Private Solvale Down at the Bottom of a Bottle

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

"Sure you're not," Yu remarked, just before swatting away Brutus' hand as he flicked his ear. Yu shot the larger man an annoyed glare. The man took a draw from his cigarette as he continued to listen to Brutus, letting his eyes wander around the dimly lit room. Between all the flashing lights and the loud music, and Yu's strangely focused gaze, one might've thought he was tripping out or something.

"Eight people." Yu said, doing some quick mental math. "At least I think." That sounded about right. "You won't have to fight all fifty, just the one in each of your eight rounds." Yu's gaze shifted over to Brutus with a sly grin. "One to eight sure sounds like better odds than one to fifty." The smaller man then clapped a hand on Brutus' broad shoulders. "I got faith in you. I dunno what you're like IRL, but I'm sure you'll find a way to manage. Hey, if not," the man shrugged, "I'm sure you'll find a way to swing the trip somehow."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Eight people is significantly more doable than fifty."

The giant would furrow his brow and take another pull of his cigar, letting it linger in his mouth before puffing outwards, savoring the taste. "Anyways, mr Honest and Horny drunk, enough about me and my relationship, what's going on in your life eh?" Waggling an eyebrow at the man he would smirk at him.

"In game, out of game? Meet any pretty ladies IRL?" He would chuckle and nudge the man. "Or what about work? Got anything crazy going on at work? Just the other day my buddy Tony and I were doing some sparring and when I disarmed him his sword almost took out another knight. You should have seen that dudes face."

He would reach up and take a sip of his drink, then frowned. "Come to think of it, I don't know a whole lot about you outside of the game."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

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"Hmph, yeah," Yu said with a smile and a chuckle at Brutus' agreement with the man's assessment. As the conversation moved towards what Yu's life outside the game was like though, the man shrugged as he took a drag of his cigarette. "Not much to tell, but you're free to ask about anything you want. I'm an open book," he said. "Uh, let's see. No girls, in or out of game right now. Don't really have the time or energy to devote to chasing skirt right now. I'm finishing up at college, so I've got a thesis paper and bunch of honors projects that I'm trying to finish, while keeping up with my classes. Honestly, that's kinda taking up all my time right now."

The man took another drag from the cigarette and blew the smoke up into the air as he leaned back into the counter and thought. "Work is work. I'm a barista, part-time. Early mornings and what not, but that's fine. Other than that, my life is pretty boring.

What about you though? You mentioned, sparring, and swords, and knights, like what in the hell is your job, dude?" Yu said whilst chuckling, "It sounds sick."

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

Brutus would raise an eyebrow and waggle it at Yugam for a moment. "All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy." A toke of his cigar would punctuate his point as he ashed the stub of the stoagie in a tray. "You sure there aren't any pretty girls at your coffee shop? Live a little, college is all about getting it out of your system, though..." he frowned. "I didn't, but I did it after I dropped out." Shrugging he would use that as a way to segue into his own work.

"I do reenactment work, specifically Renaissance faires, my Troupe and I travel the U.S doing performances. Specifically, we do big ones each season. Right now I'm in Florida, in the Summer I'll be outside Dallas, Fall in San Diego, and then Winter I spend back home in Philly doing Northern Lights."

He highly doubted the man would go out of his way to find him at any of the faires, after all, the only one he actually named was Northern Lights, which was by and far the harshest one. Who in their right mind would actually travel to Philly in the winter? Shit's mad cold.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

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"Pretty girls, sure, plenty," Yu said with a chuckle. "Don't get me wrong, I've had a fling or two, but, I got shit I need to do. Besides, like I said," Yu gestured in front of them at the club. Loud, with bright flashing lights and far too crowded for his tastes. "This kinda shit isn't really my thing. I'm more of a chill out and play games kinda guy." Clearly, given the fact they were talking in a game at that very moment.

"Oh shit, Philly?" Yu said, perking up slightly. "I live in Philly, maybe I'll drop by and catch you guys while you're in town," he offered. Ari had actually gone to a few Renaissance faires in his time. They'd always been plenty of fun, especially if you went with other people. He wouldn't mind going to go see Brutus in his native habitat, beating up and getting beat up by other performers and what not.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"I mean, we are playing a game and chilling out." Brutus would respond finishing his drink and ashing his cigar. "But if this isn't your scene we can dip. I know a great place if you want to go get some grub." The whole point of this entire trip was to make sure Yu was alright, if he wasn't having a good time than it was pointless really.

"Or if you don't, you wanna hit the dancefloor or something? Two dudes just vibin at the bar of a club is gonna get people thinking we're actually a thing."

The music was pulsing, the lights were strobing, and frankly given his hyper senses growing stronger and stronger as his own powers grew, the place was beginning to give him a thrumming headache. Then Yu dropped the real flashbang on him.

