Complete - Aspirant Heroes Breakdown | Page 2

"People keep telling me that. I should start listening to them."

Aristides opened one eye and looked up at Futaba as he started moving around, opening his bag up and looking frantic. Ah--the fruits he had gather had gotten a bit smashed. He shook his head slightly and then sat back up on his own, feeling surprisingly better than he thought he would be. It was sappy to think that it was the nearness of somebody else that helped him, especially when Aristides wasn't much of a people-person to start with. Still, after experiencing something so painful and frightening as death, maybe he just needed another to keep his mind from going bad places. Yeah. That could be it.

Well, he couldn't think of a better person than Futaba to be here. But something was still off.

He might be going through the same thing I did. Or...

"It's fine. I mean, we're going to eat them, so I don't mind it they're a little bumped up. What freaked you out? And this time, please tell the truth. I can smell blood."

 

'Aaaaah! All those fruits! Luckily a few of them are still complete, but still!' The Faerin held his head in frustration, not only he didn't find that wonderful purple fruit, but he lost many of them because of the impacts on the trees and on the ground.

He grabbed some of the fruits that were still in one piece, and separated them. 'Well... I think I can do a fruit salad with it...' Hanno shrugged, if it was in real life he could make food with the most unusual ingredients possible. Well, that game wasn't real life, but he grabbed a cooking vocation, which gave him a good insight of what he could do with those ingredients he had on his hands.

The Faerin looked away for a bit, and then he stood up with the fruits. Walking toward the branches of the fallen tree. 'Don't hide anything from your friends.'

"I think I know very well what happened to you. Because when I went get those fruits, I experienced something that I would never experience in normal conditions." He placed a hand on his chest, remembering the eye that opened on his chest. "What I most feared about this game, became true." Hanno looked at his friend. "Death here have consequences. And it's nothing like 'losing Mastery Points' or 'Gold'"

The Faerin crounched and grabbed the branches.

White Magic... Holy Fire!

A white blaze formed on his hand, engulfing the pieces of wood with holy fire, that slowly turned into a camp fire.

He placed the fruits on a wood plank and pulled a small knife, that he used to cut it in many calculated pieces. "In my experience on the forest, what happened was basically my heart pounding extremely hard. And I was being observed by a gaze... Similar to that abomination that we fought. I tried to fight it back, so..." Hanno showed his bruised fists. "... Of course it was all something that was just in my head, it wasn't actual real. But apparently that death scarred me. And your death probably scarred you too... And probably... Rivers too."

"And that's not something I'm saying without proofs, from what I understand. What me and you experienced was something called Death Affliction." The Faerin opened his UI. "You probably gained one too. If you open your UI, you will see a new status. That status is called Death Affliction." He explained, closing his UI and continuing to cook.

 

Aristides was silent while he let his friend speak, telling him what had happened to him in the forest and what may have caused the deafening heartbeat earlier. With a slight frown he opened his palm menu and flicked to his information. Sure enough, there was the Death Affliction that Futaba spoke of, and after reading it to himself, it fit the experience perfectly. He hadn't seen an eye appear on his body, though. Maybe it was for the best that he'd curled up and squeezed his eyes tight. Seeing one of Titanius' eyes on his body...may have been more than he was able to take in that moment. He closed the menu with a sigh.

"...thank you for telling me. This is a lot to take in."

Tipping his head back to look up at the darkening sky, he let his thoughts piece together. So dying wasn't just a part of the game. There was a consequence, there was trauma, there was pain. He didn't know other games that had that. Then again, there wasn't a game like TerraSphere in the whole world. The simple solution to this was to just not die again. Play carefully. Run when it got too rough. Even if it wasn't permanent, he wasn't in a rush to discover what a second or third death may bring to his psyche.

Hah. Video games fuck with your sanity. The media was right.

Thank you for that, brain. Tell me when you have something useful to say.

"Rivers may be dealing with this as well. Alone. We should send him a message. I'm not sure what is going through his head, what with apologizing and running away. He's being a idiot."

