[PP - F3] This Side of Paradise

[Takao 0]

Evening had fallen over the settlement of Delilah, enveloping the entirety of the third floor in a warm orange glow as the sky transitioned away from its usual shades of blue. It wasn't unusual for this the town to be devoid of life, both in the form of players as well as NPCs, around this time of day. Most players were gathered in the local inns and taverns for the night, while NPCs disappeared into their typically inaccessible houses. The door to Takao's rustic themed Café slowly opened, and both the brown-haired owner and his draconic companion trudged inside. He lazily pushed the door behind him as he entered, which left it slightly ajar from his lack of effort.

Takao pulled the strap that held his sword and scabbard over his head and set the weapon on the closest table. His familiar scurried into the kitchen as Takao sat himself down at the table, finally able to enjoy the comfort of his building after a long day of hunting. When his head fell over the back of the chair and he leaned his weight onto the rear legs, he noticed his familiar walking back into the room with a plate held over its head. Atop the plate was what appeared to be several sandwiches stacked on top of each other. "I forgot about those." he said as the familiar slid the plate onto the opposite side of the table, then hopped up onto the chair and immediately began to eat. Takao lifted his head and watched his familiar chow down for a brief moment before huffing out a breath. "Oh, it's cool dude, don't offer me any. Not like I made those or anything." he said sarcastically, chuckling lightly afterward while his familiar seemed entirely unaware that he'd even spoken. After a few moments of doing nothing had passed, he exhaled a yawn and swiped open his menu. He wasn't doing anything anyway, so why not invite over some company?

His friends list scrolled by, listing off various names, yet none in particular caught his eye. Some he assumed to be busy and others he knew couldn't even enter the town's safe zone, yet one name in particular caught his eye. He felt his face and ears warm slightly upon reading the name, and after shaking the pensive look on his face away he selected it and sent the message.

 

To: Red_Rose
From: Takao

Hey Red! I just finished up some hunting and since I'm not really doing anything, I figured I'd ask if you wanted to come hang out. I'm at my shop on the third floor, it's at the end of the main road on the west side.

 

 He hit send and dismissed the remainder of the menus, then looked to his familiar again. The plate was empty and his familiar looked satisfied, only half-awake on the table. "I should really stop enabling you."

[Red_Rose 0]

The sun had just started to set on floor 1. Its soft orange light illuminated the world bathing it in a brilliant autumn shine. To many this was the time to be out and about, either to look for monsters, or just simply to enjoy the details of the game. For Red_rose, a newly started adventurer it was the second, being a beautiful time of day to simply relax for a bit. She had been working so hard this last week, fighting monsters, and completing quests, that she had forgotten to stop and appreciate the simple beauty of the day. In truth she had very rarely taken this time before hand. Often choosing to feel bad for her circumstances rather than appreciate the good, however with her newfound sense of Vigor and determination, she was starting to notice many new things about the world of Aincrad.

Primarily her sense of wonder and appreciation had improved. Much to that of being in awe of the genius that it took to create something like this. Yes it was under unfortunate circumstances that she was here, but she shouldn't let that overshadow the effort, and time that was taken in this. Even now she could feel the warmth of the setting sun on her skin, she could see the light reflecting effortlessly off the shimmering pond nearby, and smell the beautiful lilies that grew around it. Each one of these details was a piece to a much larger picture that she was finally now starting to appreciate. There was more too now. She had developed friendships. Actual personal bonds to other players and it turned out they were just normal people too. Some were guild members, whom she would fight beside and needed to develop a trust with, but others were just people she had met and talked to. In fact just the other day she had gone to a birthday party on the invite of Zelrius, a front liner.

The small blonde girl let out a satisfied sigh as she reclined against the rock that was at her back. Days like this were what made this place tolerable, she thought with a smile. It was then that she was suddenly alerted to a message in her inbox. Slowly she opened her eyes, staring at the notification and debating on opening it right away. After a moment of thought she decided check it out, and if it was nothing important ignore it till another time. She lazily raised a hand clicking on the icon, and sat straight up as she read the message. it was from takao, he wanted to see her at his shop. He had even included directions. This was truly unexpected, as she hopped up to her feet. Was she dressed appropriately? Was he wanting to Hang out, or "Hang Out?" As had been the trend these last few days, a million questions flew through her mind. Finally she decided to simply go and see. After all she was looking better than the day they had met. Now at least her hair was tied back, and she had a nice white dress to wear, even if it did have a few steel plates sewn on. And if it was a problem she could hide under her cloak with no problem.

 

It took her nearly 30 minutes to get to a warp gate, and from there nearly 10 more to get to the address she had been given in the message. Finally though she arrived at the rustic looking cafe. She took a moment now, using her hands to press out any wrinkles that may have gathered on her dress, as well as make sue her hair was tied back properly before entering. The door had been left slightly ajar, so she assumed she was allowed to just walk in. "Hello?" She called out, as she gently closed the door behind her. She looked out through the room, and noticed Takao's sword and scabbard laying nearby on one of the tables. Clearly he was here. She took a deep breath enjoying the smells of the little shop, before taking another step, stopping when she caught sight of the boy sitting at another nearby table. "Oh, I'm sorry for just walking in... The door was open."

[Takao 0]

Having dismissed the tree of menus after sending the message, Takao opted to pass the time by watching his familiar's antics. The monster's appetite was... well, monstrous, and the only thing that made their partnership plausible was the brunet's profession as a cook. Their behaviour was usually in stark contrast to one another, what with Takao being a bit more energetic and his mellow familiar's apparent inability to care about most things that weren't food. Still, it was entertaining for him to watch the bipedal creature scurry off to the kitchen in order to retrieve even more to eat.

More time had passed than he'd realized, and he heard the front door open. He had trouble tearing his eyes away from his familiar who was just about to try eating a sandwich that was just about as tall as the monster itself, but once he heard a familiar voice, he turned his head. He moved to stand up, but was stopped when he set his eyes on her. She looked a bit different from when they'd first met; her hair was tied up, and her equipment had been changed to a white dress adorned with steel plates that he found oddly suiting. When he was finished gawking and finally realized he'd been staring without saying anything, he shook his head and fully stood up from the chair to walk up to her. "Hey!" he said excitedly, and even a bit breathlessly as well. He glanced past Red to the now closed door for a brief moment, and tilted his head to the side slightly. "Huh, thought I closed it when I came in." he said, dismissing the minor oversight with a shrug of his shoulders. A wide smile had worked its way across his face after clearing his throat. "I hope I didn't bug you when you were busy or anything, I was just gettin' bored." he raised his hand and pointed over his shoulder toward the open doorway that lead to the kitchen. "Are you hungry? I could cook somethin' up."