Completed Lightened Spirits

[Ricky Maze]

Valo's looking into Ricky was more than enough for the fisherman, he was happy to know while Valo wasn't speaking much the artist was listening. This being a good sign, considering the fact Ricky wasn't when he was in the same position. Well he was but he never fully took it in, not until a few nights ago when his mind finally cleared itself. It was right after Ricky apologized that Valo finally spoke, which brought Ricky's eyes to meet with Valo's. "You have nothing to be sorry for Ricky. I believe it's me who should apologize for being a bother." Valo explained to follow through with his question, Ricky smiled and slowly shook his head. "No Valo, I'm the one who should be apologizin. Ye were only doin what ye thought was right, I had to play the ass and say what I said to ya. It wasn't right of me to do that, not when ye were bein a friend for me." Ricky explained still holding the smile, for the first time he was actually happy to be speaking with someone. Happy he could tell them all that ge wanted to tell, happy he would get to share his thoughts once again. He wasn't afraid of being judged anymore, his pride had been leveled down enough to accept things. "I was too upset about what I lost, I thought I didn't have anythin left for me. I was wrong." He admitted. "I didn't think I had those that still cared for me, and in short I just pushed those that did away. I gave myself the excuse that I really was alone, because I didn't want my burden to be on anyone else." He sighed as he looked to the fire, but when he looked in the artists green hued eyes there was a sincere look within his. A look that would tell Valo he finally accepted everything that happened. "But I'm not gonna be a burden, I'm gonna be that good friend everyone needs. I'm gonna make up for my stupid choices and be who I'm meant to be, and it's ye who I'm startin with." He smiled to Valo, and waited to hear what the artist had to say.

[Valo]

That smile upon Ricky's face was a beautiful radiant one. A spark of sunlight after the storm. The kind of light that battled any clouds that may hover over the world, a jubilant smile and an uplifting one. At that precise point, Valo saw the strength in Ricky and it inspired him. He saw the joy in Ricky and it made him wish so deeply to have his own strength and fallow the in the footsteps of the bear. To rise from this pestilence and this death that had staled him during the season of winter and to allow those experienced to make him a stronger man. For what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Something Valo had one said and was scolded for. Something he had not truly understood until this moment. In his mind he forged plans. Elaborate plans of art, archery, meditation and other such skills. A season to learn the art of reimancy somehow. A season to truly work on himself. Little did the poor artist know of the abrupt shift in tide that awaited him just around the corner.

In Valo's eyes, Ricky was being foolish even now. For if he had not the right to act the way he did when they last spoke, than who had? In his view, a man who lost something precious to him had precisely such a right. He did not however voice this opinion, for there was one word which touched the artist profoundly. Indeed, at heart Valo was little more than a girl, but to have the title 'friend' bestowed upon himself so casually was perhaps the best feeling of all. For friends is precisely what they were and friends they would be for a long time still. Truly Valo had little comprehension of the magnitude of the importance of this friendship in the days to come.

"I was too upset about what I lost, I thought I didn't have anything left for me. I was wrong." He admitted. "I didn't think I had those that still cared for me, and in short I just pushed those that did away. I gave myself the excuse that I really was alone, because I didn't want my burden to be on anyone else."

"I'm glad you came to this realisation." replied Valo, his arms crossed about his chest beneath the blankets, so that the cloth traced the slender round shape, in a manner of substantial self-righteousness. "For as I believe I stated before, you are never alone." He watched as for a moment Ricky looked to the fire. A moment of silence engulfing them as the artist's eyes traced that profile of his. The smother lines across the nose and lip and the way they separated crisply with the dim interior. The subtle chiaroscuro of hue, tinted softly with elaborate shades of orange from the fire. The flickering shadows within the hollows of the bear man's feature that danced in rhythm with the flames. The delicate shadow of grey toned purple, as if a was by the brush of some divine artist. A moment of inspiration for Valo, for he was a soul that simply adored the atmospheric usage of chiaroscuro in paintings.

But once the fisherman looked back and the words from his lips rolled out like a truly touching speech. the artist couldn't help but feel as if the very blue eyes themselves were speaking. A message of acceptance, a simplicity, an awaiting for the better brighter future ahead of them. "But I'm not gonna be a burden, I'm gonna be that good friend everyone needs. I'm gonna make up for my stupid choices and be who I'm meant to be, and it's ye who I'm startin with." A smile that was shared between them for however much Ricky smiled, he'd find the same mirrored within the man he addressed. A complete uplifting. An epiphany for the both of them.

