After a nice, long walk, Matthias and his new companion, he supposed, Valkyrie, entered the large city of Urbus. The snow was still falling and the light-greyclouds above them didn't seem to be in the mood for dispersing anytime soon. He breathed out again, a puff of white exiting his lips before disappearing again, curling his fingers up a little within the pockets of the short coat he was wearing underneath the cloak he had draped around himself. He didn't feel cold, but he enjoyed playing along with what everyone considered to be real.
"I know a quiet place we can talk, get something to eat or drink and not be bothered. This way." He gave a glance to the girl walking more or less paralel to him before turning down a small alleyway, away from the main street, where he caught a glimpse of the square with the large christmas tree sitting at the square with a red-clad figure sitting in a chair. Note to self, do whatever quests he has before the day's over. He led her through the small streets, out into larger ones and back into smaller ones again, eventually coming to a stop in front of a restaurant-esque tavern that was definitely out of the way of where people were usually bustling about. You'd still occasionally see a person or two walk by or inside, but it wasn't enough to bother Matthias. He stepped up to the door and pushed it open, turning to hold it for her, with a wry, almost mocking smirk on his lips at the notion. "Ladies first?"
With a resigned sigh, Elise accepted the offer of the door being held open for her. Normally she would have wanted to kick his teeth in, but that actually seemed to be the response he was looking for. "Oh, thank you so very much, sir," she lied with a sweet, mocking tone. "Do catch me if I faint, your charm has overcometh me."
Why had she agreed to come back here with him? She was a solo player, not some desperate noob who needed to team up. But his argument was so convincing. The idea that they both wanted the same thing, the possibility of getting rich, it was all too much to pass up.
"So, this is the dump you take all your girls to?" Elise asked, a teasing smile on her lips as she pulled up a nearby chair and sat unceremoniously upon it. Toggling her inventory, she decided it best to un-equip her weapon in the tavern, there was no real need for it. Gesturing to the seat across from her, she waited impatiently for the man to do likewise.
"Even if I deemed the majority of airheads playing this game worth my time, I probably wouldn't. Hard to say though." He replied as he took a seat, brushing the cloak back to free his arms, pulling down the hood as well. Noticing her putting her weapons away, he didn't seem bothered. The town was a no-fighting zone, so there wasn't any chance of him getting jumped, but he saw no reason to go through the trouble of unequipping them either. As the NPC waitress came over, he looked up at her. "Two hot chocolates."
As the NPC moved away from their table again with a small curtsey, he raised his arms, placing his elbows on the table, folding the fingers of his one hand with the other, looking at the girl across from his table with a very business-like look in his eyes. "Alright, so... I figure we should start out by talking terms. Whether there's something you want out of this partnership more than anything, and of course the same way with me. General do's and don't's, I suppose." He gestured to her with a hand. "Care to start?"
With a small giggle, Elise stretched back and looked at the man with great focus, her eyes searching him up and down as he talked and asked his question. She also found it funny how he ordered for her without even asking. The man had balls, she gave him that. He seemed confident and astute, if a bit chauvinistic from her first impressions. Thrumming her fingers on the digital table, her fingers still feeling the grain as if it were made of the finest oak, she thought about what she wanted from this partnership. Was there actually anything she wanted? Col, respect, fear? She finally knew.
"I want us to become fabulously wealthy, people to quake with fear when they hear our names and most of all," she paused and looked up at the ceiling. "I want us to kill so many 'clearing parties' that everyone gives up and we get to live here forever." A devious grin spread across her lips as she thought about it. "You know, the simple things."
At her final comment, Matthias broke into a little smirk, leaning back into his seat again, nodding his head softly. "Feared, respected and powerful. Shouldn't be too hard to come by." He furrowed his brows, putting on a more serious expression. "I do agree that we need to rid ourselves of alot of clearing parties, but you have to keep in mind that it can't be done quickly. We need to be slow and methodical, especially at first. We might not see alot of progress for... maybe fifteen or twenty floors. We need to grow stronger and become more influential ourselves before we can do anything 'properly'."
