Dezert Lizerdz

Did you know cactus make good training bags? No, probably not, most people would look at all the prickly spines and edges and think it was a bad idea.

But the spiky sharp edges and tough exterior are exactly why Vertina is out here using them as training dummies. Hitting something with a bit extra biteback helped maintain the toughness her own hands and feet needed to be used as living weapons without hurting herself. Punch punch kick. Punch kick punch. Kick punch punch. Occasionally replacing punchs with judo chops, or stabbing with her clawed nails. But she's just going through the burst combos of blows over and over again.

    The kind of display does attract the attention of someone else, eventually. Which... WEll, when most of the surrounding areas just outside of the town are dunes of sands, it's not terribly difficult to spot someone else from a distance.

    "Hello!" A familiar voice calls from a few paces behind Vertina then. Apparently, Atif still manages to get at least in the general vicinity of other people without making much prior sounds, for he's standing there, with his hands clasped together behind his back while he watches the other Salamander at work, heavy tail idly flicking from side to side.
    "Fancy seeing you here!"

Vertina takes a step back, rocking from one foot to the other and fists up as she gets ready for another round... But pauses when she hears a familiar voice speak up. Glances over her shoulder. "Hello Atif. I was just getting some morning workout in." Being a Salamander the fact that desert is going to get hotter as the day goes on doesn't really deter her much.

    "I see, I see," rumbles Atif with a few rapid nods of his head before he goes circling around Vertina and the cactus she was using as a punching dummy, head tilting slightly to one side with a curious hum. "Things like this is why I'm glad for at least part of me having scales." He boucnes lightly on his feet, and then leans to the side to peer around the cactus at the other lizard once more. "I'm guessing you're 'round here for that whole tournament thing?"

"Indeed... Though I'm still thinking of getting some manner of punching weapon." Vertina snaps forward and spins up, lashing out a roundhouse kick that busts one of the arms off the cactus and sends it tumbling across the hot sands.

"I was." Her foot comes back down and kicks up a little grit before her movement stops entirely. "But I was up against a caster with a highly effective combo I had little proper defense for, so I'm out. Still other matches to watch though, maybe I'll still learn something." She doesn't seem all that upset about it. "I'm just glad to be competing in anything again."

    "Aaaah, that's a shame," rumbles Atif, rounding to the other side of the cactus once VErtina has finished her grime-launching kick.
    "I came around here for other reasons, but I kind of wish I'd come along to at least watch. I bet it would have been exciting to see you in action!" Teeth flash briefly with an all-too-bright smile.
He considers the other salamander for a moment, and a scaled foot scuffs lightly along the sand underneath it. "So... any other plans, while you're here?"

"Besides." Vertina walks over to where the chunk of cactus landed. Scoops a foot under it and kicks it up. "Both Wyn and Wisteria are still in." She bounces it off one knee, and then the other. "I'm here to support them." She goes back and forth a few times, before giving it a proper football striker kick that sends the cactus chunk hurtling far off across the dunes. "Nothing other than just my excersize."

    "Ooooooh!" Atif looks up, up, high, after the cactus piece sent flying, with one hand held up just over his crimson brows to keep his eyes shaded. "THere it goes! You know, seeing you do all that makes me wonder if the Landers here work any ballgames." A cheerful sound of laughter with that, before he spins back aroudn over to facing Vertina. "Well, you want some food? I brought along a few bentous Hifumi made back over. They actually taste like something!"

"Don't know. The era is probably more interested in gladiator matches. Or stuff that evolved from work tasks, like axe throwing and caber tossing." Vertina scrapes her food in the sand a few times to clean cactus remains off of it, and walks over to the other Salamander. "I could use something to munch on after that workout. -Real- food you say?"

    "We could always try to introduce football anyway and see how they react," Atif suggests with a neager nod of his head. His expression brightens up even further when Vertina walks over to him, then, and he chimes out, "Yeees!"
    A quick scroll of a finger through the menu, and a bento box pops up on the palm of his hand, all while his tail thumps lightly against the sand behind him. "Hifumi mostly makes grilled foods, so I've got rice and glazed boar and roasted veggies here. We should go find somewhere to sit, though, it kinda sucks to eat while standing... or sitting on the sand, I guess."

"That's the place they opened in the Ninetails capital, yes?" Vertina strolls off to the side while Atif is getting the food from his inventory. "There's some rocks over here we can sit on. At least won't get sand everywhere else it doesn't need to be."

    "Yeah, it's all coarse and gets every..." Atif shakes his head firmly as he cuts his own words off there, suddenly frowning. ":..Nevermind. That was weird..."
    He inevitably finds himself sitting down at a larger rock with VErtina's guidance, and holds out the box to her. "Hifumi opened up that one restaurant, yeah. I get boxes from him whenever I think I am going on some trip further out enoguh that I can't just go back. I don't think any Adventurer aroudn here in Westelande has started making food like this, yet, so... I came prepared."

