Grump Knight[Nadia]

Another break. Albrecht was not one to idle around but with how short those breaks were he didn't had enough time to train, so instead he'd rather use his time trying to catch up on his studies or eating, usually in seclusion from other students. This time around the Knight was sitting by himself and snacking on some protein bars.

Being a cadet he didn't had to be alone, many students would feel honored being around him and there were also his fellow cadets. But even with those around him there was still a feeling of not belonging. He was after all an outsider to both in some way, being foreigner and also not a normal civilian. But he had grown used to this loneliness, and it was better that way. It was only himself and his thoughts, planning his next training session or the slaughter of the spawn of satan.

Nadia was feeling better since her rather selfish leave from school. Her friends were there for her, and had pulled her out of some rather...unproductive thoughts. She wasn't about to dwell on them, though, although she felt like perhaps they might be. She had to keep herself from falling back into those kinds of considerations, for her friends' sakes if not for her own.

So she continued on with her rather typical exercise of running away from her thoughts towards other kinds of experiences. As she walked through the lunch room during break time, grabbing a quick snack from the alacart, she saw Albrecht sitting alone at one of the round tables. She supposed it shouldn't be surprising to her since the school was the base of operations for the Cadets, but she still hadn't expected to see him. Carrying her small cup of sliced apples in one hand, and the other hand gripping the strap of her messenger bag, she strode up to him. In the mid-morning light that filtered in from overhead, and the way he was sitting alone and hunched with his thoughts, reminded her sharply of the other night the last time she had seen him - before she had resolved to take her own life. How funny it was to think that these events might have easily gone differently. Like if she had ended her life, he would continue to sit, without ever seeing her here.

One raindrop raises the sea, she thought.

"Hello, Albrecht!" She announced herself cheerily as she took the seat across from him without asking. It was a feeling of Dejavu for her to be sure. But, she was in much better spirits than she had been the time before, and she wanted to share that feeling with this brooding Cadet, if she could. "You look as though you could use some company." She smiled, and offered him a slice of apple with slim fingers.

When a voice called for his name, his mind was pulled away from the thoughts of violence and vengeance and instead shifted to the person who called for him. He looked up to see the pale girl he had met at the bar not long ago, the one who pestered him with personal questions and then got drunk because she couldn't control herself. Though she seemed way happier right now than she was back then.

"Oh. Hey, Nadia." He greeted her, neutral in both tone and expression. He'd refuse the apple slices, he had his own snack already. "I'm fine on my own but if you wish to sit down with me, go ahead." Albrecht was used to being by himself most of the time, most people annoyed him anyways, though Nadia could be alright. He wondered why sit down with him and not her boyfriend or friends but Albrecht wouldn't pry."How was the hangover?"

Nadia munched on the apple slices on her own once he had turned it down, glancing around idly just to see who else was in the cafeteria at the time. When she looked back to Albrecht, he was asking her a question about how she had faired after he had taken her home after their meeting at the bar. How was her hangover? In truth, she had been feeling so miserable that she hadn't noticed the difference very much. She wasn't sure how to really say that though.

"I spent most of the next day in bed anyway. I remember my head hurt a lot, and I was really thirsty." She took a bit out of one of the apple pieces and let her eyes travel to his own snack. "Umm I wanted to thank you. For talking to me that night. Even though I didn't really give you much choice." She giggled. "I think my boyfriend got the message. Do you...have some one you care about like that? A girlfriend or a boyfriend?" The last time they met he had been drinking to forget his own problem, and ended up helping her with hers. She wondered if maybe she could return the favor. "Is that why you were drinking?" She asked casually, looking around to make sure nobody overheard her talking about them drinking. They were still underage, Cadet or no.

"Sounds about right." He took a bit from his bar, his head perked up and his left eyebrow raised when she mentioned she wanted to thank him. "Glad to hear, and don't worry. I was just trying to waste my time anyways..." He didn't seem much bothered until he had heard her following questions. She was still curious about his life, why he was drinking. It bothered him, he could entertain her questions though.

"There's this girl, she likes me... but its complicated, though if you ask her i'm sure she'd say we are a couple." He scratched his head for a while. He was drinking for reasons other than Patty but it was also not entirely unrelated. "Where is your boyfriend? Wouldn't you rather spend time with him?"

Nadia smiled bemusedly at his mention of someone who liked him. If she was asked, she would say they were a couple, but he wouldn't necessarily say that? That sounded a little familiar. It reminded her of how everyone at the Karaoke bar was saying that Cecil was her boyfriend before she or he ever acknowledged the concept. It hadn't been entirely without basis, though. Perhaps this wasn't either.