Aristides grunted softly and went from leaning back on his palms to laying on his back, arms under his head. His eyes were hard and narrow, no smile on his lips. Was it anger on his face?

Or...worry?

"But I do know that wasn't something I would be able to deal with by myself. We need to make sure he's okay, since we have each other."

 

Hanno continued to cook the fruits, since it was the only thing available he tried to cook what it would be some type of soup with roasted fruits on it. Something that was similar to a roasted fruit salad inside a soup, which as much as it sound weird, it looked very tasty.

It's that what he thinks... So the best idea was to actually message Rivers, even if he wasn't feeling like to talk... He at least needed to know that his friends cared and were worried about him.

'Yes, we have each other.' He looked at his Caenis friend for a moment. 'I didn't actually hear him vent though.' Hanno opened his UI and went for the friend list. Opening Rivers chat and starting to type.

Hanno Futaba

Hello @Rivers Asteire. I know you are probably not feeling like to talk at all... But I know you have nothing to apologize for.
We don't blame you for anything, we never would. We are worried about you and we want to know how you are feeling, because we care about you.
If you don't get to answer us, I hope that you get better soon.
~Futaba

Hitting the send button, he looked at the campfire seeing that the food was almost ready he grabbed a few closeby herbs, nibbling a few of them and smashing it to put in the soup. It should be a good spice. "It's ready!" He exclaimed as he grabbed a two wooden bowls he had on his bag.

Walking to his friend he placed the bowl close to his friend and sitted beside him.

"I think it's your turn now, Aristides." The Faerin turned his face to the Caenis. "You didn't actually vent until now, so I really hope that you aren't hiding anything from me. But I have a feeling that you probably have something you need to talk about." It was just an insight, but even if it wasn't on purpose, Aristides never actually talked too much about what they are feeling like Hanno did when they first got to this place.

Something was off.

 

Aristides scented the air as he heard Futaba fiddling around with bowls and spoons. Of course Futaba would have tableware just bouncing around in his inventory. Had he carried that during the boss fight? The thought almost brought a smile back to his face, but it was hard, what with the conversation at hand. He sat back up and picked the offered fruit soup up from his side. As he stirred it, Futaba said something about it being his turn, and he looked at the Faerin, bemused. What was he implying? Aristides wasn't any more upset than he was letting on, and Futaba had seen his state after his Death Affliction had activated.

Wasn't that all that had happened? Or...was he talking about something else?

Aristides' frown deepened.

"I'm not hiding anything. I...guess I have been keeping something to myself, but it really doesn't have anything to do with dying. It's more personal than that. So I don't know if it's important right now."

But he's my friend. He shared his pain with me, I can share mine with him.

He drew in a deep breath.

"...I'm wondering...why the person who sent me this game, sent it to me knowing how dangerous it was. How much pain it can cause. Especially since they're somebody I think...or I hope, cares about my well-being. So that was bothering me. That, and...that they haven't contacted me since they sent me the game. I'm very, very confused by it all. I'm...sorry, if it doesn't make sense."

 

'Oh, I'm just overthinking a bit then... I guess me and Rivers are the only knuckleheads that think we are at fault for doing something wrong.' The Faerin thought, with a sign of relief, he didn't want Aristides to think about something like that.

'Someone that cares about your well-being...' Hanno thought about his best friend for a while, he was planning to invite her to play this game, for many reasons. But after he passed through all that, would he still find it okay to invite her to play it? After all, he just experienced things that were horrible... Right?

Or maybe, not really? Hanno frowned for a second, that game was pretty much like real life, good and bad experiences are part of it.

"You know... I was kind of thinking on inviting my best friend to play this game, similar to how your friend did. And even though we just went through all this desperate situation, I still think it's a good idea to invite her." He probably just sounded like a crazy person, but... "All these bad experiences we had, the pain of getting scratched by wolves, the fear of not being able to survive a battle. All those feelings... They are real. Even if this game is a virtual reality, the emotions of it aren't virtual at all."

Hanno looked at Aristides eyes. "In real life it's the same thing, you go through bad and good times, and those bad times help you and teach you to grow up as much as the good times do. You meet people that make you cry, people that make you laugh. You befriend them, do completely stupid things with them, and you go and screw yourself all over with them because of a huge fight" A bright smile appeared on his face.