He chuckled at the foolishness of Ricky's words, but it was a kind chuckle. A warm chuckle, void of even the tiniest notes of condescension. "Hardly a burden my dear Ricky. And whereas your debt to me is concerned; consider this payment." he laughed merrily, raising his arms still in the crossed position, ever so slightly and dropping them in signalling of the kind deed that had just been bestowed upon him. "I must admit though, it is lovely to see a smile upon your face and the lightening of your spirit. The single greatest gift a friend could wish for after the season of gloom."

He paused for a moment, the face of a man who seemed to have forgotten all the troubles of the world. Alight. Even that perpetual shame of his disappeared, for it seemed he no longer cared about that fleeting dignity he was so concerned for. Ricky was a friend and allowing one self to be vulnerable before one's friends in merely a less enjoyable part of life, but too a very important one.

"Tell me Ricky, now that you're this brighter, better self, what are your plans for the future?"

[Ricky Maze]

"Hardly a burden my dear Ricky. And whereas your debt to me is concerned; consider this payment." Both Valo and Ricky laughed at once, the event that played out today would make this memory a favorable one. "I must admit though, it is lovely to see a smile upon your face and the lightening of your spirit. The single greatest gift a friend could wish for after the season of gloom." "Aye, it's a damn good relief for sure." Ricky agreed with a nod, the moment was in fact a bit too mushy; but the bear didn't care anymore. Let these times where moments of happiness seemed pure, for there would be no more of the withdrawal from it any longer. It was time Ricky exposed his feelings as well as his spirit to the world once more, time to break out of the internal shell he crafted to escape in. "Tell me Ricky, now that you're this brighter, better self, what are your plans for the future?" Valo finally asked with a curious intent. Ricky did not need to hesitate to find his answer. "After I finish apologizin to a few others I told off I'm gettin my shyke together, from there I'll see about gettin my house built back up. If not then I'll just get another one, and from there it'll be helpin out those that matter most to me." As he spoke he still had the smile from before, his eyes lit by the fires of determination. He would do everything in his power to make this change possible, he would make the happiness he felt now last for the rest of his life. Ricky would build his future like he planned to before, even though a friend was missing from the picture he wouldn't let it stop him. For Odis lived on in his heart, and it was from there Ricky would follow the path. "I'm just a bit short on funds though." He admitted as he remembered the amount he'd nees to start off. Had he not been the idiot to drink so much Kelp Beer and saved the Nilo he had instead things would surely have been different. Alas that chapter was already etched in stone, and history cannot be rewritten once it is done.

[Valo]

Valo watched with content those flames of determination in the eyes of his friend. The very glowing embers that illuminated the entirety of his feature with a radiant smile. And he listened as the sailor talked of rebuilding his house which Valo. a symbol it seemed, a metaphore, carved physically, stamped by the sweat upon one's brow and the hard work that would go into rebuilding both the house, but also Ricky's life. A change that could only be a change for the better.

Once Ricky's admittance was voiced, Valo couldn't help him self thinking that perhaps if he had been there more often and prevented his friend wasting all his money on beer, than perhaps such wouldn't be the problem now. A moment of anger at him self that had physically manifested in little else than the abrupt dropping of his eyes into the flames, yet the returning of them, brighter and stronger by the moment. What was done couldn't be undone but perhaps there was another way he could prove useful to his friend. And though Valo was not a man made of money, he had a few GM to spare. A man of idealistic thought he was, believing wholly and truly that whatever he saws into a friendship, would be harvested in equal value.

"Ricky if you need money, I'd be more than happy to lend you some. " smiled the artist. A good deed now. One day Ricky would no doubt do something just as honourable for him, there was no doubt in his heart about that. A good deed, to repent his future sin.

[Ricky Maze]

"Ricky if you need money, I'd be more than happy to lend you some." Valo smiled as he extended the invitation. Ricky chuckled as he would normally decline, but given his disposition he wasn't necessarily able to do such a thing. "I'd respectfully turn ya down lad, but honestly anything ye can spare would be helpful." He admitted with a loose smile, it was never like Ricky to bum off other friends. Then again he would repay what he owed to Valo as soon as he had the chance, it was after all how a friendship worked. There was no shame in having help from a friend in anyway, and that was exactly what Valo was doing. "I'll repay ya back as soon as the opportunity occurs." He assured his friend with a comfortable smile. This smile would show that he was no longer stubborn or prideful, and that he would indeed think of Valo's action as a kidness only a friend could give. Such kidness had to be repayed however possible.