Albrecht's next question pushed the focus from him back onto her. Where was Cecil? Well, right now he'd probably be in the library studying for an exam. "Cecil is in the library probably studying. He takes it very seriously. But we don't have to spend all our time together." She replied with a shrug. Now that he mentioned it, she was a littl curious what Cecil was up to, but She didn't want to buzz around him and annoy him. He had things to focus on other than her, and whenever she was around, he seemed to lose focus on whatever else he was doing. "Life is complicated, people are complicated. Relationships are complicated by necessity. But it's worth it to try. At least, I have found that's the case." She blushed a little as she remembered Cecil's last visit.

"That makes sense." He gave the girl a nod. It was healthy even to not stay with each other at all times and give each other breathing room, or so Albrecht thought. He had no experience with romance. But it sounds like something his older sister would say, so it must be true. "I just don't understand much how these things work, how two people start dating. I barely understand if i like her, i never liked anyone romantically." He had turned a bit bashful upon admitting that. On top of not quite understanding his own feelings, he felt as if she'd never be happy with a beast of war like himself.

Nadia nodded at Albrecht's words, and considered for a moment before she spoke. It had happened a certain way for her - and she was known to be different from other people. She wasn't sure how much her experience could be applied to this situation, but she might as well give it a shot since they were already on the subject anyway. "Well, for Cecil and I it sort of happened without either of us really knowing. We spent a lot of time together...and after a while I couldn't really imagine not spending time with him. It's like... -and mind you, I hadn't ever felt it before either- but it's like this comfort or um..." She gesticulated with her hands, trying to find words. "Like this person has brought something new and valuable into your life, and you want to be close to them, because if they leave, they'll be taking that new important thing with them, and you'll be lacking in it." She set her hands back on the table, helplessly. "Or atleast, that's how I feel anyway."

"I guess what I'm trying to say is, you should follow it and see what happens. There's more to life than hunting terrorists and all the other things cadets do. You might just find that it's something you'd miss if you didn't have it." She finished, taking a bite of her snack with a satisfied crunch. Was she giving relationship advice now? wow how the tables had turned.

Her words resonated with him he felt very much that way about Patricia, though it was still hard to tell apart from friendship to him. He had people who he lost and they had something he will never have again, and they were just friends or family. So perhaps he had to seek if there was anything different he felt about Patty than he felt with anyone else... She is really pretty for one, and she makes him feel like he belongs somewhere.

"I see." More to life than hunting terrorists? She wouldn't be wrong if it was any other cadet, but Albrecht was barely a person anymore, he only existed to slay demons. Perhaps the husk or remnant of the human he once was was there, but it only served for him to interact with other people.
"You are not the first person to tell me to go through with it... Maybe i should give it a chance after all."

Nadia beamed as he accepted her words, and they seemed to atleast register with him on some level. That meant their connection wasn't just a misfortunate alcoholic experience anymore. Though, if she was honest, she hoped to see about getting him to help her buy alcohol again sometime. She really liked the way it made her feel.

"I definitely think you should. It's a really great feeling, when you find someone that makes you feel like you belong somewhere. Before I met Cecil, I felt like I could probably disappear and it would have no effect on the world. But he makes me feel like I have a place...if that makes sense." She was blushing now, gushing like a silly school girl. But that didn't bother her that much. It felt good to talk about it. She wanted to scream about this feeling from the roof sometimes, though Cecil would probably be mortified - or worried she'd throw herself off - or both. "Sorry, I don't mean to...what do they call it...gushing? I don't mean to gush about it. I just think everyone should have the chance to know what it feels like."

"I can tell you really liking him. No shame in that, i suppose..." It was good that some people were finding happiness, even after such catastrophic and traumatic event, even when locked away in a single city forever. To him there was no such thing as happiness however, only a path of battle and death which he walks alone. "My best wishes for you both seeing as you two worked out your problems." Albrecht would take another bite from his bar, falling into silence again.

Nadia sat and nodded as she munched her apples quietly. He'd wished her well. Yet another Cadet that she could see herself being on good terms with. She wondered briefly if he would still be so friendly with her if he knew she was a 'Psyche Terrorist' even though the only thing she was guilty of doing was the same thing he did for a living.

Not that she would bring that up to him. She wasn't great as social interactions, but she wasn't stupid. "Thank you on behalf of both of us!" Nadia replied, "Even if it isn't this girl that likes you, I hope you're able to find someone who makes you feel like you're the most important person in the world, and who you can do the same for. And you know...share some good times with. It's important with the lives we live. That is - with the threat of all those demons or whatever, and Psyche Terrorists. You never know how long you have to enjoy these things." Finishing her snack, Nadia stood from the chair. Talking about Cecil suddenly made her want to see him, so she imagined she'd do just that. "I think I will go see him, actually. It was good seeing you again...Al." She giggled sweetly a little as she began walking away towards the direction of the library.

>> [Nadia Exit]