The NPC returned with two mugs of hot chocolate, placing them down on the table. Matthias picked one up and took a little sip, swallowing the supposedly hot liquid. He sighed out quietly. It tasted real enough, but the thought of knowing that it wasn't, was enough to annoy him. "What I'm saying is, we have to be patient. And we'll have to work together for a long time. And for us to do that, I feel a degree of trust is needed." He paused, swivelling the liquid around in the mug while looking at her. "And I think a good step towards that would be to reveal our real names. Of course, this isn't just me saying it has to be like that, this is me asking you if you agree, as your partner... in crime." He gave another small smirk and lifted his mug slightly in a "Go on" gesture.
"My name?" Elise just about spat out the hot sip of cocoa she had just taken in. It wasn't exactly the best manners to go about asking for real names and inquiring about IRL lives. Nobody in this game knew her real name. Now all of a sudden this boy wanted to know it.
"Uh, I don't think so buddy. I don't give anything away for free." She smiled and took another sip. The cocoa was good, creamy and chocolatey, just the way she liked it. "Since you are Mr. Curious, why don't you tell me your name first?"
"It's not due to me being curious, it's because it'll help us trust one another. If you're anything like me, you don't have an easy time trusting others." He waved a hand a little dismissively, taking another sip of his drink. "Mmh, but it's only fair that I start out, since I was the one suggesting it." He paused a moment, but nodded soon after. "My name is Matthias. We don't need to go into last names or the like, obviously."
"Matthias, huh?" She looked at him sideways, thinking about that name. "Not exactly the most common name," she goaded him. "Well, if that is actually your real name, and there is no telling that is the case, I'll tell you mine if you promise only to use it when it's just the two of us."
Squirming in her seat, she played with her armor absentmindedly. A nervous tick. "My IRL name is Elise. It's from a book my mother loved to read when she was a little girl. Where you from with a name like Matthias anyway?"
Nodding his head again, he lowered the cup after taking a sip, licking his lips while drumming the fingers of his left hand on the table slowly. "Mmh, of course, there's no way to know if either of us is telling the truth. That's where the trust comes in." He raised his brows a little as she told him where her name was from, which he didn't expect, and as she asked him where he was from, he gained a wry little smirk. "I suppose that doesn't matter much, unless you're planning to get out of the game, find me, and do something to me. I'm from England. Southern England, specifically. Elise sounds european though. Or am I wrong?"
Nodding, she admitted he was right. She held the cup closely to her palms, hugging it to them as if she were back at home drinking cocoa with her parents in front of the fire place. That was probably the only thing she was going to miss from back home. Winter was always very special and dear to her. "I'm from France, born and raised."
"France? Hmh, I suppose that makes sense." He slowly turned the mug in his hand, which was now placed on the table, glancing down at it. It was weird, he hadn't spoken to anyone, properly at least, since he entered the game. For a long, damn time actually. He wouldn't say he was enjoying himself, this was first and foremost business, but... he wasn't going to say that he wasn't either. "Either way... what we're doing might very easily end up in the both of us, or just one of us, dead. I think we'd both prefer that not happen, so... we stick together. We keep each others' backs safe and look out for one another, mmh? There are very few people out in the game right now, who wants to stay here and we need to keep each other safe." He said this with his brows furrowed, looking at her rather intently, making sure that she understood how serious he was about this, that he wasn't just going to toss their partnership away at the first opportunity.
For a reason she couldn't place, Elsie thought he was serious. His face and posture made it seem like this was something he thought very much about. Why was he so eager? Was he so sick of traveling alone? With a sigh, Elise thought about what she wanted to say. Did she want to commit to such a serious partnership? This was against practically everything she stood for in this game. It was supposed to be her at the top, not her and a right hand man…no an equal.
"Fine, I have your back if you watch mine. Just think it's fair to tell you…" Elise laughed and looked out the window as a woman passed by, going about her business. "That kid who hired me is going to be looking for you and now, me. Maybe we should think about taking him out first?"
Matthias relaxed, seeming satisfied with her answer as he leaned back into his seat once again, opening his inventory with a flick of a finger, rearranging a couple things. "Mmh... I was thinking about that. Do you honestly think he has the money to pay you? If he does, he might not be completely useless to us and we should hold off on killing him."