"Hold up, you're from Philly?" His eyes would widen. "Like, what part?" This was an unfortunate turn of events. The only person who knew what he looked like out of the game was Nao, the last thing he needed was his actual height spoiled by someone else.

Shit.

"Didn't think I'd run into another Philadelphian here."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

Yu chuckled appreciatively at the other man's quick attempt to ensure that Yu was having some kind of fun. "Yeah, I could go for some food if you're down," Yu replied with a chuckle.

"But yeah, I'm from Philly," he said as he set down a small pouch of gold on the counter, making it clear that he wasn't allowing Brutus to pay for either of them. "I live around Drexel, I'm wrapping up my last semester there right now. Just a few more finals and my thesis presentation, and I'm done. What part are you from?" Yu had lived in the state for his whole life pretty much. Aside from spending his summers in Hawaii, he'd spent his whole life in the city. "Maybe we've run into each other and never known," he said with a chuckle. Not unlike how he and Jin had figured out they both played Terrasphere, though in reverse.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Well," Brutus would reply with a chuckle. "I was born and raised in Pittsburg, but I moved to Philly for college, I went to Temple University for about two years before I dropped out and got into the whole faire business." He would eye the coins on the counter before turning to Yu and squinting a bit. "Fine, you've got drinks but I'm getting food." He would motion for him to follow as they stepped out into the night. Once they were where the man could hear him without having to shout, he would continue.

"Drexel though eh? My sister is in the process of wrapping up her second semester over there. Mech E if I can remember it right. Cool school, not as cool as literally having your campus own like forty fiveish percent of the city but pretty cool. As for what part I lived in? I lived on campus, my mom eventually moved over and got a lil place in Frankford"

The two would exit the club and hit the crisp spring evening air, summer was coming up soon but it hadn't really begun to shift over yet. Soon the Unce Unce beat of the speakers would be a distance memory behind them as they walked.

"Now, this place I'm showing you is kinda a well kept secret so I only show it to people I trust, so keep this on the DL unless it too is someone you can trust."

They navigated the winding streets until suddenly they were standing in front of a small unassuming building. Light flowed out from a series of square windows, offering a glimpse into the diner as a large boarfolk man was working the grill flipping pancakes. There was no sign, there was next to no pomp and circumstance, and the whole thing was nestled between what appeared to be two boarding houses.

"Welcome to Breakfast Hut." Brutus would exclaim, opening the door.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

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Yu clapped a hand on Brutus' shoulder and laughed as they started to walk out of the club. "Ha, yeah, sure you will buddy." Brutus clearly had never met a Greek before. It'd be a cold day in hell if Yu ever let the other man pay for anything while they were together.

"Ah, so you're sister's the smart one eh?" Yu teased, weaving his way through the crowd, sticking as close to the larger man, as he could. Which was pretty damn close considering people parted around the giant like the Red Sea for Moses. "What'd you study while you were still in college? Anything fun?"

Soon enough they were back out on the street, and Brutus lead the way to...wherever the hell he was taking Yu...What exactly was this place again?

"Welcome to Breakfast Hut," the large man exclaimed as the he swung the door open wide, slamming it into the wall, causing Yu to flinch on reflex.

Inside, the place looked...well, exactly like any other diner. Except grey. And with a humanoid boar in the kitchen flipping pancakes. "Breakfast, huh? You ain't gettin' a hangover already, are you?" Yu asked as he took a seat at the counter alongside Brutus. "So what's good here?"

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Everything."

Brutus would get a smirk on his face as he reached over the counter and grabbed a menu sliding one Yu's way. "Evenin Boaris."

"Evenin Red."

"But if you want a suggestion, I get the starcalled breakfast. Big ole waffle, your choice of hashbrowns or grits, two eggs served however you want, toast or a biscuit, and your choice between Bacon Ham or Sausage. That's what I always get."

The boar man would plate some food, bring it to some guests at one of the booths before returning to the two men. "Anything to drink today? Water? Juice?"

"Some water for me please." The giant would turn back to Yu after his drink order was taken. "And to answer your question, my sister is the more patient one. I dropped out after realizing that sitting at a desk every day for the rest of my life doing I.T would make me want to kill myself. I studied Comp Sci, but I dabbled in a little bit of everything tech related. What about You, Yu?"

The drinks would be set in front of them, and the giant would take a slight sip. He hadn't gotten buzzed, but alcohol and this body often got into all sorts of trouble and he needed to take better care of himself.

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

Boaris.

The goddamn humanoid boar flippin' flippin' pancakes was named Boaris. Yu didn't know whether or not to be impressed at the wordplay, or to facepalm. Either way, the man didn't say anything, just nodding to their chef as he took a seat and picked up the menu that Brutus offered him.