[Valo]

In all honesty Valo was already preparing him self both mentally and physically to argue with the sailor. He almost expected Ricky to refuse in his pride and stubbornness, turning down that opportunity due to simple prevalence of his ego over common sense. Suffice to say, Valo was expecting an argument, expected to be faced with the opportunity to debate his case until the money would be thrust into Ricky's hands whether he liked it or not. For a moment it seemed that both men were equally as proud and egotistical. Valo with his profound altruism that knew no boundaries, which he prided him self upon with a beating hear and a self righteous glow in those emerald eyes of him; and Ricky with the, displayed so may times before, no wish to accept that as his friend's nature.

No such argument came however and Valo's was left victorious even before he had the chance to battle his case. A victory with no taste of victory and a baffled expression that washed though his face as a prerequisite to the merry smile that fallowed. "Well then my friend, it is settled. And don't you dare change your mind now." he chuckled, a humorous warning in that honey smooth voice of his, yet a warning none the less. A certain sternness in the very pleasant manner of his.

[Ricky Maze]

"Well then my friend, it is settled. And don't you dare change your mind now." Valo chuckled warmly with a smile, as did Ricky when he heard the artist. The warning was one taken to heart, as Ricky knew he couldn't go back on his word. Not that he intended to really, in fact it was actually a relief to finally be able to admit and accept help when he needed it. "If anythin, I'm changin me. Ain't got time to be waitin around anymore, it's time I act the way I should be." He admitted once again. "Besides knowin me and you, we'd probably but heads until they met our ass's." He laughed at the thought. He truely did believe Valo was a good friend deep down, even when their relationship was on rocky shores. Yet the winter just proved their friendship to be even stronger, more bonded due to the course of their trials. It was this bond that proved Valo to be someone very close, for he was indeed a fated friend.

[Valo]

At that very statement Valo burst out with a wave of spontaneous laughter that was indeed so very difficult to subdue. A merriness that sprouted from the complete lightening of spirit. An indulgence in Ricky's company, the joy in this very light hearted way in which they could converse. To oblivion with clouds. Life was too short for that!

"I'd during to that, my dear Ricky. Well said. Truly well said." replied the artist, nearly tripping over his own words from laughter. That chiselled feature of his, with skin of paper thin alabaster now creased at his cheek in lovely dimples. Lip, a little more coloured than usual, from beneath which his pearl white teeth sparkled. The gentle wrinkling of flesh about his eyes as there was nothing but joy within him. Ricky proved to be some sort of flesh bound medicine, the perfect remedy.

It was strange that a man whom he met in illness of spirit has such a profound effect of Valo. perhaps it was all they had been though that brought them this close. Or perhaps there was something more mystical in it all, a web of fate that bound them, guided them along those shady paths until they joined upon one broad road. Steps of sunshine in their wake. Strange it all was, that in times like these, such a friend could be so simply found among the plague ridden streets of Zeltiva.

"We'd probably but heads until they met our ass's." he finally echoed as the laughter was suppressed. A phrase that will linger in his memory for a very long time and every time he'll think of Ricky, that very statement. "Alas friend, any amount you need, providing that I can of course provide, is yours. I doubt I have it on my person at this moment, but I'll make sure to find you in the nearest future and bring you the money."

[Ricky Maze]

"Alas friend, any amount you need, providing that I can of course provide, is yours. I doubt I have it on my person at this moment, but I'll make sure to find you in the nearest future and bring you the money." Valo assured the fisherman. Ricky honestly couldn't help his face from being its tan color to a blushed red. Not out of anger but slight embarassment, for being a bum was far more testing than he thought. Always shy and.nervous when it came to money, the idea of borrowing some from a friend was far more difficult to work with; far more difficult than he thought. "Oh uh well," He rubbed the back of his head as he beat around the bush, "If its no trouble at all. I'm eh, about twenty-five nilo's short." He finally spilled out the request and broke passed the limits of his embarrassment, but that still didn't mean he still felt odd about the whole thing. It was a awkwardness he wasn't use to, finally going over the boundaries of his comfort zone into unknown territory. It was like sailing uncharted waters, never knowing what he would find but a anxious exciting trip all together.

[Valo]

He watched as red pigment surfaced within the tan on Ricky's feature. Sure, it was not nearly as prominent as it could be, if only the sailors skin was a tone lighter, but it did not escape the eyes of the artist. In fact it probably wouldn't escape anyone. A rose coloured blush of embarrassment upon his cheeks, the slight inability to spit out those words. It was quite clear Ricky was uncomfortable with his request but Valo would sooner drop dead, than allow this to half his own kindness. He felt indebted to the sailor for providing the warmth of his home in times when Valo needed it, thus he would too provide.

"Threat not my friend, I'll bring the money back tomorrow, thirst thing in the morning." he smiled in a carefree mannerism. Locks of scarlet fell before his eyes. Alas slowly drying into a frizzy tangle. Slowly, for the warmth of the interior and the warmth of the atmosphere was great.