"If we never went through all those problems together, would we be as friends as we are now? These hard moments we had together, is what make this experience so special. I mean, you are special to me, Aristides!" He grabbed a spoon and filled it with some soup. "Maybe that's why your friend decided to give you this game, probably it's because they thought how much you would grow with it, and decided that the pain would be worth it."

'Or they could just be some sort of sadistic jerk' He thought and laughed internally as he shoved the spoon with soup in his mouth, making his face melt a bit. 'So taaaasty... I needed that...' Another spoon and the Faerin face was covered with some happiness, as his energies came back to his body.

 

Aristides spooned up a bit of the fruit soup and let it cool off a little before he put it in his mouth. He sighed, a little more contented already just from Futaba's cooking. He really was good at that. Aristides--well, rather, Vivienne--was not the best cook, but not the worst. She could boil pasta and mash potatoes and steam frozen vegetables, but anything more complicated than three steps was usually too much time for her to do regularly. Anyway, Futaba was comparing his own experiences to Aristides' confusing dilemma, and the more he listened, the less tense his posture became, and the softer his expression.

It was just like real life. Good, bad, painful, exciting, wonderful, terrible, and everything else.

Still, what was Joyce trying to do? Was it so he would grow? Grow to what? He'd been okay the way things were. Not really sad, not really stuck, not friendless and not lonely. Sure he was still kind of...distant...but that was just how he'd always been. How she'd always been.

He sighed again and took another bite to feel better. It worked. Setting the spoon in the bowl he reached over and gently ruffled Futaba's hair, a smile returning to his lips. Yeah. He couldn't regret getting this game, reasons and confusing feelings aside.

"Or she can have the a worse sense of humor than I do. I guess we are related, so it's possible. Ah. Well. I'm sorry to bother you with that. You're...you're special to me, too. I think I can safely said I haven't had a friend I felt so comfortable around in a long time. And this friend of yours? If you are going to invite her, I hope I can meet her. I'm sure anyone who is your friend must be just as kind as you are."

 

Hanno was drowning himself in an eating hypnosis, somehow that food was even more taste than the usual. Probably the reason was because he was very hungry after everything that happened, making his appetite become bigger than usual. Or it could also be the game increasing the pleasure of eating a food because his character was with a very low Food and Energy stats.

But all that didn't matter, because the Faerin was in a blissful moment, until his friend ruffled his hair that snapped him out of that. He turned back to Aristides.

'A worse sense of humor than you. Well, if what happened to us can be called humor by someone, this someone isn't normal at all' A silly smile appeared on his face, but it didn't take too long before it became a happy smile. Apparently he was special too, that felt nice.

He spooned some of the roasted apples and ate it before starting to speak.

"Don't worry about it, you aren't bothering me. And well, not everyone that is or was my friend was kind, since I'm a very naive person a lot of people already just pretended to be my friend for other things." He gave a weak smile, even if that didn't bothered him too much, it was still a little sad that some people that could be his friend were just trying to use him somehow. "But Li- My best friend is very kind indeed, honestly she's the type of person that anyone would love to have around if they knew how she actually is. But she's very insecure about herself, and she end up overworking herself just to attempt to redeem her flaws. I don't think she have any flaws that need to be reedemed though, aside from the flaw being insecure around others." Then, the Faerin looked at the Caenis with a grin.

"Which... by the way, I have a favor to ask to you."

 

Aristides tilted his head to one side, ears unintentionally doing the floppy thing that happened to dogs who were curious about something. Sounded like Futaba cared a lot about this person and knew her inside and out. That was really nice. It also made him wonder if he'd ever had somebody he knew so well, or cared so much about. Was it bad that his immediate thought was "no"?...probably, to some extent. He wasn't jealous of Futaba or his friend, but the thought did linger in his mind. The topic of Futaba having something he needed was a slight and welcome distraction. Aristides grinned slyly.