Yu had never been one for pancakes or waffles. Skillets on the other hand? "Uh, I'll do a Southwest skillet, and an orange juice, please and thank you," Yu said as he set aside his menu.

Turning in his seat to look at Brutus as he regaled his tales of college depression (a plague with which Yu was well acquainted), their drinks were set down before them, and Yu picked his up, taking a short sip. "I'm studying Digital Media. So a mixture of film, graphics, audio and game design," he explained as he set his glass down. "Very general. To be completely honest, I'm not really sure what I wanna do."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"Sure thing." The boar would turn to Brutus and raise an eyebrow. "The usual?"

"The Usual," Brutus would reply with a nod. Turning back to Yugam he would nod. "Digital media is kinda cool, it sounds very...creatively fulfilling?" Shrugging, he would crack his neck. "And I have no clue what you would do with that either...to be fair I'm kinda just spinning my wheels right now too. Sure I've got the Troope, but like..." The giant's eyes would unfocus as he sort of deadpanned straight ahead.

"It's not like I can...settle down like this. I can't start and support a family if I'm constantly on the move. Not without putting my wife and any potential kids through a lot of hardship. Not that I like...need to do that, but I feel like that's what my family wants from me?" Tutting he would shake his head. "And I mean like, time keeps racing forward and I..." his fist would curl into a fist. "I might not have much time left. Between other things in my life, and this game, I could die an early death and leave nothing as a legacy..."

The boar would go to work, cooking the food giving the two the good ole white trash Hibachi. Batter would be poured into a waffle maker, eggs would be cracked into skillets, shredded potato would be dropped and smothered with ladles of liquified butter. The sounds and the smells were incredibly enticing.

"My bad, that went sideways on me real quick."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

"Hmph, yeah, something like that," Yu said with an amused chuckle. Yeah, what he'd chosen gave him a lot of creative leeway, but in terms of finding actual work? It was gonna be hard. But that was a future Ari problem.

As Brutus began to talk about things like death and legacy however, Yu couldn't withhold the visceral reaction he had. "Legacies are bullshit," he said, just before taking a sip of his juice. It took a moment for the man to realize what he had just said, but when he did, he set his glass down and apologized, "Sorry. I guess what I really mean is that the idea of legacies are bullshit."

In front of them their food began to sizzle on the grill, the warm, comforting aroma of food cooking wafting over to the pair as the talked.

"Everyone wants to be remembered, sure I get that. I'm not exempt from that desire either, but legacies? Those are all about making sure people never forget. Making some kind of mark on a world that's not built to last. It leads to people chasing wildly after something that they'll never know they reached, children trying live up to what their parents left behind. And all the while, they forget all the other things in life that are important, drive away people they love, care about. And for what?"

Yu picked up his glass and started slowly rotating it, much like he had the glass of rum in the club. Perhaps some kind of idle habit when ever he was deep in thought. "Legacies are just another obessession. If you're gonna leave your mark on the world, you're gonna do it without thinking about it, ya know?"

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

The giant had to fight the knee jerk urge to scowl at the man's initial words. He backpedaled a bit, which stayed the man's anger for the moment. The Boar in front of them would continue to work his culinary magic, dropping things onto the grill right precisely the right time. It wasn't readily obvious to the untrained eye, but this unassuming boar man was orchestrating a work of culinary art. Every single side, main dish, and ancillary bit or bob would be ready at exactly the time it needed to be. The skillet would begin to assemble itself into a rather unassuming amalgamation of parts, but when consume would taste divine.

"I suppose you're right...but at the same time." His fingers would drum idly on the table while he waited, his drink perspiring a bit as condensation began to gather and form a ring on the counter. "My dad died when I was really young, my mom was eight months pregnant with my youngest sister. It came out of nowhere, and I'm terrified that some day the same thing is going to happen to me, and what will I have accomplished? What will anyone remember me for? Oh he was that guy who did the cool thing in that videogame? Oh he was the guy who dicked around and waggled a sword around with a bunch of theatre nerds? I'm having fun and living my best life but...I'm worried that my ancestors will judge me in the afterlife."

His leg would bounce idly as he spoke, the giant peering past the boar cooking food into the vast beyond, eyes unseeing. The boar would snort a bit and begin the plate the food, assembling everything with a haphazard grace that somehow worked out perfectly. Turning around, the pigman would place the plates before each patron with perfect poise, setting the check down between them (Reflex saves to see who grabs it?)

"Enjoy gents, if you need me I'm gonna be having a smoke out front."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

Yu couldn't possibly relate to what Brutus had to deal with. No matter what Yu had gone through, he couldn't relate to what Brutus had to worry about day in and day out. The looming threat of death. For some it was a bit more omnipresent than others.