Vertina picks out some of the boar meat and roast veggies, smooshing them together in a sort of finger sandwhich for easier handling. "There's been some vendors at the tournament," including Hifumi himself "But I think that's it right now. We're kind of distant from where a lot of the Adventurer action goes on right now. Since even sailing here you still have a day hiking across the desert." She takes a bite. "Mmm. Always good to get some real tasting food~"

    "Oh, well that's convenient!" Atif perks up a little with this. "Even more reason for me to come check out the proceedings. Maybe I can find someone besides Hifumi making food afterall!" Pause. "... WEll, I mean, Gwen did put together that burger joint, so maybe more people will be following suite either way. But hey... If all else fails, I *think* we can still get real-tasting meat out of just getting a drop from mobs and using fire on it?" Beat. "... Assuming we can get it to drop..." Stupid rng.
    He watches Vertina taking the bite, though, and... well, he smiles. That might be a given with him to begin with, but there's something more sincerely warm with this one. "I have chopsticks in my inventory too, you know," he points out, only soudning vaguely amused with it. "You want some? The glazing might get messy~."

"... Oh, right, chopsticks," Vertina murmurs a little sheepishly. "It smelled so good I couldn't wait any longer. Hehehe."
She nods at the rest of the conversation while Atif is retrieving utensils. "Location is important. My family ran an inn and tavern on the coast for many generations. Originally for the fishermen and such, but over time it became a tourist attraction as well."

    Atif can't help but let out a low, barely-restraind sound of an amused chuckle, briefly muffled against one hand. "That's cute of you," he lets slip without thinking about it. His own words catch up with him right after, though, and it brings a bit of red on his tanned cheeks. "Er, uh... CHopsticks, right, yes..." A flick of the menu, and a pair is held out to the other Salamander, with him looking off into the horizon instead. "Here..."
    He does peek at her over the mention of her family's tavern, though. "Yeah? Whereabouts, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Along the northeastern coast." Vertina accepts the chopsticks. "When Japan lightened its restrictions on necessary production levels for brewing business my father and uncle added a microbrewery of their own to help deal with the increasing tourist flow." After explaining she resumes eating properly with the utensiles.

    Atif lifts his feet up off the sands, and taps their heels against each other, briefly, while he listens. Keeping his hands on his own knees, he seems content enough to just let Vertina eat, for now. "... You know, I never really got to drink anything... alcoholic, before we ended up here," he admits. "So I, uh... don't know about any of that stuff."

Vertina can't say anything while she's chewing but she holds up a hand in a 'wait a moment' gesture as Atif mentions that. Then turns to retrieve from her own inventory, pulling out a small flask and handing it towards him. It takes another moment before she can finish and swallow. "Here, try some. It's just some fermented berry juice, so it's not very strong, not actually to the point of being wine yet. But it's got a little zing. Best I can do until I find more suited facilities."

    Atif blinks once in surprise at the gesture-- but he waits patiently in silence while she chews through the food in her mouth. WHen the flask comes out, he gives it... well, a bit of a suspicious look, truth be told, before he takes it from her. "Uh..." He rumbles, peering down at it while hesitantly turning the cap off. "... You're not trying to get me drunk, are you?" He asks, in a more or less teasing tone.

Vertina laughs. "It would take more than that little bottle to get even a paperweight drunk! I need to get some proper brewing equipment and supplies before I can do more than turn berries into a fermented juice that gives you a light buzz. But you shared with me so it's only proper that I do the same." She withdraws a second similar flask.

    "Ah-eh... If you say so..." Atif rumbles with an obviously hesitant tone, still kind of just staring at the flask. When she brings out a second flask, though, he audible swallows, and then holds out the flask with the apparent intention of tapping it against hers. "...Kanpai?" He lets out, with that similiar uncertainty-- but, in spite of it, he manages to tip the flask up right after, and take a good swig of the liquid within.
    ...The swallowing doesn't come easy, though. It might be light, as far as alcoholic beverages go, but he the other salamander still ends up coughing a bit afterwards, on account of not being used to it. "Ah--"

Vertina taps her flask against his. "Kanpai!" 'Empty the glass'. A Japanese equivilent to 'Cheers!' for the unfamiliar. She has little problem with gulping down the entire flask in one go, leaning back a bit to do so.

Then she sits up, and with the other hand reachs over to pat Atif's back a few times when her coughs. "There, easy. Small steps. Or sips in this case."

    ...In contrast, poor Atif probabyl didn't manage more than a quarter of the flask's contents. If even that.