"A favor? I warn you, I have a strange sense in fashion, so you may want to reconsider asking me to help pick a proper hero outfit."

 

Hanno looked at the curious expression of his Caenis friend, making him look away with a smile that was trembling as he did his best to hold his laugh. 'Aristides is a such cute... Dog! I can't tell him that, he will get mad... But he's a very cute dog.' "Pff..." He punched his own belly soflty, to control the laugh, then looked at Aristides. 'Stop thinking dumb things Brian, are you idiot?'

Luckily enough, he had a chance to let his laugh go with his friend's joke. "Hahahahahaha! No no!" The Faerin pulled his scarf a bit, for emphasis. "I'm fine with my current outfit. I will find something better when I become a worthy Hero" He raised his thumb with determination, then stared at his friend with a grin.

"Since you said you hope to meet my friend. How about you meet her here, whenever she decide to join this game? Don't worry because I will set everything up, I will say I will log on at some specific time, this way you can come here and find her." His grin widened. "But of course, I won't be joining you guys, at least not yet. Because if I do, she will cling on me and won't pay attention on you at all."

"How about it, a good idea. Right?"

 

Did he say something funny? Well, yes, but that reaction was a bit odd. Did he have fruit on his face? Aristides took the moment that Futaba was turned away to run his thumb over his lips and check, but there wasn't anything on him. Huh. Then what had they been laughing about? Eh, no matter. Futaba wanted Aristides to be one of the first people to meet his friend when she loaded into the game, since he feared him being there would lead to her not reaching out to other friends. Understandable, as long as she was alright with it. He nodded.

"Well, I am not the most personable person. As I'm sure you realized already."

Aristides smiled a little wider.

"But I would be happy to meet and help her become accustomed to TerraSphere, if you think that it won't end in absolute disaster. Have you told her about me? It might help if she doesn't think I'm just some strange man walking up going...'Hi, I'm here instead of your friend, play a game with me'."

He chuckled and picked up his bowl again, scooping some large bites of fruit soup into his mouth and enjoying the sweet taste. Hm. Was Futaba a chef in real life? He certainly had the skills in-game. Though he hadn't tried it himself. Maybe it was simplified because it was a video game? Aristides vaguely remembered a game involving cooking getting popular in his childhood, but it wasn't one he had played. "Cooking Mother" or something like that.

Eh. Games were strange.

"On different note, once you feel up to it, I feel like I can make the trek back to Honeyhome no problem now. You're an excellent cook. What about you? Ready to get back on the road?"

 

A silly smile covered Hanno's face. 'Yes, I've realized a loooong time ago you aren't pesonable... but...' "You are a wonderful person though. It doesn't matter if you aren't personable. My best friend isn't personable too anyway!" The Faerin grinned a bit. In fact, Aristides was perfect for the plan because this way he would put two introvert persons together and they would be able to grow together against this 'problem'.

Of course that if it was considered who would be more efficient, it would be Rivers since he was much more extrovert and outgoing... But considering the situation, and how it was a much better opportunity for Aristides get better at talking to people. Would it actually work? Who knows... But at the very least both would befriend each other... Probably?

Hanno chuckled internally. 'Aaah, such troublesome people! I hope they get good together.' He looked at his Caenis friend. "Nope, I didn't tell about you or anything of this game yet. But I will make sure to at least talk about the friends I made here, so you won't be someone completely random for her." The Faerin said, raising his hand. "We are still going to trick her into thinking I will meet up with her here!" He gave a playful smile as he grabbed all his cooking tools, bowls and spoons, putting all of them inside his backpack.

After adjusting his backpack on his back, the Faerin turned his face to the path of Honeyhome Village, then looked back at his friend's eyes. "Thank you! My character's vocation is cooking after all. But I also study gastronomy in real life, so yeah. It helps!" He chuckled. "Well, let's continue with our journey. We still got stuff to do!" Hanno nodded at Aristides, as he began walking beside him toward Honeyhome Village... Now what kind of adventures they would have? What kind of situations they would get in? Will them be able to get over the traumas of death and get together with Rivers again...? Those are questions that only time will be able to answer...​

-Fin-​