed on the floor. He did not seem to notice, and continued walking along. The woman got off the bench and approached the fallen object. Upon reaching it, she saw that the boy had lost a book.

 

“Strange…†she said to herself and picked it up.

 

It wasn’t often you found a young person with a book in their hands, not of their own accord anyway. She looked up and scanned the area to find where he had gone off to, and she saw him a bit ahead of him, turning down another path. Zaz followed after him.

[Rusty 0]

Rusty felt more alive in years than he had ever have. The feeling of the second floor just felt so nice and the forest inside felt welcoming to likes of him, it was a bit dark and had lots of shade, but when the light did show, it felt like sunlight from heaven. Maybe he just loved nature, or maybe he had become fond of it under unlikely circumstances, either way he was on his way with a book to read on the many branches of a redwood tree. After entering the forest, he sat himself onto one of the trees and reached for his book. Only his book wasn't there. It had disappeared out of nowhere and when he checked the inventory, it wasn't there. He must have dropped it on his way there, something he almost rarely did. It was mostly like because the forest was so appealing to him that he was distracted while he strolled throught the second floor. "I figured the day was actually pretty good, I shouldn't be so happy. Maybe next time I can try this again." he sighed aloud. It was another day in his life that just wasn't going to go his way.

[Azrael 0]

Anna followed after the boy. She tried to call to him, but he was still a ways ahead of her, and he walked rather quickly. He continued along the path until he left town and started heading toward the forest area. She watched as he made a beeline toward the treeline and then stopped at the edge of the wood. Quickening her pace, she made her way over to him to return what he lost.

 

As she drew closer, she saw the boy was checking his inventory. It seemed that only now he noticed that his book was missing. She could understand his predicament. The second floor was beautiful, there was plenty to distract from the little things.

 

“Excuse me,†she said as she crossed into the grassy area,†I saw you drop this back in town. I tried to call you, but I guess you must not have heard me.†Anna held the book out to him. 

[Rusty 0]

Rusty grabbed the book and dematerialized it so that it went back in his inventory. He didn't want a repeat of what had happened here. "Um thanks, usually I notice stuff like that but today I feel a bit off." Rusty muttered as he looked around the two. The woman had been nice of enough to bring the book after seeing it drop from underneath his arms, althought her intentions might be different from the usual, something Rusty had a thing for recognizing. Maybe if he stuck around to talk with her a bit, he'll find out that out. "What brings you to the second floor by the way, not many people like the forest and the surrounding. I came here because it feels natural, but what about you?" He asked, intending on doing just that.

[Azrael 0]

The boy snatched the boy from Zaz’s hands and quickly put it back into her inventory causing her to smile. It seemed that it was important to the boy, so she felt good about chasing him down to bring his possession back to him. He thanked her but she just shook her head. “None necessary... I mean we all have our off days,†she said and shrugged. In the real world, Anna was always dropping and losing things.

 

The lady looked up at the giant trees standing in front of her and marveled. “This really is something, isn’t it?†she said to herself. Her attention was brought back to the young man standing before her as he asked her why she’d come to the second floor.

 

“This is probably going to sound stupid, but this is the first time I’ve gotten this far. I figured it was high time I got off the first floor,†she said sheepishly, “I’m glad I decided to come though. This is so beautiful!†She looked up into the sky and smiled as the sun shone brightly overhead and the never ending blue was dotted with large fluffy clouds.

 

“I take it you come here often then?†She asked curiously. Maybe he would be able to tell her what sort of creatures she would face in the surrounding woods. 

[Rusty 0]

Rusty gave a slight glance at the rest of the forest and contemplated whether or not he should just make a dash for it. He wasn't feeling right, but it wasn't a pain anywhere on his body. It was mental. He hadn't said anything sarcastic in days and he began to not talk aloud while he was with other people. He was changing, maybe for the better, but it didn't seem to be. It was probably a phase, or just a serious change to his personality. "I come here slightly often, maybe because I just love the floor better than other ones. You can lose yourself here, you will never think about being lonely all the time here. Its just so beautiful.." He gave a light sigh as he continued looking at the magnificent forest of trees.

[Azrael 0]

The corner of Anna’s lips fell as she noticed something seemed off about the young boy. It could have been that he just simply wanted Anna to go away and leave him to his own devices; she totally understood that one as she wasn’t a terribly big fan of other people. But as he spoke he seemed something else: sad, frustrated maybe? Anna could never tell people’s emotional states; they were far too hard to read for her. She meant to excuse herself and let the boy be, but she couldn't; not when he looked the way he did.