    "Hhh... It tastes like juice but it's got... a hell of an aftertaste, huh..." He rumbles in between further coughs while his back's getting the supportive pats. "Never drank anything like that before, you know... I, um... I was barely of age, and I kinda didn't have any interest on hitting any bars or anything..." He explains, with a sheepish glance asides to Vertina.

Vertina aaaahs. Pats his back again. "Well if it's any consolation, you did better than some of the tourists I've seen. They order a drink expecting it to be the same as whatever they got elsewhere. And then find out sake is nothing like the beer or wine they're use to."

    "I... guess that makes me feel better...?" Atif rumbles before he straightens up, cheeks flushed a bit red now. Except, you know, from the warmth of the almost-wine this time around, the lightweight that he is. "THat's, um... something. I'm... probably better off not jumping straight in to the batch you make when you have a better handle on how to make booze, yeah...?" A wry, smile, with a bit of self-conscious shame.

Vertina chuckles. "Yeah. We don't need any more Cactus Juice Streaker incidents." She pushes herself up from the rock. "Moderation is always the best choice. Know your limits. If not for yourself, for those around you." There's a slight hint of something more somber in that last remark, but it's quickly faded back to her usual peppiness.

    That subtle hint of somberness does not seem to go unnoticed, and Atif, too, frowns briefly as an unusual departure from his typical cheerfulness. It doesn't last for more than a few seconds, however, before he bounces up from the rock-seat. "This was nice, though!" He practically chirps out, with a smile offered to the other Salamander. "It was nice sharing a meal with someone while away from all the hustle and bustle of other stuff for once. We should do this again sometime!" ... And just like that, the redhead's cheerfulness turns to something considerably more sheepish. If not outright akward, what with the sudden need to glance off to the side and elsewhere, and with one foot scuffing along the ground. "... I mean, if, um. If you'd like to. Yeah..."

Vertina smirks. "You almost sound like you're trying to ask me on a date." She leans a little to the side, letting one hand rest on her hip. "But it is nice to just spend some time with your friends, and not in middle of some crazy quest or whatever. Even if those are rather fun."

    Called out like that, Atif ends up instinctively leaning back a bit while his face turns immensely, dangerously red -- enough to match the color of his hair and scales both! "I-- er, I mean, uh. um..." With a steadying inhalation of air, he does regain his composure somewhat, but even then it comes with another embarrassed look off to the side while a scaled hand rubs at the side of his neck.

    "...What if I was?" He manages to murmur out, eventually. Not that it does anything for the uncontrollable blush.

Vertina can't help but giggle a bit at the blushing that makes his face almost as red as the rest of himself. She gives him a half-lidded look of amusement with her smile as she leans forward a bit. "I didn't say no, now did I?"

    "U-...uh." That would be the face of a boy that did not actually expect to get that answer, then. He looks to Vertina, and swallows quietly from her forward lean. "... I... I haven't heard a 'yes' either," he points out, after a few seconds of hesitation.

Vertina stands up with a laugh at the response. But it's clearly a laugh of amusement, not like she was laughing at him. She points at the mostly empty bento box. "If I say yes will you show me where in Dun Loireag the place you got that from is?"

    Atif does seem vaguely worried for a moment regardless. But then, he blinks at her response, and... lets out a little laugh of amusement of his own, one scale-covered finger scratching a bit over his reddened cheek. "I mean, heh... I was going to show you regardless, but... Yes."

Vertina clamps her hands together, her tail giving an excited swat behind her. "Now that sounds like my kind of date." She's not the most girly of girls, to say the least.

    Atif's expression lights up with that, even if there is still remnants of that faintly-embarrassed blush lingering on his face. "I'll have to ask Hifumi if he can figure out something special once we get back to Dun Loireag, then," he offers with a firm nod of his head. "And... yeah..." Yep. Still on the akward side, but he's *trying*.

Vertina nods and gives Atif a pat on the shoulder. "I probably won't wander far from here for a while, so you know where to find me when you want to go."

    A more of wry smile at that, and Atif's own hand reaches up to pat it over Vertina's own over his shoulder, briefly. "I mean, you probably wanna watch some of the fights in the tournament first, right?"

Vertina nods, pigtails bobbing with the motion of her head. "I've still got friends competing, after all. It'd be a shame to not be there to cheer them on."

    "I'll probably come watch too, then," offers Atif with a firm nod of his head, smiling wide and bright. "I bet there's gotta be someone among the vendors who's made real food around there too, right?"

Vertina says "Got to be. It'd be passing up a perfect oppritunity to make that extra bit of gold otherwise.

    "There's one way to find out!" Suddenly, Atif's sliding right past Vertina -- but after one and a half steps, he turns himself around so he's facing her again, even as he takes a few more steps backwards. "Come on, you wanna go explore?"

Vertina stretchs her arms over her head. Then darts after the other Salamander. "You're right, that's the only way to know for sure!"

