The Awaited Conversation

"I'm Bell Cranel. I'm an adventurer. You saved me from a Minotaur a few days ago, on the 5th floor of the Dungeon. I don't know if you even remember me, but I have something for you that I very much want you to have." He said straight, looking Aiz Wallenstein right in the eyes as she spoke. He was still dead focused on her, but now that he had actually spoken his little bubble had faded and he could hear a bit more of what was going on around him again.

The werewolf was laughing uproariously, Aiz's goddess was giving him one hell of a stink eyes, and the other Loki familia adventurers were all looking on quite curiously, with the exception of one Amazon who looked like she was about to speak up before another Amazon beside her elbowed her into holding back and waiting for Aiz. The sounds of the bar still carried on behind him, but they seemed quieter than before, all the parties nearby to him having also stilled in what they were doing to watch as the plucky young weakling before them spoke to Aiz Wallenstein, the Sword Princess, and a Level 5 adventurer.

He raised his hand, and revealed the earrings that were held within them. The Werewolf stopped laughing just enough to peer one beady eye at his offering, and then began laughing once again, even more vigorously than before. The Goddess on the other hand seemed actually annoyed with him now. "Mou Aizu~" She whined, leaning forwards towards the blonde and wrapping her arms around her. "No admirers. You're mine!" She whined.

Aiz used one arm to grab her Goddess by the forehead and push her away with just enough **** to make her move without shoving her halfway across the table. "Ah no. I didn't buy these." Bell quickly tried to clarify. "They were a drop item from the Minotaur you saved me from. I grabbed them before I ran away, but you were the one that killed it. It isn't right for me to have them."

The Blonde's eyes widened slightly at being informed of that fact, and her eyes flicked down to the earrings. The smaller chested Amazon took that as her chance to speak. "Sorry Bunny boy, but that doesn't make sense. Minotaurs drop horns and pelts, they don't have stuff like this. You sure you didn't just pick these up from some corpse or something?"

"No. They definitely came from the Minotaur." He asserted to the woman, before turning back to facing Aiz again. "Which means they definitely belong to you." He said again, thrusting the hand holding the earrings out towards her. Aiz's face was unintelligible, so he continued. "You saved my life. You're the only reason I'm still alive and adventuring today. It isn't right for anyone to have them but you."

"Oh yeah?" Loki slurred out, making a grab for the earrings though missing by quite a margin thanks to her intoxication. Bell still sharply drew his hand back anyway to make sure that the goddess didn't snatch the earrings away. "I'm Aizu's Goddess. It was my Familia that saved your life. Why can't I have them?"

"I... I mean." He almost collapsed in on himself, almost reverting to the stuttering youth he had been a few weeks ago. But he knew Ryuu was behind him. He knew that Syr, and the eyes of half of the people in the bar were on him right now. He couldn't run again. Not from Aiz Wallenstein. "If Aiz wants to give them to you that is fine, but she killed the Minotaur. She earned the rewards. I won't hand them over to anyone but her."

There was a stillness about the bar as everyone looked on, waiting for Aiz's response. Even the drunk deity turned to look at the Sword Princess, awaiting what her favourite would say in response to Bell's outpouring. Slowly Aiz's hands daintily lifted up, and cupped his own holding the earrings.

And pushed them back towards him. "No." She said. He was almost crushed the moment the words came from her mouth. But she wasn't done. "We chased the Minotaurs up. It's my fault you were in danger. I shouldn't be rewarded for solving a problem I caused."

Aiz Wallenstein was perfect. She was a beautiful angel of a woman. She said only a few words, but her voice seemed to practically sing through the air, soothing the turmoil in his soul the moment that he heard it. He wanted to fight back, he wanted to argue against her, insist that she take the earrings as was her right. But Aiz Wallenstein had touched him, taken his hands in hers, and then made clear that he should keep them.