 

“I… I might be overstepping here, and I don’t mean to pry,†she said finally. “But are you…okay? You seem like you have some things on your mind. In my experience it’s easiest to vent to a stranger because you run less risk of ever seeing them again. I could be mistaken, but I just…â€

 

She didn’t even know what to say. She felt incredibly stupid for bothering, especially if she was misreading the situation. She sighed heavily and gave the boy an uneasy smile and looked away quickly rather annoyed that she even bothered to open her mouth.  

[Rusty 0]

Rusty gazed down at the soil below him, the lifeless brown humus that served no purpose in a game such as this. There were no bugs, no worms, no life at all that passed through this vivid habitat. It was a reflection of what he felt at the moment. He was useless in this type of game, people fought over dumb things, kill for no reason when they would otherwise never do that and just plain be angry at each other. Nobody could get along and himself especially couldn't do anything to help that. He wasn't a psychologist, he wasn't friendly, he was just himself. "I'm ok, just um.. some recent things have been going on..." he mumbled, lying about how he truly felt. Rusty was going to just stuff his emotions deep down and never let them come up again. It was going to drag him down with, deep down which would transform his personality into a empty husk.

[Azrael 0]

Anna frowned.

 

That obviously wasn’t everything, but she didn’t want to push. She couldn’t; it just wasn’t in her nature to be warm and fuzzy. If he wanted to talk, she’d have listened to him and counseled him as best as she could. And if she couldn’t, she could just listen; sometimes it was enough to just be able to get things off one’s chest and out into the universe. But he didn’t want to talk, and she totally understood. Anna didn’t like to talk much either. She couldn’t be helpful to someone who didn’t want to be bothered with.

 

“Yeah…†she agreed. There have been many things going on that could be overwhelming especially to someone so young.

 

 â€œI was thinking about getting some lunch, “she said offhandedly, “Are you hungry? I’m buying†she offered. Maybe if he ate he’d feel like talking, and if he didn’t then she tried, and she could leave things be. 

[Rusty 0]

Rusty thought about whether or not he should go with the girl. It wasn't as if he had nothing to do since he was originally going to read his book in the forest, but on the other hand he didn't really need to actually go that, he could always do it another time. In the end, he chose the latter and decided to come along. "I'll uh.. come, I don't r-really have anything else to do." he replied with a somewhat quieter tone. Maybe it would be best if he actually talked normally to a person for once, he never really did that, both in Aincrad and back in the real world. He could also get some food so maybe it would do good if he ate something too since he hadn't done that in a while either. The game didn't give a need at all to eat food or drink any beverages, it was just simply there. With his book in his inventory, Rusty looked at the girl and said "Lead the way." to her.

[Azrael 0]

He would join her for lunch, this pleased Azazel very much. Even if he didn’t want to talk or be bothered, he would at least eat some lunch with her. This made her feel at least a little better because she was being helpful, even in such a slight capacity. “Excellent!†the woman said with a smile, “I saw a place back that way that looked like it would be pretty decent.† She turned around and began to walk back to town slowly so that he could catch up.

 

It only took a few minutes walk to find their way back to the small pub that Azazel had been talking about.  She opened the door and immediately they were greeted by the NPC running the place.

 

“Have a seat anywhere, I’l l be right with you,†he said cheerfully.

 

 Anna chose a table by the window so that they could get a good view of the town and surrounding trees. “It’s very lovely here,†she said softly as sat down and gazed out the window. “I can see why you like it around here.†She said to the boy finally as she looked him in the eye and smiled.

 

“I know we don’t have to eat here, but for whatever reason, eating makes me feel normal, you know?†She made light conversation. “Order whatever you like, it's on me so feel free to go for it.â€

[Rusty 0]

Rusty followed her avidly, glancing at the various shops, building and idle players that filled up the second floor just like in the first floor. Honestly, he had no idea what he was getting himself into, he had no intention of speaking to anyone today or for the whole week for that matter. He was just going to stay quiet for a while, maybe permanently if he felt like it. Maybe he was moving on or changing on the inside, but he actually felt sad instead of depressed. It was an odd feeling and he couldn't really describe it or talk to other people about it so for the time being he would keep his mouth shut.

 

The two of them reached what seemed to be a diner. After speaking with the owner, Rusty and the woman sat down at a nearby table, one with a window nearby which was preferable for him. Woman. That's when it him with a surprise. He had never told her his name and vice versa. Weird since the walk wasn't really far, it was still considerably long and they could've said something about it on the way here. "Uh thanks." he mumbled towards her, the idea of free lunch didn't sound too bad although at the moment he was hungry at all. At the very least, it was preferable then being alone on one of the many trees in the redwood forest.