    The male Salamander lets out an outright joyous laugh when she sets after him, and turns himself around to an outright run along the sands. "Yeah, I figured you wouldn't wanna just sit around all the time!" HE calls back over his shoulder. "Come on, keep up!"

"Hey remember who won last time we raced!" Vertina shouts in response. Needless to say with her long strong and nearly professional level of training, it doesn't take her long to catch up to pace with Atif. "You don't realize how good it feels to just get out and run until you can't do it very well."

    "Only because I misjudged the jump!" Atif claims with a laugh. Not that he's actually trying to turn this into a race, now, so much as just a brisk run to go through with her. "I think I have some idea. But-- I'm happy to run with you here, whenever, wherever, until there's no ground left for us to run on!"

"I hope that's metaphorically speaking." Vertina laughs as she runs astride. "I may be a daredevil but I'd rather not go jumping off any cliffs!"

"We'll just have to see, won't we!" Is all Atif promises on that, complete with a wide, toothy grin. It probably won't take the two of them very long to actually get to the town limits proper -- and inevitably, Atif has to slow down his pace when he gets sight of the gates leading in. "...Or, well, until we run into crowds and guards, anyway..." A quick peek sidelong to VErtina. "... Unless you wanna scale the walls and see how long we can run the rooftops before someone freaks out."

Vertina is use to running and moving quickly in different directions, as well as stopping, so she skids easily to a halt as they near the town. Peers up at the walls. She might be seriously considering it for a moment. They are both martial artists after all, so it wouldn't be hard to pull off that kind of acrobatics and parkour...

But she shakes her head. "There's a lot of people around because of the tournament, we probably shouldn't needlessly rouse any extra attention with our antics."

    Atif wrinkles his nose, but he relents with a sigh. "You're probably right... I usually only do it back over in Eastlande because the folks there are more used to that kind of thing."

    Setting into a more... well, casual pace, then, he gives more of a sheepish smile to Vertina. "I suppose walking on the street gives you more time to actually look at the stalls too, huh? ... And I guess that makes for a more normal kind of date, too."

Vertina shrugs a little as she starts walking. "Not that I'm the shopping for the sake of shopping sort of girl." Followed by a wry grin. "But it is more time to walk with you."

    "I mean, I didn't figure you for one," Atif points out. "But we were going to see if anyone was selling real food around here so--" He actually ends up pausing briefly on his feet at her latter comment, and coughing akwardly. "Y-yeah, there is that..." He rumbles before he catches apace with her again.

Vertina laughs lightly, and gives his red hair a light ruffle with one hand before walking on. "For food then!... And maybe look over some of the other stalls. I do need to think about some better gear, even if it is the simple stuff."

    Atif squints his eyes closed briefly from the ruffle, but... well, he doesn't exactly seem to mind. Though it does end up causing him to stall for half a second again before picking up his steps to catch up with her. "Uh... Yeah. ... Tell you the truth, I haven't really even thought about new gear in a while. I've just been... kind of going aroudn with all this for the longest time now."

Vertina slows her stride a little so Atif can catch back up. Considers. "Yeah. As I found out I've got a serious lacking in defense when it comes to spellcasters. I need to work on that. But I can't weigh myself down with a much of anti-magic equipment, either." She clenches a fist and it ignites briefly with flames. "At least I don't have to worry about weapons so much."

    Atif flashes a wide smile at the show of flames bursting aroudn her hand, and he nods eagerly. "Yeah! WEll, that makes two of us." Beat. "...On both accounts, I guess. I... I guess I haven't really thought much about my own defenses. Hunh..." His nose wrinkles at this thought. It's a few ways along the street, before he gives a peek downwards, between the two of them. And, in what might be considered an unexpectedly bold move for him, he reaches over, to try and gently take her hand into his own.

    ...And of course, blush deeply regardless of if he's successful at it or not.

"I almost envy the people that just started playing before the Cataclysm. They don't have to remember all the awesome stuff previously had and then lost in the resets." Vertina is looking down the opposite direction of the path so she doesn't notice until Atif takes her hand. "Huh?.. Did you see something interesting?" But hey she didn't jerk her hand away again, that's a good start right?

    "U-uh..." Locked up like a deer caught in headlights for roughly three seconds, Atif's face flushes brightly and his eyes snap over from side to side before he actually comes up with an answer. "Y-yeah, I thought I, uh, saw someone frying something that way, over there!" He gives just a little tug to her hand with that, in a guiding gesture, before he sets himself into motion, and... let's go of her hand. Of course there probably isn't anyone cooking anything down that street, either, he just blurted something out in a hurry.

He lets go, but the tug is enough to get Vertina to follow after him. "I never realized how big some of the Root Towns are before. You don't really question when you're running from one quest to the other and not thinking about the space between. Perspective is a little different when you actually take the time to look around."