To deny her would be to deny the wishes of the woman who had saved his life. And he couldn't bring himself to do that when she was staring him right in the face, her eyes locked with his own. So, gradually, he withdrew his hands from her own, and slipped the earrings into his pocket. "Alright." He said, smiling as much as he could and hoping it didn't look **** as he bowed to the woman. "Thank you kindly for your time."

The werewolf burst out with even louder laughter, and Loki almost immediately threw herself at Aiz and began to proclaim that she knew that she would never leave her for some boy skank. There was an overall ruffle of laughter through the tavern as everyone else there saw the young adventurer who had tried to proposition Aiz Wallenstein be thoroughly rejected and sent on his way.

But Bell didn't see it that way. As he walked away from the table, his hand in his pocket still clenching the earrings he had tried to offer the Sword Princess, he saw something entirely different. And unbeknownst to himself, Aiz Wallenstein was the only other person within the tavern that felt the exact same way. What had passed between the two adventurers was not a rejection. It was not some convoluted excuse to make a proposition to a woman far out of his league that had been thoroughly stamped down on. It was more symbolic than that. There had been a silent conversation held between the locked eyes of two adventures with all the world to prove.

'I made a mistake. I'm sorry. Keep these to remind me that I still need to get better.'

'I will. And I promise I will keep striving to match you. These earrings are your failure, and my symbol of what I still need to become. Let these be both of our drives. Lets both keep doing our best.'

'I'd like that.'

"I am sorry that you were turned down Bell." Ryuu's voice shook him out of his thoughts, stepping forwards and offering him what he was sure she thought was a comforting hug. She pulled him flush against her front, but he didn't let her pull his head into her shoulder as she tried to do. He remembered one of the many pieces of advice his Grandfather had given him before he had left on his adventure. 'Never trust a hug. It's just an excuse to hide your face.' And Bell didn't want to hide his face right now. Instead he met eyes with Ryuu, and where she had expected to see sadness, disappointment and failure.

She didn't. Instead she saw a steadfast determination set onto his face like nothing before. Even more than when she had given him her advice on that very first day, Bell had changed over the course of one single short conversation. Indeed, conversation might not even be the way to describe it given how few words had actually passed between the two parties involved. But that didn't matter. Ryuu was struck by just how much older Bell looked than that young boy that had stumbled into the Hostess one early morning.

"Don't be. I know more than ever what I need to do now. I need to catch up to her. And she isn't going to wait around for me." His hand withdrew from his pocket, revealing the earrings once more as Ryuu pulled away, looking up at him curiously. Slowly, but with absolute certainty in every movement that he took, Bell reequipped the earrings to each of his ears. "How do I look?" He asked, his smile shining, blood red eyes not at all the intimidating sight that one might expect to see.

"Exceptionally ordinary Bell." She said honestly.

"Good. All of the best Heroes are the ones who rise from nothing." He replied. "Sorry Ryuu, but I won't be able to stick around. I have something that I need to do."

"Oh don't mind me. So long as you return in time for your daily incentive, then I would not think of stopping you." She said, seeming to finally catch on, at least to some extent, what was going on, and a small, soft smile came to grace her lips.

"It won't." He said, stooping at planting a tiny, chaste kiss right on Ryuu's cheek. "But for now, I think it is time I head out on my Adventure." And so he turned and headed out of the tavern. At the door he stopped for a moment, lingering there. The tavern was just as lively and rowdy as you would expect, the whole crowd plied with fine food and drink, boisterously sharing stories or relaxing with some of the best things in life. Everywhere you looked was another adventurer telling their stories of epic battles or near scrapes with ****, or just an amusing tale about a goblin. All of them were his seniors. All of them were more experienced, and more skilled, and could beat him black and blue with ease. Each of them was on their own adventure, in their own way.

And at one table near the far back, surrounded by companions as loud as the rest of the horrid lot the place called its patrons, sat a quiet blonde woman who was likely stronger than all of them. And she had eyes only for him. Locking eyes with her, he brushed one hand up over the earrings now returned to their place adorning his own ears. He saw her pupils adjust slightly at the sight.

He nodded once. She nodded back.

And with that he left, out into the night, the Dungeon his goal.