"Sorry to hear about your dad," Yu said, extending his condolences and nodding to the chef as he placed the plates of food before them, and left to go smoke. "I guess there's a bit of disconnect between us," Yu said, taking a matter-of-fact tone. "To be honest, I've never concerned myself with what my ancestors would think of what I've done. God, maybe, which I guess is kinda similar." Yu took a brief moment to collect his thoughts in a more organized manner. "But, if I live by my beliefs, then I don't really have anything to fear. If I die, and I'm locked out of heaven for living out what I think is right, then that's not a heaven I care to walk into." Yu picked up his fork and started to dig into his food, glancing over at Brutus as he cut up the skillet into more manageable pieces with his fork. "So, are you living life according to your beliefs?" Yu put a piece of his food into his mouth. "Damn this is pretty good," he commented, before turning to Brutus again. "You don't have to answer that by the way. Just food for thought I guess. All pun intended."

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

"I guess family has just always been important to me..." The giant would muse dumping some syrup over his waffle and slicing into it. "My name outside of the game is Olivier Clisson, if you're not much of a history buff my family used to be French nobility, my namesake in particular was a bit of a famous man. His father was executed and humiliated by the French crown for alleged treason with no proof, so what does Olivier do? He joins forces with the English and kicked the shit out of the French to restore his fathers honor. When the French apologized and the English insulted him? He kicked the shit out of the English for the king of France. He did everything he could to do right by his family, and I just feel like I have big boots to fill..." He would pop a mouthful in and grunt.

"Damn that's good."

He would take a few more thoughtful bites chewing slowly to enjoy the flavor and give him time to think. "I suppose the only thing I can do is my best, but like..." he would pause and take another bite. "What even is my best? How can you tell if what you're doing is your best ya know? Sure you can tell yourself you're doing everything you can, but are you really? This game is a great way to make it feel like we're doing something, but are we? As real as this world seems, are we really being heroes? Or are we just pretending?"

A few more bites would be shoveled into his hungry gullet, granting his companion his rant. He realized that perhaps he was off topic? Or perhaps his own fears and woes were causing him to ramble and rant, he could never tell. Right now the mask of Brutus was sliding off, and while honesty was good, Ollie didn't play this game to be him, he played this game to be Brutus.

"But that's a whole other can of worms."

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Per Aspera

Ad Astra

"Those are big boots indeed," Ari agreed as he slowly made his way through his meal. "But you're not your ancestor. And there other ways to honor your family than just kicking the piss out of the guys who insulted you." Ari chose to leave out his other opinions about honor and how he felt that 'reclaiming one's honor' was really just someone with self-esteem problems not being able to handle being insulted. Brutus, or rather Olivier probably wouldn't take that too well.

"Let me ask you this," Ari said, turning in his seat as Brutus began to wonder about whether or not what they did in game mattered. "Do you think great deeds make men great, or that great men do great things?" A little bit of a 'chicken or the egg' type of question but there was a point Yu wanted to make. An idea that he needed to get across to the man.

@Brutus Dahlgren

 

[Brutus Dahlgren]

The giant would muse on the man's words as he ate his food, chewing slowly to buy himself some time to think on the man's words. "You're not wrong, I don't have to go shoving my foot up people's asses for the name of my family, but it's still...context to my turmoil." Returning to his food, he would let Yugam offer his next question, letting it sit in the air for a long moment.

"I don't know. You could argue that someone was great because of all the great things they did. You could also argue that their greatness led them to do the things they did..." Frowning, he would take a bite of egg and mull it over some more. "But some of the great men of history also did horrific things, like Genghis Khan or Alexander the Great..." His knee bounced some more as he spoke, rocking the chair ever so slightly.

"I suppose that for me, a man is forged by the things he does, not the things he says. You can talk the talk all you want, but if you can't walk the walk then what even is the point?"

@Yugam

 

[Yugam]

Yu was pleasantly surprised with Brutus. The man had given a well-reasoned response to his question. Well-reasoned enough that Yu was willing to bet that the man had given the topic quite a bit of thought. Although, the hemomancer still felt that there was still a small, but equally important thing that the man was missing.

"Hmm, yeah, you're right a lot of great men went on to do great, but terrible things," the man said, turning his attention to his food for just a moment as he formulated his thoughts into words. "But the only reason we call men like those 'great' is because they accomplished whatever they'd set out to do. If they'd failed, they would simply be horrible men. Not all great men are written down in the annals of history though," he reminded Brutus. "Many, many great men have been forgotten. What made them great wasn't some grand conquest, or saving a country, or anything like that. Some just did something that mattered to the people around them." Yu pointed at Brutus with his fork as he went on, "I get you wanting to make a mark on the world, but consider that maybe the mark you're meant to leave behind is on the people around you. As insignificant as the world might make it seem, being such a big place, that does not diminish the greatness of the act, or the person."

@Brutus Dahlgren